A book in which Kevin Murphy (of MST3K fame) details his quest to see a movie on each of the 365 days between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2001. Published in 2002 by HarperCollins. ISBN: 0-06-093786-6.

Not counting the epilogue and prologue, the book consists of 52 chapters, each accounting for one week of his project and each representing a different theme. For example, Murphy begins his book with a journey to the front row of the theater. He spends an entire week viewing movies (including one IMAX film) from the front row, eventually causing enough back and neck pain to warrant a visit to a chiropractor. The chiropractor's advice was, essentially, "Well, if it hurts, quit doing that, dumbass."

Murphy dedicates other chapters to topics such as multiplexes (he calls them "googolplexes"), "dinner and a movie" joints, in-flight movies offered on airlines, discount movie houses, and drive-ins. He discusses his journeys to France for the prestigious Cannes1 Film Festival, to Utah for Sundance, and to Finland for Midnight Sun.

Throughout the book, Murphy points out movie "experiences" available in America and abroad of which most people aren't even aware. He flies to Quebec City for the Cinema de Glace, a theater within an igloo, where the patrons sit on blocks of ice covered with caribou pelts. He dresses as a nun for the Sing-Along Sound of Music in London. He rents a convertible and tours the theaters along historic Route 66. He visits Hollywood's famous cinemas: the Egyptian, El Capitan, and Grauman's Chinese. And he watches a film at the smallest public theater in the world, Australia's Terrace Theater in Tinonee, New South Wales.

One of the most humorous chapters of the book comes about by Murphy's attempt to answer the question, "Do date movies still exist?" To find out, he takes six different women to see the same date movie, Serendipity. Says Murphy:

This was much to the consternation of my spouse, Jane. As she often does, she wondered what the hell I was doing and why. Research was my reply, research, plain and simple. I would date Jane's four sisters and her Mom, and any of our close friends who didn't think I was a perv.

Like in the "date week" chapter above, Murphy spices up the book here and there with various gimmicks. He works for a week as a ticket taker at a local movie house, for example, and on Thanksgiving, he sneaks into a theatre with an entire turkey dinner (complete with dressing, cranberry sauce, silverware and a dinner table) and dines with his family. All combines for a very humorous book that both interests the reader and encourages him/her to go out and see some of these places firsthand.


1 "Cannes" is pronounced like "can" and not "khan," we are warned, lest ye risk ridicule from The French.

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