MovieChat Forums > City Slickers (1991) Discussion > Nancy the checkout girl

Nancy the checkout girl

posted 12 years ago by The-Last-Prydonian
10 replies | jump to latest

While I don't necessarily condone committing adultery I can understand why Phil had the affair with Nancy (which Isn't the point of this post but I thought I'd just state that. In essence because of Nancy's mistake things eventually start to look up for Phil even though they don't seem that way to begin with. Now when I say Nancy's mistake I mean after she had done the pregnancy test and found that it came up blue. But what does she do. She calls Phil at his house only to get the babysitter because he and his wife are at Mitch's house celebrating his friends birthday along with their other pals.

So the babysitter tells Nancy where she is which leads her to make a bee line to Mitch's party. Now, I know she was upset and behaved irrationally but what she did was a bit stupid. She should have at least made an appointment to see her Doctor to confirm her pregnancy before making such a rash decision. At least that way if she wasn't pregnant she wouldn't have gone and wrecked her bosses best friends birthday party. As for the marriage that was already pretty much a over It's just Phil didn't have the nerve to divorce his spoiled, obnoxious wife! But to have Phil's adultery brought out in the open like that was not the way it should have went down! Not in front of whole bunch of other people!

Enough people probably knew what Phils wife was like but never the less! To be a middle aged guy and have it announced in front of every one you've been having an affair with a 20 year old girl. It's got to be pretty humiliating!

She should have waited until she knew for sure and then tell Phil and they could have then decided where to go from there! Either that or tell him her suspicions in private if she felt couldn't handle finding out for sure on her own. That way he could have maybe been there for her. Unfortunately that's not what happened!

[–] fistoffury 12 years ago

Nancy wasn't all that bright. In the movie, she certainly came across as a dim wit.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] mikekrit62 11 years ago

It's a COMEDY...the check-out girl's behavior was meant to be ridiculous to advance the plot and as a source of...COMEDY.

If she doesn't show up at the party and ruin Phil's marriage, then Mitch's wife doesn't see the need for him to go off and "find his smile again"...hence there would have been no story.

Remember...people do crazy, stupid things in COMEDIES because it's FUNNY. Doing sensible things isn't FUNNY.

[–] RustyNail80 11 years ago

Yup. She didn't seem that smart. And knowing that you are pregnant (or at least she thought she was) she wanted him to know right away.

[–] Rockhound6165 10 years ago

I love it when people like the OP tries to project their worldview into a character in a movie. Leaving out the fact that this was a movie and a comedy at that(the ensuring interaction between Phil and Arlene was golden), let's explore the OP's concerns. Nancy is a 20 year old girl who works as a grocery store checkout girl at a mom & pop supermarket(a dying breed for sure). She was either having an affair with Phil or it was a one time thing. Regardless, she realizes she is late, as she puts it, and uses a home pregnancy test which apparently comes up positive. Now here's this young girl, probably still living at home, who's pregnant. She's scared, which is understandable. So she does what she thought was the right thing and inform Phil. Was it irrational? Sure it was but she wasn't really in a rational state of mind was she. Just because this isn't how you would act, doesn't mean she was wrong in her actions. Not everyone has to act like you do.

[–] rochelle-rochelle 10 years ago

Okay, relax. This is not an after-school special. Nancy was intentionally written and performed as dim-witted. Lisa Simpson could teach her a thing or two.

Interesting. You're afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.

[–] disinterested_spectator 9 years ago

Given that Nancy is the kind of woman you describe, I don’t think Phil is going to get very far with his plan to start his life over with Bonnie, the woman he met during the trail drive. Anyone who has an affair with a woman, gets her pregnant, and thinks he can just blow that off because he needs a fresh start is sadly mistaken. Just what does he think Bonnie’s opinion of him will be when Nancy shows up for another confrontation?

[–] Quentin36 8 years ago

You do understand the concept of a comedy right?

[–] uruseiranma 8 years ago

Given that Nancy is the kind of woman you describe, I don’t think Phil is going to get very far with his plan to start his life over with Bonnie, the woman he met during the trail drive. Anyone who has an affair with a woman, gets her pregnant, and thinks he can just blow that off because he needs a fresh start is sadly mistaken. Just what does he think Bonnie’s opinion of him will be when Nancy shows up for another confrontation?

Well even in the sequel, Bonnie does come up in passing, that Phil gave that a shot, but he was still smarting from the divorce and all, and it didn't work out. Plus at the start of II, Phil tells how he's almost considering getting back with Arlene.

Though it is kind of the sad fact of most sequels, is that stuff you thought would end happily in the previous film, usually ends up unraveling for 1 or more persons in the sequel in order to create conflict and strife.

"Thanks, guys." "So long, partner."

- Toy Story 3 (9/10)