Years ago, a friend of mine invited me to a movie that I’d already seen.
“You wanna go see ROYAL TENENBAUMS? I’m going tonight. Can’t wait!”
“Thanks, but I already saw it!”
“Is it good?”
My honest answer was yes. As a huge fan of Wes Anderson’s first two movies (I was one of the few who’d seen BOTTLE ROCKET in the theater—I gave it a rave in my college newspaper—and I’d kept the RUSHMORE soundtrack on repeat the entire year it came out), I’d made sure to see TENENBAUMS on opening night. I loved it (still do), and I knew my buddy would love it too. But that’s not what I told him.
“I don’t know that you’ll like it,” I said.
I could hear his hopes deflate over the phone. “Oh. Really?”
Mission accomplished!
Did I do that to be a jerk? No! I did it because I wanted him to love the movie! The hype was high, and I knew he’d be going in with crazy expectations. That’s almost never a good thing. The higher your expectations, the harder it is for something to meet them, no matter how good it is. So I tried to lower his. And it worked! He loved it, and when I explained myself afterwards, he was grateful. My little gambit had brought him back down to earth and allowed him to be surprised by the movie, instead of underwhelmed.
Anticipation is fun; expectations are the devil.
Which brings us to Dad Truths.
My book comes out in less than a month. Is it as good as THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS? Of course not! But what this newsletter presupposes is: maybe it is?