Date Night: The Green Hornet

Until tonight, I was always highly cynical of the concept of 'date night.' It seemed to be to be one of those events married couples think they'll never end up having to force themselves to have.

But the fact is, work, domestic life and everything else does occasionally pile up on married couples for so long that they basically find themselves living more as roommates than lovers. That's never a healthy situation; so in order to inject a little romance back into things, the advice is to go on a 'night out' trying to recapture the feeling of what it was like to be dating again.

Furtunately, Mummy Militant is a very cool person to go on a 'date night' with. Hanging out with her always reminds me how cool she is to actually hang out with.

For example, after dropping Mini Militant off at the babysitter, she indulged me tonight with the very antithesis of a 'date movie' at the cinema: We went to see The Green Hornet.

Ginger action hero awesomeness!

More on that later - it's an amazing movie and I'll write about it tomorrow.

But what was worthy of a mention tonight, however, was the movie-going experience itself.

You see, we gaily trotted up to the cinema at the Bridgewater Commons and bought our tickets from the machine only to be told they were a whopping $60 in total. Mummy Militant thought that this was because the movie was in 3D. I said that would still be pretty pricey even if it was in four dimensions and included a virtual back rub from star Cameron Diaz.

The reality, however, was even better than that (sorry, Cameron!)

Because it turned out the Bridgewater Commons was one of three cinemas in New Jersey that didn't just deliver a movie - in 3D, no less - but also delivered dinner in with the ticket price!

We were ushered to our 'seats' in auditorium A and handed menus along with our 3D glasses. As we settled down to watch Seth Rogen and Jay Chou battle crime, I got to tuck into a delicious bacon cheeseburger and sink down two chilled schooners of Stella Artois. Bliss!

Cars! Crime! Beer! A trifecter of terrificness!

It was, quite frankly, awesome. Quite literally; dinner and a show.

And for sixty bucks, astonishingly good value, too. You certainly wouldn't get any change from that on a normal 'date night' schedule of casual dining followed by a movie. In fact, it's the most civilized way to see a movie I could possibly imagine - and one of those few occasions when I'm left thinking: "Damn, why don't they do this in Europe?"

Read about it here - and then go and book a table! (If it's still showing, I can't think of a better film to recommend than The Green Hornet.)

So I got a great movie, a great dinner and - all thanks to the wonderful Mummy Militant - I got to finally be totally on board with the idea of 'date night.' I can't wait for our next one!