Sunday, March 08, 2009

If You Like Movies, You'll Love Moving Furniture!

Get ready for the game sensation that is sweeping the nation!*

(*Please note, this game has yet to sweep this or any nation. But when it does, I would like full copyright benefits. Also, I would like it to be called Ken’s Movie Game. Catchy, right? Well, I got my degree in advertising – so yep, I know some things.)

Back in 1996, my friend Steve and I were coerced by our wives into attending some sort of “party.” (Think Amway, but with make-up.) I don’t remember the entire theme, but I do remember at one point both of us soaking our fingers in adjoining bowls, in preparation for manicures. I can’t say it was my proudest moment, but Steve and I had been friends since before puberty, so it wasn’t the first time we’d found ourselves in a situation that would never be discussed afterwards. (Like the time we decidedly kicked a fellow Scouter out of our tent at Scout Camp, so a younger Scouter with a much more attractive sister could stay in our tent and tell us about what she might be looking for in a rugged, almost-Eagle Scout. That was probably the least talked about incident, pre-manicure.)

Anyway, we started talking about movie previews. And then we started talking about how often you see a tag line on a poster or preview that says:

If you liked _____, you’ll love ______.
You’ve seen them.
“If you liked Rocky, you’ll love Hoosiers…”
“If you liked Pretty Woman, you’ll love Green Card…” 
“If you liked Airplane!, you’ll love The Naked Gun…”

And so forth.

So out of awkward moment of pampering, a game was created where we would try to come up with movie tag lines that connected two movies in name only (or a nebulous association), but not really in any other similarities. In other words, the movies had to have a similar word in the title, but would actually be almost polar opposite in subject.

Steve had the first one:
If you liked Dirty Dancing, you’ll love Dances with Wolves.



It took off from there.
If you liked Pretty Woman, you'll love Little Women
If you liked Sleepless in Seattle, you'll love Sleeping with the Enemy 
If you liked Fight Club, you'll love The Joy Luck Club


Now, player beware. Sometimes you will think of titles that actually are similar in name and subject, and I won’t be there to referee in person, but you should know that that just doesn’t work. Example: If you liked Superman Returns, you’ll love Batman Returns. (If you actually liked one of these movies, you would probably like the other. So it’s true, not funny. Thus, no points. More appropriately would be: If you liked Superman Returns, you’ll love Max Dugan Returns. I think we’ve all learned a very valuable lesson here. Way to dodge that bullet!)

Now, once you are comfortable at this level, you are ready to introduce a new rule. That of the connection being more imprecise. Instead of just sharing a word in the title, it might be a shared syllable only. Or a shared theme.


If you liked Dumbo, you’ll love Rambo
If you liked Philadelphia, you'll love Fargo 
If you liked The Postman, you'll love The Cable Guy 
If you liked The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, you'll love The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 
If you liked You Got Served, you'll love You've Got Mail

One final note, when you are playing this verbally, you have to say it with as much conviction and excitement as a movie announcer would. Like you are just SO SURE that If you liked Mystic River, you’ll love Mystic Pizza!

So please enjoy this new game! If you are playing with a fellow movie aficionado, the two of you will have a great time. I would like to give a shout out to my favorite game players: Katie, Steve (the original co-creator), Chris C., Jennifer V., and my good friend, Mike C., who recently reminded me of this game, and is exceptional at it. 


If you liked The Godfather, you’ll love Father of the Bride!
If you liked Apocalypse Now, you’ll love Look Who’s Talking Now
If you liked Lilo & Stitch, you’ll love Thelma & Louise
If you liked Slumdog Millionaire, you’ll love Brewster’s Millions!

You got any? Leave a comment. 

38 comments:

Kathy said...

If your kids liked Polar Express then they're gonna love Pineapple Express.

Melissa said...

Great one Tobers ... how about this one, "If you liked the Pink Panther, you'll love Pretty in Pink.

Unknown said...

OK, I'll play even though I didn't make the A-list of invitees. No, I'm not bitter. Not at ALL.

If you liked "The Pursuit of Happyness" you'll love "Man's Search for Happiness"

If you liked "When Harry Met Sally", you'll love "Harry and the Hendersons"

If you liked "Hallowe'en", you'll love "Independence Day"

...and if you liked "Independence Day", you'll love "Born on the Fourth of July"

Kathy said...

Seriously, this is a VERY, VERY addictive game.

The Tober's Top Five in the 100 we came up with.

1. If you liked "Mary Poppins", you'll love "There's Something About Mary"

2. If you liked "Knocked Up", you'll love "The Break Up".

3. If you liked "Escape to Witch Mountain", you'll love "Brokeback Mountain".

4. If you liked "7 Brides for 7 Brothers", you'll love "50 First Dates".

and....

