The Movie - Plot

Plot

The episode begins with Jerry ranting in a stand-up comedy monologue about age gaps in employment:

"What's with the age gap hiring policy at most movie theaters? Didja ever notice, they never hire anyone between the ages of fifteen... and eighty, you know what I mean? Like, the girl that sells you the ticket, she's ten. Then there's the guy who rips the ticket, he's a hundred and two. So, what happened in the middle, there? You couldn't find anybody? It's like they want to show you how life comes full circle."

A night filled with miscommunication begins when Jerry has two stand-up acts scheduled for the same night. At first, the Improv manager, Kernis (played by actor Tom La Grua), tells Jerry that the show has been delayed. Jerry is upset that he must lose his on-stage slot; he is more upset when, after telling Kernis, "You don't understand. I got this all timed out. I got another spot across town at 9:50, I'm not gonna be able to make it!" - he then learns, when he shows up at the other comedy stage later, that his spot was for 9:15, not 9:50.

Adding to Jerry's distress is the fact that a hopeful comedian, Buckles (Barry Diamond), "hangs around hoping that somebody drops out." Buckles always bores and pesters Jerry.

Jerry tells Kernis that he'll agree to lose his moment at the microphone, saying, "I'm supposed to meet my friends to see this movie, CheckMate, at 10:30."

George has been chosen to buy the movie tickets. At the Paragon Theater, George joins the end of a queue. He taps the shoulder of the man in front of him and asks, "Excuse me, do you have a ticket?" When the answer is no, George is certain that he is in the line of ticket purchasers; in fact, he is in the wrong line, the line of ticket holders. This will cause frustration and loss of important time.

Jerry decides to head for the movie theater to meet his friends. He is grabbed by Buckles, who insists on sharing a taxicab. Buckles irritates Jerry by trying out a new comic routine:

"Hey, do you think this is funny? 'Why do they call it athlete's foot? You don't have to be an athlete to get it. I mean, my father gets it all the time, and believe me, he's no athlete!'"

Elaine joins George in line, and they squabble a bit about films they've seen. Elaine says she hated a movie about Ponce de León: "That Fountain of Youth scene at the end, where they're all splashin' around, and then they go running over to the mirror to see if it really worked? I mean, come on!" Interestingly, George protests that he liked that film: "When Ponce looked in that mirror and saw that he hadn't changed, and that tear started to roll down his cheek? ... I lost it." George, identifying with Ponce, found it moving, whereas Elaine found no emotional or cognitive gratification in the film at all.

Kramer joins George and Elaine, but he missed dinner and wants to cross the street to get a Papaya King hot dog. When Elaine urges him to get movie concession food, he protests, "I don't wanna get a movie hot dog!" (Much later, in the episode The Gum, Kramer does eat one, but it is ancient and he vomits it up.)

The crucial destruction of the friends' plans happens in a few moments:

Elaine: Kramer, Jerry is going to be here any second, and then this line is going to start moving, and we're going to end up in the front row.

Kramer: Well, just save me a seat.

Elaine: No! I don't want to save seats. Don't put me through that! I once had the fleece just ripped out of my winter coat in a seat-saving incident!

George goes to buy tickets for all of them, but Elaine and Kramer want to change plans. It is now 10:20, and they can go instead to see the 10:45 showing at the theater around the corner. Elaine refuses, because "a miniplex multi-theater" has screens that are too small: "It's like a room where they bring in POWs to show them propaganda films."

Elaine finally agrees that she and George will go purchase tickets at the Multiplex, and Kramer will wait to tell Jerry of the change in plans. However, just before Jerry arrives, Kramer runs over to buy a hot dog at the Papaya.

Jerry, meanwhile, is suffering an apparently unending taxi ride with Buckles, and when he finally escapes the cab, Buckles reveals his real intention: "Can you get me on The Tonight Show?"

At the new movie theater, George is interested in another film there, Rochelle, Rochelle (a title reminiscent of Reuben, Reuben, the film based on a novel by Peter De Vries).

Meanwhile, Elaine struggles to save seats for everyone, and George runs afoul of an usher. Jerry then misses his second show after being delayed by his taxi driver.

Through a comedy of errors, everyone (but Kramer) misses the movie they were originally going to see and end up in Rochelle, Rochelle.