Movie Moves: Film Scenes About Moving Out (And Moving In)

I will never forget the wagon wheel coffee table scene from When Harry Met Sally, which captures so beautifully those early tensions about how to decorate a shared home… and gives a glimpse of the brutal division of property that comes with divorce…

Harry and Sally are over at the new apartment of their newly in love friends (Jess and Marie), who have just moved in together and are negotiating whether to keep Jess’s ridiculous coffee table. The jaded, divorced Harry says to them: “Do me a favor, for your own good, put your name in your books right now before they get mixed up and you won’t know whose is whose. ‘Cause someday, believe it or not, you’ll go 15 rounds over who’s gonna get this coffee table. This stupid, wagon wheel, Roy Rogers, garage sale COFFEE TABLE.“

What are your favorite movie scenes that deal with moving out, moving in and moving on?

Movie Scenes About Moving

The Money Pit: Here is a movie that will traumatize any bargain-hunting house hunter or anyone who has just invested in a fixer-upper. The minute Walter and Anna step foot into their fixer-upper mansion the house begins to fall to pieces, literally. (I am still traumatized by the bathtub falling through the ceiling.)

The Firm: Beware the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood.

Terms of Endearment: I love that scene where a pregnant Emma (Debra Winger) and Flap move into their home in Iowa (or is it Nebraska?) and flop down on a mattress in the living room, exhausted from the move.

Toy Story: You know, all that stuff about moving and giving away your old toys and belongings…

The horror movie plot formula: Couple moves into new home only to find it is haunted or there is some psychopathic neighbor who ruins their lives. Think Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, Rosemary’s Baby.

What are your favorite movies (or movie scenes) about moving?

(Image: Screen grab from When Harry Met Sally from Hello Giggles)