Blockbuster and Me

I just saw the “redline” version of the online trailer for Superbad. This trailer had me laughing out loud; I must and will see this movie. Even if every funny part of the movie is in this trailer, I’ll pay to see the hour and a half version of the trailer.

It’s from the “the guy who brought you” Talladega Nights and The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Ironically, I was not really entertained by Virgin, and I haven’t seen Talladega. For some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, Virgin just never clicked for me. There was something that just failed for me. The wife and I turned it off about two-thirds the way through it, and never bothered to finish seeing it. And Talladega Nights, well, there’s a story there. It is a movie I want to see, and have wanted to see since it came out on DVD. But I have this emotional obstacle with Blockbuster about Talladega Nights.

Several months ago, Blockbuster called my wife and said that Talladega Nights was a week overdue for return, and if it wasn’t returned within another week, we would be buying it. It was not a bad or rude phone call. It was all polite and routine for them — all part of their “no late fees” deal. But the thing is, we never rented it.

I called the store to check on this situation and found that it was rented on my Blockbuster card. I told them that I had not rented it, and the store manager was very helpful. He went through a list of movies we had most recently rented to make sure there wasn’t other wrong stuff. The list was accurate other than Talladega Nights (but the list revealed me to be a big geek). He asked if I had loaned my card to anyone, a friend or family member. He asked was my card missing. No to both. He told me the date and time of the rental, and after the conversation I realized that I wasn’t even in town at that time.

The manager said that the store would “just eat this loss,” and they’d reset my account and send me a new card. It turned out all well and good. But I felt guilty for the problem because I had no way of proving that I didn’t rent the movie — especially since everything else on the card was accurate.

So now, although I’d love to see Talladega Nights, I feel a pang of guilt about doing it. Will it set off any alarms with Blockbuster? Is there a note on my account? Will I get the hairy eyeball from the clerk? Of course none of this will happen, but still, it’s kind of a strained thread in my relationship with Blockbuster.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com