Pretty Woman

Anyone who knows me knows that Pretty Woman is my favorite movie.  I have seen it literally thousands of times.

I first saw it when I was maybe 8 or 9.  Obviously this was a lapse of judgement by my parents.  However, I didn't know what most of it meant, so although I was far too young to be watching this movie, I wasn't damaged or learning bad things from it.  One example is that there is a scene when Julia Roberts' character is trying to get Richard Gere's character to pick out a condom.  When I was younger, I thought she was offering him a lollipop like you get from the bank.  When you're innocent, they look the same, I promise.

As I got older, I did understand the premise of the movie.  I still think it's a good movie, even if it's not exactly, um, wholesome.  I can quote each and every line from Pretty Woman.  I have many favorite scenes which I quote at random times, even if it doesn't fit the context.  There's a scene where Vivian (Roberts) is trying to determine what Edward (Gere) does for a living.  She says, "I bet you're a lawyer".  Edward questions why she thinks that and Vivian says, "You just have that sharp, useless look about you".  Doug used to work with someone who had a sharp, useless look about him, so we called him SU.

Oh, by the way, all those people who know that Pretty Woman is my favorite movie, can also quote many of the scenes because I've made them watch it with me several times.  Vivian goes shopping in her prostitute clothing and a store on Rodeo Drive turns her away.  The following day, after cleaning herself up by shopping with Edward's credit card, she goes back to the store that turned her away.  She holds up shopping bags while she speaks to one of the ladies and says, "You work on commission, right?  Big mistake.  Big, huge.  Well, I've got to go shopping now".  I LOVE that scene, because it shows that you shouldn't judge people just by their appearance. 

At the end of Valentine's Day, the limo driver tells Julia's character to look out the window, it's Rodeo Drive and asks her if she's ever been there.  Julia replies, "I went shopping there once.  It was a big mistake.  Big, huge."  When we saw the movie in the theaters, both Doug and myself knew what Julia was going to say and also knew it was referring to Pretty Woman.  Everyone else looked at us like we were crazy, but I like that Doug and I shared a moment from PW.