Sometimes 7 Out Of 10 Is Just What I Need
This past weekend Sheri and I decided to be couch potatoes. We just wanted some well-needed rest after a few months of non-stop work and dance. We love watching movies so we ended up renting 10 to 12 movies total from Wednesday to Sunday.

Now, if you're like us, deciding on which movies to rent (even if you are renting 10 to 12 of them) can be a difficult thing to do - especially amongst multiple people. Fortunately we have the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) movie rankings to help us. For those not familiar with IMDB, amongst many of its features are thousands and thousands of user comments and rankings (from to 1 to 10) of every move you could think of and then some. And as my phone is enabled with internet access, we have the luxury of checking IMDB rankings while in the video store to help us figure out what to rent.

Now the thing with IMDB rankings is you have to be wary of the IMDB collective mindset. Movies that tend to be at the top (7.5 and above) are sometimes not the movies Sheri and I care to see at that point in time. IMDB ratings tend to favor artsy, meaningful, thought provoking, and even life changing movies, such as:

The Shawshank Redemption (9.2)
The Godfather (9.1)

which are the two highest rated movies on IMDB.

Don't get me wrong now. We love many of those 7.5+ "high quality" movies. It's just sometimes we need to let loose and laugh without having to think. (No think-ee too much-ee). And many of the movies that allow us this privilege tend to be ranked in the lower 5.5 to 7.5 range. For example:

Rat Race (6.3) (screwball comedy genre)
EuroTrip (6.3) (high school hormonal comedy genre)
Forget Paris (6.1) (light romantic comedy genre)
Dude, Where's My Car? (4.7) not-sure-what comedy genre

I think you get the idea.

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My point is that sometimes we all have enough to think about already when it comes to real life. Once in awhile it's nice to take a break from doing things like worrying about correct and incorrect and all the gray areas in between, or perhaps worrying about how things should and should not be done, especially in vague situations where much can be left open to interpretation (moral, ethical, and so on).

(wow that's a run-on sentence)

These 5.5 to 7.5 type movies ... they may have bits of imperfect acting, imperfect dialog, and yes even holes in the plot ... but if you can let go of wanting 100% of everything to be 100% right, you'll find that these movies, even though imperfect, are extremely fun and enjoyable as well.
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And that is why we find that some of our less thought-provoking favorite movies have a tendency to be in that lower range. So I figured as a service I would list some of our favorite non-top-range movies for the next time you're looking to give your brain a little break.

But before I do ... there is a reason I'm writing this article. And surprise, surprise: it's really not to give movie recommendations. It has to do more with swing dancing and a private lesson we recently had with two folks.

The gentleman that was in the lesson is a spirited and friendly guy. He is constantly working very hard on improving his level of dancing. He's had lessons with us before and you could see that he was chomping at the bit for us to lay into him everything he needs to work on.

The lady (first time with us) is a bit more on the shy side. And she definitely looked fearful, nervous, and not so anxious for the impending doomsayers (that's me and Sheri) to strike her down with our harsh critiques. (In reality, she was a fabulous sport and did her best throughout the whole lesson as we gave her suggestions).

We began the lesson by playing different songs and watching them dance. Though their technique was fairly solid, everything looked just a bit too tense, hectic, and stiff. And every so often they would slip up and miss a connection and would not be able to gracefully recover from it.

It was at that point that Sheri and I told them that they just needed to relax, have fun, and pretend that they were having a regular social dance.

(And having been in many private lessons ourselves, don't you HATE when teachers tell you that? I mean come on! As if I can really do that with them glaring at me ... sheesh!).

*Ahem*

Anyway, this went on for about three more songs with continued struggling and not much improvement in the awkwardness. And at that point I didn't even know if they were even hearing the music anymore. So we interrupted and told them that despite having pretty good lead/follow technique and knowing a variety of patterns and moves, it still didn't look quite like dancing. And thus followed one of our most helpful tips:

"Here's something for you to try: For this next song, just think one thing over and over:

There is no wrong or right. There's just having fun.

So dance, have fun, do whatever. And keep repeating to yourself:

Whatever I do, it's not wrong or right. It's just having fun."

And .. wow... HUGE difference! You could immediately see both of them relax (especially the guy since that is one of his bigger challenges). And they danced the song. There weren't necessarily a lot of fancy moves. On the technical and styling scales the dance wouldn't necessarily be a 7.5+ type of dance (especially because of a few slipups). But it looked relaxed, fun, and even inspired (even with the slipups!)

