Does anyone out there remember the movie The Wedding Planner? No surprises if you don't (it was pretty forgettable), but there is one scene in it that really stuck with me. Jennifer Lopez met up with Matthew McConaughey at the open air cinema in Central Park. It was a beautiful scene, with people reclining on blankets under the stars while a black and white Audrey Hepburn film played on the screen. So now you have my chick flick inspiration for dragging EGG off to the outdoor cinema for our O weekend.
The evening didn't start well. We traipsed from our far and distant carpark to the venue only to find we'd left our money behind. Well EGG left the money behind, but I said not a thing (my happy face glued in place), even when he came back much later and the movie had already begun.
The venue for this outdoor cinema was New Farm Park, a really lovely setting by the river in the middle of Brisbane. Despite the drought there are beautiful trees and vast lawns. Except for bit where the outdoor cinema is located. They must have called in thirty rugby teams to play on that patch of grass because it was the roughest, most decrepit bit of lawn in Brisbane. The "grass" expanse was surrounded by high wire fencing so the setting was actually more prison exercise yard than romantic movie venue. The only thing missing was the razor wire.
My Jennifer/Matthew moment was but a memory by now as we tried to get comfortable on the grass. Quite possibly the only thing that might have saved the evening was a decent slug of wine, but no that wasn't going to happen either because they closed the bar when the movie started--and we were late.
I was a bit devastated because I had the good/bad conscience wrestle about whether or not I should sneak some wine in and unfortunately good (and consequently sober) won. It's such a shame because a friend of mine had given me the best strategy. She told me that she smuggles her sauv blanc in via her children's waterbottles. She has even trained them to slug a mouthful back without flinching should an overzealous security guard try to examine the contents. I love this woman because she always gets her wine, but mostly because she is a very, very bad mother which makes me look like a very, very good one.
The movie, No Reservations, was really, really bad. Do not under any circumstances see this movie, don't even rent it on dvd. I have a gauge for assessing the shockingness of movies and that is the pillow fight scene. Any movie that has a pillow fight scene is automatically a dud. Don't know why, but they all are. Scriptwriters out there take note of my advice--if you want your movie to sink faster than the Titanic, then include a pillow fight. Don't say you haven't been warned.
EGG actually groaned when at the pillow fight scene. He'd had enough by this time and whined about how much longer we had to stay there. They haven't broken up yet, I whispered to him. Oh yeah, and the kid's got to run away, he replied. Keep in mind that neither of us had seen this load of rubbish before, it was just such a predictable movie. So within about half an hour they split up and the kid ran away. Surprise, surprise they got back together and (this is the bit you probably didn't see coming) they lived happily ever after.
We started packing up before the last big pash filled the screen.
I hope they use some of that $14 entry fee to buy some fertiliser for the grass.
O is for Outdoor Cinema.
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