A first!

I wrote back in April about the exquisite tease of working in the same building as a movie theater, but never being able to align my schedule properly so I could actually see a movie in conjunction with any part of my workday.

Well, the stars have finally aligned and that monkey is off my back, to shove together two unrelated metaphors.

Yesterday was the last day of the school term, which means all the school staff I usually work with for my job vacate school grounds by about 1:30, and no later than 3. It also happened to be a night I was not going home after work, as I had an awards ceremony for my baseball team starting at 7.

That made a 4:30 showing of Good Boys my best yet chance to accomplish this elusive feat.

So I cut out of there 30 minutes early -- when all my co-workers had long since stopped working and were standing at each others' desks or throwing things around the room -- and made it happen.

To give you an idea of just how close this cinema really is, I left my desk at 4:30 and still had time to see at least ten minutes of trailers before the movie started, including a Zombieland 2 trailer I would have preferred not to see so as not to ruin its jokes.

And yup, I watched the movie, no other interesting details really to share. I had enough time before the baseball ceremony to get a bite to eat and everything. But I can share the sense of joy I experienced at finally doing this thing I had wanted for so long to do.

I can also share the joy of Good Boys. I think my expectations might have been a bit low. I knew the kids in this movie were young, but I expected them to be snarky and act like adults in kids' bodies, especially since it's from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

One of the sublime pleasures of Good Boys, though, is how much they act like 12-year-olds. It's not only the organic (rather than forced) misuse of words, or failure to understand concepts about sex and drugs that they'd easily get in a couple more years. It's how they proudly embrace their own childishness. Particularly in the case of the character played by Keith L. Williams, who I want to see in everything, they repeatedly profess pride at their own desire to squelch their impending teenagerdom, as when they try to make a citizen's arrest regarding a drug transaction, or unfailingly confess their own misdeeds to adult authority figures, or reject the basic premise of a kissing party. Not only were these the truest parts, they also made me laugh the most. I was charmed as hell by this movie and I even got a bit emotional at the end. No actual tears, mind you, but they weren't far off.

Good job, Good Boys. You helped me see my work adjacent movie, and you were also more than worth the time.