So my point is: well, first off.. that I lied. Actually that's not my point, more a clarification because of course there is right and wrong. There is step-step and triple-step. There is rhythm, timing, steps, decent lead/follow technique and it wouldn't hurt to have a list of moves and stylings in your arsenal. At all levels, we encourage people to continue to improve technique and learn patterns (that includes us! Sheri and I also continue to take lessons and learn!)

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My point is that sometimes we all have enough to think about already when it comes to our own dancing. Once in awhile it's nice to take a break from doing things like worrying about correct and incorrect and all the gray areas in between, or perhaps worrying about how things should and should not be done, especially in vague situations where much can be left open to interpretation (when leads should lead in, what follows should be doing when left out there by the guy, and so on).

(wow that's a run-on sentence)

These 5.5 to 7.5 type dances ... they may have bits of imperfect technique, imperfect styling, and yes even holes in the connection ... but if you can let go of wanting 100% of everything to be 100% right, you'll find that these dances, even though imperfect, are extremely fun and enjoyable as well.
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So hey, don't unleash your entire move arsenal in a single dance (leads). No need to execute all of the greatest styling moves ever in one song (follows). Once in awhile just forget about attempting to do these things 100% correct and instead, for a few songs, just repeat to yourself: "There is no wrong or right, there's just having fun." and see what happens.

p.s. and if you think this is basically a rehash of the "Ahhh ... Just Screw It!" article but told in a different way ... well, you'd be right.



Thanks for reading, and in conclusion: here is a short list of those favorite movies. My original "short" list had 100 movies on it (wow!) so I've managed to arbitrarily cut down the list to half that size.

Remember, these movies aren't necessarily masterpieces when it comes to acting, dialog, or even preserving a plot. Some of them aren't even necessarily that funny. But we've noticed if you can let go enough they are all quite enjoyable! Have fun (both dancing and watching movies!)

"Sometimes 7 Out Of 10 Is Just What I Need" Movie List:

About A Boy (7.4)
American Pie (6.8)
The Brady Bunch Movie (5.4)
Bring It On (5.9)
Bring It On III "All Or Nothing" (5.7)
Coming To America (6.7)
Cool Runnings (6.3)
The Cutting Edge (6.4)
Daddy Day Care (5.6)
Dodgeball (6.6)
Dude, Where's My Car? (4.7)
Eurotrip (6.3)
Fever Pitch (6.5)
Forget Paris (6.1)
50 First Dates (6.8)
Happy Gilmore (6.8)
Hitch (6.8)
Just Like Heaven (6.8)
Kindergarten Cop (5.7)
Legally Blonde (6.3)
Liar Liar (6.5)
The Longest Yard (2005) (6.2)
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (6.6)
Miracle (7.5)
Miss Congeniality (6.1)
Must Love Dogs (5.9)
My Cousin Vinny (7.2)
Rat Race (6.3)
The Replacements (6.1)
Rush Hour (6.7)
Rush Hour 2 (6.4)
Ruthless People (6.8)
Shaolin Soccer (7.3)
Showtime (5.3)
Sleepless In Seattle (6.6)
Soapdish (6.0)
Strictly Ballroom (7.1)
Sweet Home Alabama (5.8)
There's Something About Mary (7.1)
Tommy Boy (6.6)
Trading Places (7.3)
Two Weeks Notice (5.7)
The Waterboy (5.5)
You've Got Mail (6.2)
Zoolander (6.2)

Plus two honorable mentions which are two of our most favorite movies. They get honorable mention because they ended up "falling" into that 7.5+ range.

Singin' In The Rain (8.4)
When Harry Met Sally (7.6)

See you next time!

>>p.s. and if you think this is basically a rehash of the "Ahhh ... Just Screw It!" article but
told in a different way ... well, you'd be right.

I actually was thinking just that a few paragraphs earlier :) Incidentally, it's been on my mind
quite a bit this past week. I'll take the timing of all this to be a good and encouraging sign.

Hey! Look at me, I'm commenting!

Also, glad to see "Strictly Ballroom" and the Meg Ryan movies on your list, but "Bring It On
III" is really making me wince. A lot. Ow!

You should check out rottentomatoes.com.  While they tend to highly rank the overly
intellectual,independant, and foreign movies, it's a great link for reading synopsies, reviews, and
OCD nitpickings of movie errors.  It also has a great sort and search engine to find just the right
movie genre out of any decade/timeframe.  I always use it to figure out which movies I want to see.