The New Republic

This is a bit of a change of pace for The Plank, but since it's Valentine's Day...

In my apartment building in downtown Washington, there were fliers posted by one of the tenants advertising a "Valentine's Day Double Feature." Any and all residents, so long as they're single, are invited over to a tenth floor studio to watch two movies. The first film shown will be Primary Colors. For anyone who doesn't think Washington D.C. is a strange town, well, this should change your mind. Where else on Earth would somebody actually propose screening such a movie on this alternately depressing and romantic holiday?

The second pic up (no pun intended) is When Harry Met Sally, which unlike Primary Colors has the following two virtues (perhaps not entirely independent of each other):

1. It's romantic.

2. It doesn't include scenes of John Travolta stuffing his face with doughnuts.

I was cynical at first, but now I think the idea is offbeat enough to qualify as mildly charming. Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day.

--Isaac Chotiner

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