Kixo
Sep 9, 08, 3:24 am
I thought this was funny, especially because it cuts to the heart of the Diners Club brand perception, and the role of Diners Club in popular culture.
In an amusing indie film, “10 Items or Less,” Morgan Freeman plays an actor considering doing a low-budget film to get his career kickstarted again. For role research, he visits a Hispanic grocery store in Carson, CA.
He is stuck at the store when his driver doesn’t come and he has no cash. The store cashier, played by Paz Vega, scolds him and tells him he should take a taxi:
Vega: Don’t you have a (credit) card?
Freeman: [pulls out a single card from his back pocket]
Vega: Are you kidding? Diners Club?
Freeman: What do you mean? The rates are terrific…
Vega: What do you guys do when you get in trouble?
Freeman: [thinks for a second, and then remembers he can call his agent, who ends up being out because it’s a Jewish holiday]
Later on, Freeman takes Vega on a shopping spree at Target, and asks her afterwards, “Who do you thank?” She says, smirking, “Diners Club.”
These exchanges are funny because of the same standard amused/bewildered reactions I used to get from store clerks, restaurant servers and the like when I presented my card.
That has largely gone away as they see the MasterCard logo, and just run it through the machine without even probably seeing the words “Diners Club.”
Now only if Freeman had pulled out a Carte Blanche card!
The only other major reference to Diners Club I remember in a movie (the Danny Kaye movie excepted) was in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" when Steve Martin pulls out a burnt card to pay for a motel.
In an amusing indie film, “10 Items or Less,” Morgan Freeman plays an actor considering doing a low-budget film to get his career kickstarted again. For role research, he visits a Hispanic grocery store in Carson, CA.
He is stuck at the store when his driver doesn’t come and he has no cash. The store cashier, played by Paz Vega, scolds him and tells him he should take a taxi:
Vega: Don’t you have a (credit) card?
Freeman: [pulls out a single card from his back pocket]
Vega: Are you kidding? Diners Club?
Freeman: What do you mean? The rates are terrific…
Vega: What do you guys do when you get in trouble?
Freeman: [thinks for a second, and then remembers he can call his agent, who ends up being out because it’s a Jewish holiday]
Later on, Freeman takes Vega on a shopping spree at Target, and asks her afterwards, “Who do you thank?” She says, smirking, “Diners Club.”
These exchanges are funny because of the same standard amused/bewildered reactions I used to get from store clerks, restaurant servers and the like when I presented my card.
That has largely gone away as they see the MasterCard logo, and just run it through the machine without even probably seeing the words “Diners Club.”
Now only if Freeman had pulled out a Carte Blanche card!
The only other major reference to Diners Club I remember in a movie (the Danny Kaye movie excepted) was in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" when Steve Martin pulls out a burnt card to pay for a motel.