Weekly Rec: MoviePass

MoviePass has been getting a lot of press lately, since they dropped their prices, so this isn't exactly a recommendation of something unknown, but I've seen a lot of "Is this a scam? Does it work? What's the catch?" going around, so I figured I'd tell you about my experience with it:

It is not a scam! It works! I have not been able to find a catch!

The deal: Membership is $9.95 a month. (Month by month. You can cancel whenever.) With that you can see up to one standard 2D movie a day at pretty much any movie theater that takes debit cards. (AMC has made noises about blocking them, but has not been successful - I used it there last week.) They send you what looks like a debit card, and you also have to install an app. When you arrive at the theater, you select the movie you want to see from the app, and then you go buy your ticket normally, just "paying" with the MoviePass card instead of a regular card. It's like magic.

So yes, there are a few limitations - it's only one movie per day, no 3D or IMAX or other special stuff, and you have to buy your ticket that day at the theater, so you can't buy it online in advance or whatever. But even with those caveats: membership pays for itself if you see at least one movie a month, and it's a good deal if you see as few as two. If you're someone who goes to a lot of movies, it's a GREAT deal.

(One note as to their business model, since people have been asking: They are owned by a data company. They are doing this to get your viewing data. That's how they can make it so cheap. So you can decide that's worth it to you or not, obviously. Personally, I don't really care. But I guess that's the "catch," if you see it that way.)

What I'm really loving about this (other than, you know, saving money) is the sense of FREEDOM it gives me about seeing movies. I no longer have to debate with myself whether any given movie will be worth the price of admission. I can just go see everything! Or, more truthfully, it becomes just a question of debating which movies are worth the TIME investment, but still. Guilt-free movie-going whenever I feel like it is AMAZING.

In related news, I saw The Snowman and it was just as terrible as you've heard and I had a GREAT time.