In any movie where the guy is contemplating reconnecting with his high school crush, there’s always the balding friend who likes to scratch his nuts and drink the milk from the carton warning him that she’s probably put on a few duffel bags of fat. Had Cameron Diaz indeed been a plus-size gal in Something About Mary, our buddy Ted probably wouldn’t have bothered to unload his gun pre-date. The worst thing, it seems, even in some of the greatest films, with the greatest actors, is to curse someone to a future of fat, as if that is the greatest "worst" you could do.
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This video can't be seen outside US…
Well, long live You Tube
Shame I can't watch the video as I'm not in the US :(
Stephanie,
I was a fat adolescent too. I just recalled the line I often heard "If you only lost some weight, you have such a pretty face". Gee, thanks. I'm finally a healthy weight, but that fat girl still exists now and then behind my "pretty face".
Luv your blog,
Carol from CT
Yay Albert Brooks!
Boo Albert Brooks…
I think this scene is universally played out in every singel woman's head. Thank you for finding it and showing the way the world thinks.
I'm speechless. I remember the movie but that scene passed through me like WOW potato chips. I wonder if he would have said the same thing if that manheim chick was sitting across from him?
I saw this when it came out I think. Therefore I didn't fully appreciate it or the relationship thing here. I love 80s movies. These two are great to watch together anyway.
It's crappy and overcast in Austin today so I might do the 80s movie marathon thing later on. I doubt Blockbuster will have this but the I love Video store will. I can round it off with 'Outrageous Fortune' and 'The Big Chill'.
I can't see the vid either. Trying to imagine what it might be!
Is it wrong that I wanted him to walk out into the street at the end of that video and get hit by a bus?
She should have been all, "Oh, but you'll STILL BE BALD next time we run into each other, so HA!" ;o)
Why do fat, slothy guys always rag on big girls?
I prefer 80's movies like Pretty In Pink….you know, the ones where the odd girl is seen for her creativity and spark and she's loved for being different. Those are the best!
I've never seen this movie.. so forgive me for sounding stupid with the following questions :)
Why would he say that six years from now she'd be a "single fat lady"? Was he trying to say all women eventually get fat or something? I don't get it.
Can't see it either and I have no idea what it may be about!
man there was some quality dialogue in movies back then. clever clip, thanks ; )
Or to curse someone to being "single," as if THAT was the worst thing ever.
This is my absolute favorite movie of all time.
And my favorite quote from it is…
-"What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?"
-"Keep it to yourself."
My most vivid memory from college was hanging up with one of my best guy friends. We had a chemistry, a sexual tension. Or at least I thought we did until one time when I was over at his apt and the phone rang. I heard him say to the person on the other line, 'XXXXX is over here, you know that girl in our economics class with the pretty face.' I was crushed. I was also about 145lbs at 5'5. Not exactly thin but not a whale either. Four years of college and this is the lesson that sticks with me the most: you just cannot be fat/chubby in this society.
I was explaining the term "butterface" to my husband about a year ago – for those who might not know, that's an awful term for a woman with a great body, "but her face" is ugly.
My husband said, Oh, you mean like E.?, referring to our mutual friend.
I had to think about it. As a matter of fact, E. does not have an attractive face, but I had never noticed it because of her thin body. I just assumed everyone thought she was hot because she was a size 2.
So I was more influenced by thin culture than my own husband. I was surprised and ashamed of myself. (And more appreciative of my huband!)
I didn't see the clip and, judging by the comments, I am glad I didn't! What has me a little miffed is the movie "In Her Shoes" based on the book by Jennifer Weiner. The book was fairly focused on the central "overweight" sister, but the movie seemed very Cameron Diaz-esque and I just saw the book in a store with her face on the cover. Whatever! "Good In Bed" was better, but if they make a movie with Natalie Portman in a fat suit, I'm moving to Canada.
The male slob with a "No Fat Chicks" attitude is aggravating, but I'd still take him over someone spouting smarmy platitudes about how sex appeal is all about having the right attitude, because he's at least not insulting my intelligence with cosy white lies. Confidence helps, but it's not going to make men overlook an extra 50 or 100 pounds of fat.
No one likes fat girls? That's so not true in real life. (And movies have nothing to do with reality.) The majority of men find women of almost any size and passable hygiene attractive. Many even prefer some sags and rolls and some girth. Certainly, there ARE the mouth-breather guys out there, putting down any gal that's not SI swimsuit-worthy but their problem, one of their problems, is that they are afraid of normal women and setting impossible standards gives them an out. That shouldn't be so hard to see. Now if we could get more women to not see bald-headedness as a deal breaker. Anyway, I bet I look better bald than they do.
Regarding nut scratching –who does this? I don't. I must not be looking as hard as some people because I never see this. You'd have to put a hand down your pants to do it effectively.
oh bullshit. Guys are way less picky than the media makes us out to be; alot of us arent actually macho mouthbreathers who actually enjoy the company of women.
And i agree, maybe we should remind women theyre jsut as bad if not worse about baldness which actually CANT be helped