Jenny and I did something we never have before this weekend. We decided to take this relationship to the next level and experiment. It was a bit daring, some may even find it gross, but we thought it was time we tried to watch a double-feature of films.

The two movies we picked were Goosebumps and Vacation. Goosebumps was a movie I had wanted to see for a while because R.L. Stine is someone I admire. Plus I really liked the premise of the movie where all of the Goosebumps monsters come to life and terrorize high school kids. I mean, the fact that they terrorized high school kids was just a bonus. They could have attacked anyone and I would have enjoyed it. High school kids made it so much sweeter although nobody died in this PG flick.

I had very high expectations for this movie. It’s rare I actually do. Most movies I see have a neutral stance in my pre-opinion. This one, it had a disadvantage.

It did live up to what I wanted, thankfully. Even if Jenny and I absolutely hated the main character we did like Jack Black who played R.L. Stine. He was arrogant, weird, and had some incredibly subtle funny one-liners. For instance, whenever they were in trouble, he was always sure to point out how incredibly his writing is or how many books he sold.

The real Stine probably isn’t quite this cocky although he could be based on how amazing he is. Stine is an absolute American treasure and deserves a lot more credit than he gets. He turned an entire generation onto reading and did so by producing nearly a book per month in the early 1990s. His dedication to writing is inspiring. Among writers I look up to, he’s easily in the top five.

Vacation was also an entertaining film and had more laugh-out-loud moments than most movies I see. I’m a comedy snob so the fact that I did chuckle is a good sign. Without spoiling the gag, the best joke involves a rat on a man’s shoulder.

Our double-feature was a success! It was a date night that cost me only about $3.20 in Redbox rental fees. Goosebumps also helped to give both Jenny and I some more motivation to write. We’re in a plan to write one fictional short story for each other each month. Thanks to inspiration drawn from Stine, we were both able to complete it at the end of our deadline this weekend.