38 Comments
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Kaijsa's avatar

I'm so happy to report that I saw the Blockbuster you're talking about in a nearly-full theater in Wyoming, and there were lots of men there and zero Restless Gregs. The person next to me was a young guy there on his own (not judging, I was alone as well). I suspect the Gregs around these parts just didn't go, but I was please that everybody in my theater seemed to enjoy the movie!

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Margot Miller's avatar

Amazingly, the young man I helped raise, he will be 21 in August, told me he had seen the movie with friends, liked it and that I has to see it because I would love it! He is a college basketball player but did theater in high school. Maybe he can give us hope for guys in the future. Like Lincoln and Eli.

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Maria's avatar

Caissie....I love you. “Restless greg syndrome”

😭🩷

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Caissie St.Onge's avatar

Sometimes I crack myself up a little bit.

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Adrian Ramirez's avatar

God, your writing is a gift. You’re inspiring me to try to write again.

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Caissie St.Onge's avatar

That is so kind!!! Thank you. I hope you do try.

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Connie's avatar

I’m passing time waiting for it to start. It’s my first time at a movie alone, and since before Covid. I initially went into the wrong theater, and sat in someone else’s seat, and the movie was just ending. I wondered why so many people were already seated. (I walked in so confidently too). 🤦‍♀️😂 sometimes anxiety makes me do dumb things. 🤷‍♀️ But I’m excited to watch the movie!

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Caissie St.Onge's avatar

HAHA! I adore confident wrongness sometimes, so I am team you.

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Connie's avatar

Thank you Caissie! I’m so glad I saw it today while everyone is talking about it!

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Amanda C's avatar

My SO and I went to see that same superhero movie. I full on cried when the superhero takes off across a battlefield for two reasons. 1) Seeing a woman superhero BE a superhero was what my little feminist hero inside needed and 2) the entire theater erupted into cheers. Men and women, it was a MOMENT.

Another female lead superhero movie we saw didn't get that same love, but it didn't get a lot of negative experiences in the theater, and we enjoyed that as well. I have noticed that when the trailers for their new movie come on, there's more shifting or talking than with other trailers. Though the last time I saw that trailer was before a space superhero movie and the crowd there did cheer. I think the theater you go to can sometimes make a difference - we go to Citywalk (comfy seats, good AC, covered parking.)

I feel lucky that my SO is actually excited to see the B-lockbuster movie, and that he's open to seeing the non-male branded movies with me. Rom-coms, some musicals, all the Disney movies...there are some where after a trailer he'll let me know, "you can see that on a girls night out" LOL but he's open to ones that I'm passionate for. (Like my favorite book when it was directed by the same director of B-lockbuster movie!)

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Martin Johnstone's avatar

We are not listening. we are not paying attention. The idea of what is next has choked us all into trying to avoid it. The word mindfulness has evolved into permission to look at phones because perhaps someone else's NOW is preferable to our own. No one is listening or paying attention. We are just bumping into each other.

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Karyn Lindquist's avatar

We didn’t have that same experience in our theater. Both my 20 year old boys and husband went with to that female lead movie. And I watched as people came in and it was equal part men and women. No one was getting up and everyone seemed really into it including my people. I was so pleasantly surprised! I loved the movie and it seemed that everyone felt the same!

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Nadene's avatar

I'm seeing this week with a friend. Very excited.

What gets me is when someone's critique is "I didn't like it because it wasn't what I expected".

Duh. That's the best part about a movie... it not being what you expected.

If I wanted to see what I expected, I would just watch the same thing over and over again on a loop.

Maybe that phrase is code for "I didn't understand it" or "I felt uncomfortable with the message".

Well anyhoo... this movie is laughing all the way to the bank and apparently touching the hearts of many. Rude Greg"s should just sit their asses down!

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Whitney Branco's avatar

I remember you telling this story on the pod and when I go see this new movie I wanted to test out your theory. I have seen other tweets, grams, etc from women that they noticed some men having RGS in their seats. Haha.

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Alexandra's avatar

I absolutely LOVED this "B...lockbuster" movie!! I've decided if I ever get back on dating apps, I plan to use this movie to help me weed out the men who will absolutely not be worth my time. :) Thank you, Caissie, for your words.

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Connie's avatar

Good idea on the dating apps! I’ve used Schitts Creek in the past, and it worked!

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Emily W.'s avatar

I saw the boy and his big bomb (not my first choice but the friend I was with really wanted to see it so I conceded) and honestly I was bored and/or confused through at least 50% of it. Wish I had pushed for the pink movie instead 😞

I really did notice a lot of phone checking on maximum brightness (the older woman next to me) and general chatter (the teens behind me) throughout the whole movie, so either not paying attention to the movie you're paying money to see is becoming the new norm, or I was not alone in my boredom. In this case, I suspect it was #2 because that was a long 3 hours to only understand half of what was going on.

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Danielle's avatar

RGS is why I bristle when we say women led things “are not for you.” How come movies with repetitive car chases and explosions are “for everyone” but stick a woman in the title role or make a movie with no action and only 50% of the population is supposed to see it?

If we want female led movies we need to either admit and accept that men and women have different tastes and equally find both or all agree to see both.

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Sara Collins's avatar

Restless Greg Syndrome needs to be TM and I will be saying to everyone « I read the original substack where Caissie wrote it first! ».

The pink movie was so good. Like, really good, I’m still thinking about it days later.

My only RGS experience was that an obvious Greg shouted loudly while exiting the theatre: yea, I hated it!

The look on the woman’s face who asked him with enthusiasm if he liked it, was a mixture of shock and the realization that the message of the entire movie was in fact lost on him and that patriarchy was alive in this man and staring her in the face.

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Kaijsa's avatar

I hope she dumped him.

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Caissie St.Onge's avatar

I hate him!

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Amanda in Austin's avatar

I’ve never noticed RGS myself. I saw the pink blockbuster last Thursday (as early as possible), and the theater was packed with all genders and all orientations. Everyone sat for the movie and it was an amazing good time. But I’ll keep an eye out at my next viewing because I’m taking my husband next week. I raved about the movie so much when I got home that he’s now very interested to see it. He’s one of the good guys who will definitely not have RGS.

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Sonya H.'s avatar

I love my husband dearly, and as with your husband, Caissie, he’s an exception* to this rule, but I swear most straight men are the fucking worst.

*I’m sure there are more good men out there, but wow! The number seems so small.

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