I love it when I watch a movie or TV show and hear a mention of a place that I’m familiar with. Of course, I’m not talking about major cities like New York, L.A., or Chicago, since they get mentioned often enough. I’m talking about lesser-known places like Slippery’s Tavern in Wabasha, MN, which hosted a few scenes from the comedy Grumpy Old Men. I used to eat at Slippery’s every now and then when I was in college, so it was cool to hear the mention in the film.
I also recently watched Mindhunters, which was supposed to take place near the Outer Banks of North Carolina (even though the movie was actually filmed in the Netherlands). I’ve never been to the Outer Banks, but have been considering taking a family vacation there at some point, so it was still neat to get the reference there.
And I don’t know why, but I do tend to like movies a bit more when they have that touch of familiarity about them. Heck, I even like Home Alone because the main house is in Winnetka, which is not too far away from here. What can I say, I’m easy to please!