The juxtaposition between the sweltering outdoors and the meat locker that is my local movie theater seems to inhibit my neurons from doing their thang sometimes. Wasn’t I just sweating? Why has hypothermia now set in? Why is the popcorn dancing on screen when it’s about to meet its untimely demise?  In short, it’s difficult to think clearly when the lights dim in summertime, which is most likely why those mindless big blockbusters typically do so well as our nation’s birthday rolls around. (Will Smith, you’re still my king of summer.) So imagine my surprise when I saw “Inception” over the weekend, a movie that demanded far more from me than I would have anticipated at my midnight viewing. This was not a canned movie with canned explosions and canned dialogue and Megan Fox’s cans; it was an epic experience that had me whispering philosophical musings play-by-play to myself and my unlucky viewing partner.

In case you haven’t seen it, the title of the movie derives from the notion that Leo and company must implant, or incept, an idea within their target’s mind.  Being the PR working nerd that I am, I thought about how this plot made my identical twin, Leo, and I even more indistinguishable beyond our flawless, angular jawlines. The PR industry recognizes that merely telling people what to think, what to buy or what to wear won’t work (unless you have the Old Spice man doing swan dives (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTIowBF0kE) for you). No, our job is to break down the essence of a product or brand into its purest form, and to present that essence to the public so that they can come to their own decisions. We just do the quiet guiding on the sidelines. So thank you, Christopher Nolan, for taking 10 years to describe to the discerning public what it is the world of PR does. We think you’re cool, too.