5. If you liked "Half Baked", you'll love "Sky High".

Jonelle Hughes said...

I am laughing too hard at this:

3. If you liked "Escape to Witch Mountain", you'll love "Brokeback Mountain".

To come up with anything of my own. Thanks Tober's!

Ohhh... but I did think of this:

"If you like Single White Female, you will love Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

Does that count? Do I get double points?

Mark@truenorthlv.com said...

If you like Terminal Velocity you'll love The Terminal.

If love Pirates of the Carbbiean you'll love The Pirate movie. (can't go wrong with Kristy McNichols)

and this might not work, but if you love War of The Worlds then you'll love The world according to Garp.

If you love Better of Dead you'll love Alive.

Not to stir up controversy, but if you love The secrete of my success, you'll love The secrete.

Ok so am not sure I scored any points. Do you give out participation points or citizen grades?

About Complete Short Sale Processors said...

Mark Cunningham sent me this message, so I'm sort of a hanger on, but I couldn't resisit.

This was a team effort between me and my wife...

If you liked Titanic, you'll LOVE Without a Paddle.

If you liked Silence of the Lambs, you'll LOVE Black Sheep.

If you liked Fast Times at Ridgemont High, you'll LOVE High School Musical!

If you liked Tremors, you'll LOVE The Wiggles!

Unknown said...

There are some true gems in here so far. I'm on a bit of a No Country for Old Men kick.

If you liked No Country for Old Men, you'll love Country Bears.

If you liked No Country for Old Men, you'll love Old Yeller.

If you liked No Country for Old Men, you'll love Grumpy Old Men II.

Please keep them coming. I so love this game.

Kathy said...

If you liked Adventures in Babysitting, you'll love Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

If you liked The Shinning, you'll love Little Miss Sunshine

If you liked Everyone Says I Love You, you'll love P.S. I Love You

If you liked Rush Hour, you'll love One Hour Photo

If you liked Wedding Planner, you'll love Four Weddings and a Funeral

If you liked Caccoon, you'll love The Butterfly Effect

If you liked Pearl Harbor, you'll love Diamond Castle Barbie

If you liked Newsies, you'll love Anchorman

Kathy said...

LAST ONE!!!

If you liked Never Ending Story, you'll love Burn After Reading

Kathy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lyman Family said...

This is a fun game...Here are ours

If you liked "The Lion King" you'll love "Silence of the Lambs"

If you liked "The Best Two Years" you'll love "Mission Impossible"

If you liked "He's Just Not That into You" you'll love "10 Things I Hate About You"

If you liked "The Other Side of Heaven" You'll love "7 Deadly Sins"

If you liked "Haunted" you'll love "The Great Escape"

Kayleen Lyman

merathon said...

oh, this is a GREAT game!

if you liked The Devil Wears Prada, you'll love Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid!

if you liked The Royal Tenenbaums, you'll love The Princess Diaries.

i SO want to think of more, but got to gets me to bed. i'm sure i'm going to be lying awake thinking about more to post tomorrow though, so thanks for THAT, ken! :)

Lyman Family said...

Aubree Lyman says:

If you liked "A walk to remember" you will love "running with scissors"

If you liked "Grease" you will love "Hairspray."

If you liked "twilight" You will love "Van Helsing"

If you liked "Harry Potter" you will love "The Potters Wife"

Lyman Family said...

If your kids love "Finding Nemo" they will love "Jaws"

David Handy said...

Wow this is fun! Let's see...

"If you liked The Princess Bride, you'll love Corpse Bride"

"If you liked The Joseph Smith Movie, you'll love Bruce Almighty"

"If you liked How the West Was Won, you'll love How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"

"If you liked The Patriot, you'll love Traitor"

"If you liked Deep Impact, you'll love Shallow Hal"

None of these pale in comparison to the fits of genius that have already been posted, but I'll be thinking about it and get back to ya ;)

David Handy said...

Ooh, one more (for now):

"If you liked Men in Black, you'll love Men in Tights"

merathon said...

if you liked Thelma and Louise, you'll love Turner and Hooch.

if you liked Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, you'll love Ernest goes to Jail.

if you liked Signs, you'll love Holes.

Mitch said...

I hope it is not requisite to have actually seen these movies, because I have only seen like half of these.

1. If you liked Raising Arizona, you'll love The Shawshank Redemption

2. If you liked the Life of Brian, you'll love the Passion of the Christ

3. If you liked Coming to America, you'll love the Mission

4. If you liked Strange Brew, you'll love Milk

5. If you like the Last Emperor, you'll love the Emperor's New Groove

An as a bonus feature -

If you liked the Ten Commandments, you'll love "10"

David Handy said...

