I don’t have a problem seeing movies alone. Half the time, it’s for work, like if I’m running out on opening day to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop or Beverly Hills Chihuahua for one of our “I Saw It, So You Don’t Have To” posts. A quarter of the time, it’s a Kevin Costner movie. And the rest, it’s a romantic comedy or sappy drama that my regular movie buddies wouldn’t pay money to see because it’s not my birthday. Since I don’t celebrate that again until July, I am obviously going to see The Vow alone this weekend.

I emailed four friends about seeing it Saturday afternoon, and three of them didn’t even reply to ridicule me. One, who has already told me she’ll see that Zac Efron film The Lucky One, wrote back that she would’ve gone but she has to “work.” I don’t know why I’m surprised: The Vow isn’t a Nicholas Sparks movie, but it looks like one, and I had to go see A Walk to Remember and Dear John solo. What can I say? I have a high tolerance for clichés and I like to test myself to find a film that can actually make me hate it. (Lisa Schwarzbaum gave The Vow a D. I may have to go tonight!) I enjoy waiting for that one moment in a movie that I know is emotionally manipulative (or painfully predictable) but works on me anyway. I’m not sure if I find it comforting/amusing because it means I’m not dead inside, or because I then have at least some idea of why the film got made.