So, I wanted to do yesterday and today’s planting and payoff themed posts because of a question my Significant Other asked me after we recently watched Date Night (cute movie, I liked it...I'm sure a lot of folks didn't...if you haven’t seen it this post won’t make that much sense, and yeah, SPOILERS, I guess).
Can these two PLEASE host the Oscars next year?
The question was:
Was there ever a payoff for Steve Carell’s character never pushing drawers in?
I said, "Yeah, there was" in the scene where they break into the realty office to get Mark Wahlberg’s address, Carell forgets to push the drawer in and Tina Fey runs into it (and then later confronts him about it). To which my S.O. replied: “Lame! Lame payoff!” Thinking about it, I kind of had to agree, the payoff was weak (so weak my S.O. didn’t seem to remember it happened). We see early on that Steve Carell’s character has a quirky fault (he never remembers to push in drawers) but the only payoff is one little gag. It’s too bad, because I think the plant had potential.
So, you ask, since I'm such an expert, how should it have been done, huh?
One thought I had was that Carell not pushing in a drawer might have helped them thwart the bad guys in some way. Pretty good...but, I think it could be even better by thinking about how that specific plant reflects the themes of the movie. This is a story about a couple learning to break out of their routines, improve themselves, and appreciate one another…Tina Fey lets go of her controlling side so Steve Carell can mastermind the plan that saves them in the end…and Steve Carell learns to appreciate how awesome and multi-talented his wife is during their crazy adventures.
Since the drawer quirk is a fault, I think the best FINAL payoff would be if Steve Carell remembering to shut a drawer (i.e. fixing his fault) somehow helped them thwart the bad guys. Too cheesy? Maybe...it's just a thought.
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