Skip to content
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • PodBean
  • Subscribe To The My Pal Sammy Newsletter
  • ABOUT
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

My Summer Lair

Think NPR's Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: My Summer Lair with host Sammy Younan: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.

  • Home
  • Podcast
    • My Summer Lair
    • Space Station Oddity
  • Set The VCR
  • New Book Alert
  • True Sammy Stories
  • Toggle search form
Minnie Lane (The Pickup Game) My Summer Lair Chapter 114

Hot Docs 2019: The Pickup Game

Posted on April 23, 2019March 6, 2023 By Sammy Younan No Comments on Hot Docs 2019: The Pickup Game

There’s this weird assumption that dudes are somehow supposed to make it through life intuitively knowing how to save money and treat women properly and you know…be a man. Like it’s some sort of obvious concept: that males would effortlessly mature and evolve as smoothly as you move from room to room in your home.

That’s…not how life or love works.

The overlooked holes in this popular “logic” include failing to account for how people are raised, the experiences they’ve had (and the narratives they fashioned from them) and most importantly failing to properly manage expectations creates disappointments.

You can do everything “right” and still be rejected, lonely and alone.

You can do everything right and still be unloved.

You can do everything right even as you realize there are no right boxes to check or correct steps to follow.

That grim status has a limited range of emotions notably anger, irritation, sadness and despair. That state leaves you open and vulnerable susceptible to any sort of fancy ideas; anything remotely marketed as hope will generate interest. Which brings us to The Pickup Game by co-directors Matthew O’Connor and Barnaby O’Connor.

Currently screening at Hot Docs The Pickup Game explorers the alpha male culture of successfully seducing women. There are seminars for real estate, money management, cosplay design and much more. Seems obvious that eventually there would be a Tony Robbins type to show guys how to “get girls.”

Because after all if you weren’t taught this at home it requires mentorship. But good intentions are not enough and as we’ve seen in every action movie there is an omnipresent threat that if this falls into the hands of the wrong people it will go badly. This is what the documentary covers so well the slow eradication of humanity, constant emotional annihilation the suppression of value, the seedier aspects of manipulation rather than love and the shock of success.

Remember that old school Mary J. Blige song where she was actively “searching for Real Love?“

The Pickup Game is just a symptom…nobody who starts smoking really hopes to get lung cancer or emphysema. They start smoking because their friends are doing it or they look cool or because they have so much nervous energy and the process of pulling out the cigarette, lighting it, smoking it, I guess gets addressed. Multiple reasons why people start smoking and some of them are not gonna make sense.

And when it comes to dating and love and sex pickup culture is just a symptom. What Minnie Lane the dating coach in the documentary confirms is that people are actively searching for genuine connection; like Mary J. Blige’s real love epic quest.

Our society with social media; our naked indifference to the value of some lives and contempt for empathy is not designed for real love. We’ve eliminated vulnerability and decided it is easier to ghost people that are beneath us. That’s awful.

It’s easy to be critical of Pickup Game and this documentary does a solid job of that. However that doesn’t interest me. It’s where we go from here that the work begins.

The number of men who’ll sign up for these courses and seminars, who read these books indicates a broad dissatisfaction with the current processes we have for finding real love. I don’t know how we address that moving forward; openly Minnie Lane offers some difficult truths on how we many can succeed and become better lovers. I hope what she offers is true and it effectively. Because what she shares is not only optimistic but it’s also inspiring which is like the best kind of love.

The Pickup Game Trailer:

