Traditionally, the date movie has always been a romance with some light comedy centered around the female character or characters, because they're the only people who are really in touch with their inner feelings. But in recent years, there has been a small but successful sub-genre of date movies that are targeted toward a male audience. These movies are to be prized and treasured by both men and women, because they're among the few films that can be watched in a mixed group or on a first date that both parties are almost guaranteed to enjoy.

It's hard to pin down exactly what makes these date movies great for guys, but some common qualities include:

This is one of the most dangerous questions regarding a modern-day date: "what movie are we going to go see tonight?" Most women like movies in which a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and then boy wins the girl back. Men like to see movies in which boy meets girl, a lot of things blow up and the boy beats the living crap out of a bunch of other boys, and then maybe the boy remembers to grab the girl and give her a kiss before he blows up a whole bunch of other stuff and beats up on this other nasty boy who was trying to destroy the world. Obviously, there's a bit of a quandry as to where the interests of men and women could ever possibly mesh.

Since the equality movement of the mid-twentieth century, women have been empowered and also like to see films in which the female is the heroine and does most of the beating up of nasty boys, before the boy of her dreams gets down on his knees and begs the girl for mercy and eternal happiness. Men still like to watch movies in which a bunch of stuff blows up, so here we may be able to find a common ground.

A man's idea of date movies may include the following.


Examples of what most men would not consider suitable date movies.

Update: 09/25/04
sam512 says re date movies for guys: Might I suggest The Truman Show?
Update: 07/03/04
belgand says re date movies for guys: Being John Malkovich isn't just a great date movie, but a great movie. It's excellent for dates though as it would easily allow me to weed out anyone not suitable. This, I feel, is the key. The date movie should be like a Weed-out class in college. Something to test potential mates with and see if you're going to want to deal with dating someone for two years only to find out that they dislike The Big Lebowski and now need to be destroyed.
Update: 03/05/03
littlerubberfeet says re date movies for guys: Fast and the furious, gone in 60 seconds. !acceptible are also an movie with subtitles, exception being crouching tiger, hidden dragon. my thoughts :)

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