My John

This is how I know I'm old: In a movie theater full of college students watching a John Cusack film, only a handful of people laughed at the "I want my two dollars" part.

As I've mentioned before, my favorite movie has not yet been made. This movie is a redux of a Jane Austen novel starring John Cusack. Which means that John Cusack has something to do with Jane Austen.

Tonight I caught a free screening of Hot Tub Time Machine. It's actually funnier than the commercials. The thing about John Cusack films is that they reference other John Cusack films. In Serendipity, he draws Cassiopeia on Kate Beckinsale's arm, and in one of his early classics, The Sure Thing, he points out the Cassiopeia constellation. In the beginning of Better off Dead, he takes a shower with his socks on, and in High Fidelity, Laura comments that he hasn't changed at all, not even his socks.

In Hot Tub Time Machine, as the guys are skiing right after going back in time to the 80's, they see a guy skiing with one of those old clunky original "cell" phones. This guy is telling the person on the other end of the line that he is actually skiing while talking on the phone, which means he won the bet and he wants the two dollars the other person owes him. Presumably this is the amount of the bet. Amazingly enough, only a few people laughed.

It's only a major part of Better off Dead: the newspaper boy who keeps showing up demanding his two dollars he is owed for delivering the newspaper. During the final race between the bad guy and John, he follows them down the slope shouting that he wants his two dollars.

Obviously, the audience in the theater were mainly too young to be familiar with the classic line. I'm not. That's how I know I'm old.

Or maybe I just really like John Cusack.