As the man walks up to the beautiful woman to help her with her car, the crowd sweats in anticipation to see if the two screen stars will overcome their differences, and fall completely in love with each other. But in this gentleman's first move, he gets crushed. He struck out, got left high and dry, got dissed, couldn't get the time of day.

But being a movie star, this man was far from defeated. He shows up at her house to see her, and not finding her, befriends the girl's uncle. The uncle takes a liking to the young, eager man, and takes him to his niece. When they find her, our protagonist approaches the girl and begins talking to her. She returns his idle conversation for a minute, then walks away when he begins striking some deeper tones. But our hero is still not phased. He follows her down the street, calmly asking for a date, while she tries, visibly, to remove herself from the situation. This charade continues for a few weeks, and in the end, boy gets girl, and everyone is all smiles.

As the young couples file out of the theater, most are grinning at the charming, albeit cheesy, movie. The girlfriends of the world ask, "Why can't you be romantic, like that guy?" I responded, "Well, I suppose I'll try." But inside, I was spurred to say, "Because I might get arrested!" Would a woman really stand for that kind of pursuit in today's world where the psycho and the child walk hand in hand? Where do we draw our lines today? What is the future of romance in the age of sexual harassment?

Since the invention of the movie, actors have always been the ultimate in romantics. Behind their controlled environment, every pickup line can work, and every word be interpreted the right way. I'm sorry if you haven't seen the movie, IQ, (I might have just ruined it for you) but it illustrates an interesting point. Today, we find ourselves stuck between the ideal of lens and reality of miscommunication, sexual harassment and even stalkers.

I do not want to blame those brave people who have brought sexual harassment to the forefront for bringing about this dilemma. I can only try to understand the crippling effects of this social ill. Clearly I cannot blame movie makers, for they are only showing us what we want to see. It follows that the problem must lie where almost all of the great problems of our time lie, in poor communication.

Bless the genius who can get us to communicate better, that genius might never be born. But romance being such a rich and fulfilling part of the human experience, we will never eliminate it from our lives because we can't communicate well with each other. I suppose the answer is respect for each other. Although this may be another unattainable ideal, those of you who see the glass half full, keep reading. Respect will improve communication, and communication will improve everything. In the meantime, I'm going to try to be as creative as I can, try to have fun with those people who are around me. After all that's what romance really means.