Movie Review and the Elderly....Guest Blogger Monica Shepherd

Nights in Rodanthe is a movie based off of a Nicholas Sparks novel, Nights in Rodanthe. Diane Lane and Richard Gere are two hurting adults that find each other and in the process "find themselves". I'm a Nicholas Sparks fan. I own Walk to Remember and The Notebook. I can usually count on his movies to give me a good cry, which only happens about three times a year for me. I shed a few tears near the end of Rodanthe, but didn't have to reach for the Kleenex. It was a good movie- not amazing. Based on Rob's scale, I give it a "thumbs to the side". I probably won't ever own it on DVD, but it was worth seeing once.

On to my favorite part of the night.....Nicole and I were the youngest people in the theater by at least 30 years. The average age was approximately 78. As we were walking to our auditorium, there was an elderly lady wandering around and she asked us where theater two was located. I told her that's where we were going and opened the door for her. She asked if this was the bathroom, and I replied no, the bathroom was across the hall. After taking two steps in, she asked if I was sure. Signal #1 that we were the youngest in attendance. We were wedged between a couple in their 70's and a couple in their 80's....not even a seat between us (signal #2). To my left was the old popcorn man. With every bite of his large popcorn, he would shake the bag furiously, swirl it around with his hand, and then chomp on it louder than ever imaginable (signal #3). Directly in front of Nicole was the old cough drop man. He proceeded to open one cough drop for at least 23 minutes. He missed the rip it open quickly memo...even his wife told him to be quiet after 15 minutes. 8 minutes later he got it open (signal #4).

Behind us was a woman with emphysema. I was a little worried about her health (and mine...signal #5). We also found it semi-uncomfortable to be sitting between grandparent like people during a love scene. We weren't even related to these people, but it was embarrassing (#6). During the movie one old lady two rows back stated, "what happened?" quite loudly (#7). At the end of the movie, a different old lady goes, "Doesn't anyone clap at the end of a movie anymore?". I gave her a pity clap (#8). Obviously she's never been to a Star Wars movie. There were a few times when me and Nicole had to cover our mouths to keep from laughing out loud, and we expected there to be a senior citizen bus outside AMC afterwards. When Nicole and I are 82 and still going to movies together, we'll be able to learn from their mistakes.