-28-

Movies Tags:Documentaries, Hot Docs, Hot Docs 2019

Post navigation

Previous Post: Trailer Alert: Joker
Next Post: Hot Docs 2019: Assholes: A Theory

More Related Articles

#CouchWorthy: Basketball County: In The Water Garbage Time - NBA
Trial by Trailer: Including…Birds of Prey Movies
#PantsWorthy: Hot Docs 2022 – Part 2 Movies
Trailer Alert: Avengers: Endgame Comic Books
Will Venom’s Carnage be PG as in…Pretty Good?! Comic Books
The Final…Final Destination? Movies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • #SetTheVCR: March 27 – April 02, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    This week's #SetTheVCR goes down a Rabbit Hole after a Knock At The Cabin. The dinosaurs are loose, there's a murder mystery and a couple of a-ha moments you can take…s'all on me? You're welcome!
  • #SetTheVCR: March 20 – 26, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    Big Names in this week's #SetTheVCR: The Sandman, Mr. October, David Koresh and Tom Cruise. All they require is a Watcher, Britpop supplies the soundtrack.
  • #SetTheVCR: March 13 – 19, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    This week's #SetTheVCR is a fantastic TV tour: from Local comedy, to Irish hospitality to an Essex County visit after seeing Changeland you'll want to wear comfortable pants. Or no pants…even better!
  • #SetTheVCR: March 06 – 12, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    We got historical farts, spies in a cold war and a talking seashell…that can only mean it's #SetTheVCR!
  • #SetTheVCR: February 27 – March 05, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    Selective Outrage, a ghost and a Lil Yoda…obviously it's time for #SetTheVCR!
  • #SetTheVCR: February 20 – 26, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    Smile! It's a fresh week of TV; you don't need The Consultant to know the Circus is back in town. It's #SetTheVCR.
  • #SetTheVCR: February 13 – 19, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    This week in #SetTheVCR we go to space, technology runs amok and the American Government has been keeping UFOs secret. Welcome to the future…in this week's TV.
  • #SetTheVCR: February 06 – 12, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    A #SetTheVCR week that starts with a #GOAT…but will it end with a #GOAT?
  • #SetTheVCR: January 30 – February 05, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    Ark you excited for another #SetTheVCR? Train your Watchful Eye on these fresh recommendations that'll make you Stand and cheer.
  • #SetTheVCR: January 23 – 29, 2023
    by Sammy Younan
    Can you read my Poker Face? You People are gonna enjoy this week's #SetTheVCR selections.
  • MSL Space Station Oddity: DCEU Is Pee-Ew | Batgirl vs HBO MaxAugust 5, 2022
    Sammy & Rob Gaudette discuss and review the status of the DCEU following the cancellation of Batgirl on HBO Max. Rob still has hope.
  • MSL Space Station Oddity: Contact Photography Festival 2022 | Culture SnapMay 12, 2022
    Sammy is joined by photographer Henry VanderSpek aka Culture Snap to discuss and recommend a happy handful of Contact Photography Festival exhibitions.
  • MSL Space Station Oddity: A Taylor Hawkins MemorialMarch 28, 2022
    Sammy & Stephanie discuss the shocking and sad passing of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins on March 25, 2022.
  • MSL Space Station Oddity: All The Batmans | Keaton To Nipples to BatfleckMarch 10, 2022
    Sammy & Stephanie discuss All The Batmans: from Michael Keaton to Ben Affleck.
  • MSL Space Station Oddity: 2021 Induction Ceremony | Rock & Roll Hall of FameNovember 25, 2021
    Sammy & Stephanie discuss their happy highlights from the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

  • Yaron Weitzman (Tanking to the Top) and Sammy Younan in My Summer Lair 148
    Under-Review: Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers
    by Sammy Younan
    Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sportsby Yaron WeitzmanPublished by Grand Central Publishing on March 17, 2020NBA // Non-Fiction // 76ers One of the best lines in Yaron Weitzman’s NBA book: “Hinkie triggered a culture war.” Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and...

    READ ON “Under-Review: Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers” »

  • New Book Alert: January 10-14, 2022
    by Sammy Younan

    My weekly collection of new and notable books for your pop culture pleasure and edification: #ReadMoreTweetLess.

  • New Book Alert: January 3-7, 2022
    by Sammy Younan

    My weekly collection of new and notable books for your pop culture pleasure and edification: #ReadMoreTweetLess.

  • New Book Alert: November 8-12, 2021
    by Sammy Younan

    My weekly collection of new and notable books for your pop culture pleasure and edification: #ReadMoreTweetLess.

  • New Book Alert: November 1-5, 2021
    by Sammy Younan

    My weekly collection of new and notable books for your pop culture pleasure and edification: #ReadMoreTweetLess.

Copyright © 2023 My Summer Lair.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme