Classic Scene: Kicking and Screaming – “How do you make God laugh?”

DIE SZENERIE: Nach mehreren Anläufen hört der Literaturabsolvent Grover (Josh Hamilton) endlich eine Nachricht seiner Ex-Freundin Jane auf seinem Anrufbeantworter ab. Jane war ein halbes Jahr zuvor nach ihrem College-Abschluss an eine Universität in Prag gegangen, statt bei Grover in den USA zu bleiben. Seither hat sie mehrmals erfolglos bei Grover angerufen, ansonsten eine Postkarte an Langzeitstudent Chet (Eric Stoltz) geschrieben, der in der Stammkneipe von Grovers Clique als Barkeeper arbeitet.

INT. BAR – GROVER SITS AT THE BAR WHILE CHET SHOWS HIM THE POSTCARD FROM JANE.

CHET: She’s really happy, her new professor’s terrific, and he’s very encouraging of her writing.

GROVER: She stopped calling me. I thought about calling her. Just seems like a lot to do, you know? She’s so far. That long-distance code is so long.

CHET: It’s long.

GROVER: It’s really long! I’m not there. Do you plan to leave here ever?

CHET: (sits down) Why would I... leave?

GROVER: I don’t know.

CHET: You know, I sold term papers to make a living… and slept with undergraduates, the whole deal. After my seventh or eighth year, I began to feel like I was using myself. Somehow I experienced my time as a postponement of my life…but eventually I just realized that this is my life.

GROVER: I could see getting used to it.

CHET: I met a woman – my third American History of the 20th Century professor. We had this child.

GROVER: Nice.

CHET: That is nice. It’s nice. But it’s not for everyone. Some people need to have a real career…which is something that I’ve never really understood. You know, why someone would want to be a vet or a lawyer…or a filmmaker. I’m paraphrasing myself here…but I am a student…and that’s what I chose. You might need to choose something else, and that’s –

CHET stops in midsentence and takes a sip from his whiskey.

GROVER: I like that you drink. I like a bartender who drinks. Otherwise I feel like I’m being poisoned. (takes a sip himself)

CHET: Here’s a joke: How do you make God laugh?

GROVER: How?

CHET: Make a plan.