My first delivery from peerflix. And what a dull movie it was.

Given that it starred the generally charming 80's beauty Lea Thompson along with former SNL player Victoria Jackson, I would have thought it would at least have some modicum of entertainment value. I would have been wrong.

To be fair to the actors, I blame most of the craptacular quality of the movie on the writing, rather than the acting. The plot, such as it is, is muddled. Though classified as a "comedy", there's very little of anything funny here. None of the characters made me care what would happen next in their pointless, trivial existence.

Also, the title is a bit of a misnomer. To a large extent, the movie is largely defined by its lack of casual sex, except for a few isolated incidents. In fact, by the end, both of the characters end up in long term, monogamous relationships. (Oops, did I spoil it for anybody? Believe me, knowing that tidbit is not going to affect the entertainment value.)

Now that I've pretty much trashed the damn thing, as an aside, I'll relay the most noteworthy tidbit I found in what was otherwise a general waste of time: A little lesson in propaganda.

At one point, when Lea Thompson's character has decided she's found the guy she likes, they're about to get on a bus together to go back to L.A. As they buy the tickets, she says to him, "Well why don't you just put it on your credit card?"

Digging a bag of cash out of his pocket, he says, "I don't have any credit cards. I don't believe in them."

She says, "Ok, well I can put it on my credit card, and you can give me a check later."

He replies, "Don't have a checking account either."

At this point, I was thinking, Wow, this guy really is a stud. He's actually standing for something he believes in. Beyond that, it was an opportunity for the movie itself to start getting interesting. Maybe she could have asked him why he doesn't believe in credit cards, and his explanation could have led into an interesting discussion about the ethics of usury lending. But not in this pathetic, shallow little excuse for a movie.

Nope, instead, that event signals the beginning of the end of their relationship. The conversation ends there, and is followed by a series of scenes in which this former alpha male is revealed to be an undesirable partner -- the entirity of his possessions are carried in two large trash bags (how much more could he possibly have to bring when she invites him to journey across the state to live together on the spur of the moment); when he moves in with her, he proposes to put his stuff in a small cardboard box in the corner to keep it out of the way (but is also amenable when she suggests that she can spare drawer space to share), offers to get a menial job to help pay the rent while he works on his music, and he buys a large box of waffles to serve her for breakfast. Apparently, these offenses are grievous enough to make him into an unattractive wierdo, and it all began with the lack of a credit card.

If I were Visa, I would have paid heavily for such a blatent piece of in-your-face implicit marketing. Even if the movie sucks, it wouldn't take very many impressions of a similar nature to create in the viewer a general perception that anybody without a credit card is somehow inferior. Note that it's not even a lack of wealth in this case -- the guy had money, or at least enough cash to get around on. But he didn't have a credit card.

So boys, here's the message: Even if you're handsome, charming, can write, sing, and play music, and are good in bed, you still damn well better make sure you have a credit card, cause otherwise, the girls won't want you. And girls: Look at Lea Thompson's example. She's knows what she's doing, she's with it, and she always comes out ahead in the end. She has credit cards of her own, and she doesn't stoop to hanging around with people who don't. Do as she does. Think as she does.

How utterly insidious. At least that obvious little mental ploy provided a discussion-worthy tidbit in what was otherwise a movie with almost no redeeming value whatsoever.

After that review, is anybody else inclined to sign up with peerflix so they can take the damn thing off my hands? Didn't think so. Oh well.