Here's some more (I need to get a life)

"If you liked The Longest Day, you'll love Groundhog Day"

"If you liked Titanic, you'll love Remember the Titans"

"If you liked White Noise, you'll love White Chicks"

"If you liked The Other Side of Heaven, you'll love Road to Perdition"

"If you liked Mulan, you'll love Moulin Rouge"

Mrs. B. Roth said...

If you liked The Ring, you'll love Lord of the Rings.

If you liked Failure to Launch, you'll love Knocked Up (is that too inappropriate? Censor me if it is).

If you likes National Treasure, you'll love Fool's Gold.

Anonymous said...

If you liked Home Alone you'll love House of 1,000 Corpses

Anonymous said...

If you liked "M," you'll LOVE "Emma"! This game is AWESOME!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

If you liked My Blue Heaven, you'll love Blue Velvet.

Anonymous said...

This is fun...

If you liked Fired Up! you'll love Downfall!

If you liked Murder by Death you'll love The Lives of Others!

If you liked The Boat you'll love Speed 2: Cruise Control!

If you liked Bus Stop you'll love Run Lola Run!

Greetings from Germany... :-))

Anonymous said...

I think I'm getting addicted...

If you liked Mamma Mia you’ll love In the Name of the Father!

If you liked Chocolat you’ll love Milk!

If you liked The Truman Show you’ll love Capote!

If you liked Patch Adams you’ll love Dr. No!

If you liked Last House on the Left you’ll love A Home at the End of the World!

Carie said...

If you liked Princess Bride, you'll love Bride of Chucky!

If you liked Sense and Sensibilty, you'll love Sixth Sense!

If you liked Curious George, you'll love Curious Case of Benjamin Button!

If you liked Teenwolf, you'll love Dances with Wolves! (I know you already used D with Wolves but couldn't resist.)

If you liked Snow Falling on Cedars, you'll love Seven Below!

If you liked Saturday Night Fever, you'll love Saturday's Warriors!

If you liked Bugs Life, you'll love Mosquito Coast!

If you liked George of the Jungle, you'll love Jungle Fever!

kiki said...

If you loved "28 Days", you'll love "28 Days Later"!

Jeremy B said...

Best laughs I've had in a while. Thanks!

Here are mine:
If you liked Happy Feet, you'll love Happy Gilmore!

If you liked An American Tale, you'll love American Pie!

kiki said...

If you liked "The Aristocats", you'll love "The Aristocrats".

If you liked "Vertigo", you'll love "Falling Down".

If you liked "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", you'll love "Candyman".

If you liked "Adventures in Babysitting", you'll love "When a Stranger Calls".

Anonymous said...

If you liked "Taxi Driver" you'll love "Driving Miss Daisy"!
If you liked "101 Dalmatians" you'll love "300"!
If you liked "Save the Last Dance" you'll love "Saving Private Ryan"!
If you liked "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" you'll love "Band of Brothers"!
If you liked "A League of Our Own" you'll love "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"!

Unknown said...

If you liked "Snow white and the Seven Dwarves", you'll LOVE "Single White Femaale".

Anonymous said...

If you liked Chariots of Fire, you'll love Up in Smoke

If you liked WallE, you'll love the Wall

If you liked Gone with the Wind, you'll love Gone in Sixty Seconds

If you loved Ben Hur, you'll love Ben

If you liked the Exorcist, you'll love Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

and finally

If you liked Booty Call, you'll love The Phone Call (my apologizies to all old-school LDS short film fans on this one)

Anonymous said...

Actually, I don't know what an apologizie is. I meant apologies.

Loralee and the gang... said...

Fun game! And since you turned off the comments to your birthday post, Happy Birthday! (Late).
And I think it's OK that you have things you wish you could do over if you had the chance...as long as it's not anything to do with marrying someone else or having different kids!
:~D

Anonymous said...

If you liked The Scarlett Letter, you'll love Hunt for Red October.

And if you liked Hunt for Red October, you'll love October Sky.

And if you liked October Sky, you'll love Sky High.

You see, I've invented an additioanl version of this game, which we'll call Chain Movies. Tune in next week when I plan to invent Chiasmus Movies.

On second thought, don't tune in for that; I'd prefer that no one notice until 1200 years from now when the Craig Report and associated comments are being translated into a yet to be discovered alien language. On that day, some Amdromedan or a member of one of the lost tribes will discover the symmetrical nature of the game and compare it to ancient scripture, and then write a book about it that is overpriced and flies off the cybershelves at Deseret e-Book.

Anonymous said...

If you liked Space Balls, you'll LOVE Snatch.

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