The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Cecilia doesn’t have a whole lot of joy in her life. It’s the Depression; her husband is an unemployed loser with an eye for other women; she waitresses during the day and takes in laundry at night. But, Cecilia has a passion: movies. She’d rather be munching popcorn in the dark than doing anything else. And when she’s not at the local movie house where everyone knows her by name, she’s daydreaming about the beautiful people on the screen and planning her next viewing. Well, she finally gets noticed by someone other than the popcorn lady. Tom Baxter (adventurer, explorer, movie character) walks right off the screen to meet her. As Cecilia says, “I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional, but you can’t have everything.”

This is such a clever and satisfying film. I marvel at its ability to charm me still, even though I’ve seen it more than a dozen times.

A