Maid in Manhattan
Hedda gleefully told me that the only way out of my predicament was for the two of us to see "Maid in Manhattan" that weekend. I imagined us going into the theater and at the last moment yelling at Hedda to shut her eyes. It would be like the finale of "Raiders of the Lost Arc" when the sheer horror of the images melted the Nazis' faces off. I know misery loves company and Hedda was genuinely excited about seeing this movie with me, but Hedda's my friend. It would be the moral equivalent of whipping a masochist. On the other hand, I dreaded the thought of walking up to the box office and saying, "One for Maid in Manhattan" and watching the ticket woman's expression slowly change from confusion to pity. Another alternative was to wait until Thursday and tell Lisa that we never saw "Maid in Manhattan". When she asked why, I'd have to confess that it was all a pathetic ruse to get her to go out with me.

I decided to call up my friends Jing and Mark and ask them for a brief cliff notes version of the movie. I remembered they claimed they saw "Maid in Manhattan" to support the director Wayne Wang (But that doesn't explain why they also saw "Just Married"). Anyways they tag teamed on the synopsis trading off every time one said, "You forgot the part about the jewel encrusted necklace!" and the other said "Fine you tell it then!" Jing in particular relished describing every detail and plot point even though she claims not to have enjoyed it at all. Her explanation of the movie was so detailed in fact, I probably would have saved time by just watching the movie.

Ironically, one of the main themes of "Maid in Manhattan" is that J-Lo's relationship is based on a lie. She's actually just a lowly chamber maid but the dude in the movie thinks she's some rich Mediterranian because he saw her wearing a fancy dress (This dress actually belonged to one of the guests of the hotel and J-Lo was secretly trying it on for fun). J-Lo and the dude actually go so far as to have sex before before she reveals her true identity. Aparantly, the moral of the movie is that in relationships you must lie to get your foot in the door, then after you've slept together you can tell Lisa the truth.