Every other blogger in Melbourne has been banging on about how
Shortbus is a must-see movie, so on Saturday afternoon we finally caved in and went down the road to the Kino Dendy to see it.
Now I don't know if the Dendy people have a special afternoon deal for pensioners, or if the lure of "unsimulated" sex is particularly strong for old people, but we were pretty much the only ones there under 60. The cinema was fairly empty, but here and there were groups of old women, old couples, and a rather worrying group of old men in the back row.
This was, quite frankly, a little disconcerting. I was suddenly reminded of an uncomfortable occasion watching Not the Nine O'Clock News with my grandmother back in the Eighties. A pastiche of Olivia Newton-John's 'Let's Get Physical' video came on screen, with Pamela Stephenson in a leotard riding a stuffed sheep rather suggestively. Awkwardness filled the room.
There was no awkwardness this time round, though. The oldies cackled with mirth at every new combination and contortion that flashed on screen. I enjoyed the film. By the sounds of things, they enjoyed it even more.
(If you do visit a Dendy cinema, try the choc-tops. To. Die. For.)