Today, after recording a podcast interview and before editing student work and picking up my daughters from school, I grabbed my purse, keys and hopped in my van for a quick skip to the 12:20 p.m. showing of “Lady Bird.”
This solo trip to see a seriously good film written and directed by Greta Gerwig was the first in what I hope will be a weekly movie outing for me.
I’m a mom and for the last 13+ years this has meant that I didn’t get out much. But I’m changing that. While I won’t be swinging from the chandelier with gal pals, I will be going to (and crying at) a whole lot of movies by myself.
Why?
Because I’m a grown woman with a MoviePass. Yep, I just treated myself to the $9.95 per month service that allows me to go to as many movies as I want (one per day) for one low monthly fee. So if I creatively schedule and am able to sneak off to two $9 movies per month, I come out ahead. Cool, eh? So far, I think so. (And, no, this is not a sponsored post. I’m just telling you folks about something I think is cool.)
I really like this service that automatically loads my red MoviePass debit card with the cost of my movie ticket when I get within 100 feet of my local theater, select my movie and “check in.” However, I don’t completely understand the MoviePass business model that somehow reimburses participating theaters for the full cost of each ticket I “purchase” with my nifty red MoviePass card even though I’m only kicking $10 bucks into the system each month.
The company, founded by Netflix co-founder and former Redbox President Mitch Lowe, is apparently playing the long game and hoping to cash in on the market data it collects from all of its subscribers. (What movies are we watching, when are we watching them, etc.) The flaw in this market data is that I wouldn’t even think about sneaking off by myself to a movie at noon on a Wednesday if it wasn’t for this low-cost incentive. And instead of going to only movies I really, really want to see, I will likely be willing to take a chance on less-impressive titles because I will be able to do so for no extra charge.
While MoviePass isn’t great for going to see movies in groups because only solo memberships are offered currently and there is no way to order tickets and pick your seats from home, this app is great for busy moms who want to escape to their local theater for a couple hours a couple times a month to experience low-cost entertainment at a place where it’s really hard for people to bother you.
The upside for the local economy is that this program is a shot in the arm for local theaters that have been struggling for traction in an industry where streaming services often keep movie-goers at home.
I don’t know about you, but this mom needs a break to go have a good cry in a movie theater once a week and I think this plan is going to work really well for me as long as I steer clear of the concession stand and remember to bring Kleenex.
P.S. I highly recommend seeing “Lady Bird.” It’s an awesome coming-of-age film set in 2002 about a 17-year-old Catholic school senior played by Saoirse Ronan.
The film celebrates friendship and details the often challenging relationships between mothers and daughters and really resinated with me as the mother of teen and pre-teen girls.
I left in tears which means it made me feel and that is the mark of a very good movie in my book.
High five to the cast, and double high fives to Greta. She really rocked creating this film.
