Have you ever gone to the movies by yourself? If not, trust me, you're really missing out. You can sit wherever you want. More importantly, it's easier to shed expectations, suspend disbelief, and lose yourself in a movie when you're alone. At the same time, you feel more connected with the entire audience and therefore more involved in the communal aspects of theater and watching.

I went to the movies by myself this weekend. Sunday, 8:00 p.m., energized from yoga and too much chai, I am restless and itching to get out of the apartment. Amelie is showing at the Dupont at 9:30. Perfect! I walk down and arrive 15 minutes early. "One for Amelie, please." I decide to get candy -- how unusual! how fun! -- and choose a small bag of Peanut M&Ms. In Theater 1 I settle in the middle of the 3-seat back row, but soon I'm obligated to move over and allow a party of 2 to join me. At first the male half of the heterosexual couple sits next to me. We strike up some friendly conversation about how small the theater is. But when I return from the ladies room ("I'll save your seat," my new friend jokes) it does not escape my notice that his blonde date now sits between us. Somehow, the rearrangement is not unexpected, as if it were an unspoken rule of solo-female-moviegoer ettiquette.

The movie was great fun. There are probably less-cliched words to describe it than "delightful" and "whimsical," but those are pretty damn accurate.