Memorial Movie

My neighborhood has become a ghost town, slowly emptying out.

Everyone seems to have gone somewhere else while I'm still here.

With nothing better to do, I suggested a movie to a fellow stay-here for our evening's entertainment.

After scoping out the choices at Criterion, I landed on "Mud" because the critical reviews were off the charts.

Believe me, I ordinarily avoid movies featuring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.

So despite knowing little about the film , we set off to see it.

To our great surprise, the line for tickets stretched to the door.

Tickets, popcorn and Milk Duds in hand, we walked into a theater almost completely full.

Who knew so many people chose to spend the shank of the Memorial Day weekend closed up in a movie theater?

I mean, I've got an excuse; I've been out celebrating my birthday for over a week now.

Turns out it was a testament to how good the movie we were about to see was.

It was a two hour and ten minute movie and yet it never lagged or felt long.

It was a tried and true coming-of-age story and yet never felt trite.

It was romantic despite there being no romance other than talk of it.

It was a valentine to life on the river in Arkansas, someplace I would never have expected to convey so movingly.

It was never predictable and always compelling.

Scratch that, the one predictable part was that Matthew McConaughey did finally take off his shirt and show his pecs.

Other than that, by the end of the movie, I knew exactly why the theater was full.

What could be better than a 21st-century Huck Finn movie to usher in the arrival of summer?