It happened to me again. Another movie I’m halfway paying attention to and then POW! First it was John Candy’s great flic Uncle Buck. Buck's sister-in-law had some lovely things to say about his friends, "all those trashy people he hangs out with... the woman who sells tires!" Then a decade later Nick Cage in The Family Man. Cage’s character is Jack Campbell, a Wall Street Ruler of the Universe type who wakes up in suburbia and much to his horror, he finds out he’s been magically transformed into a TIRE SALESMAN with a wife and kids. This brought a big roar from my family at the time.
"You mean I sell tires. That's what I do?" Jack asks his newly-found daughter when she tells him where he works. "I'm a tire salesman." The little girl simply shrugs...
Then, this past Saturday night I’m sort of watching a Russian spy movie called Red Sparrow. Dominika is a beautiful ex-ballerina, now superspy, talking to her dashing American leading man secret agent Nate Nash (sometime before he is tortured with a skin graft tool), when this gem pops up:
Dominika Egorova : Are you a patriot?
Nate Nash : No.
Dominika Egorova : Why do you do what you do?
Nate Nash : It beats selling tires.
Dominika Egorova : Have you ever sold tires?
Nate Nash : No.
Dominika Egorova : Then you can't know, can you?
Thanks for the nod Hollywood writers. Here’s a thought - why don’t we turn the tables and have a tire salesperson wake up as a spy and then try to save the planet. Would you like to nominate someone you know?