BEFORE: Another one of these romance anthologies ("romanthologies?") tonight - with birthday SHOUT-out #16 to Drew Barrymore (last seen in "Firestarter"), born 2/22/75. God, I feel old. And Bradley Cooper carries over from last night's film, so linking is a non-issue.
THE PLOT: Baltimore-set movie of interconnecting story arcs deals with the challenges of reading or misreading human behavior.
AFTER: I didn't care for how this movie tried to paint all men and all women with just two different brushes - all men seem to be shallow liars with commitment problems who use women, and all women, and all women are needy obsessive singles who (somehow...) turn into distant wives. (One assumes that if the needy singles land husbands, they become distant, even though those broad stereotypes represent opposing personality types) Oh, wait, there are some exceptions, but all of those characters are gay men. (more stereotypes follow.)
Stereotypes are quick, easy, and here they're a substitute for any character insight or personal growth. Now, one male character in this film actually breaks the "Guy Code", and clues a female character in on what it really means when a man doesn't call. (See title.) This is actually an original idea - and it would be great to see a woman use this information to free herself of her relationship dependency, break the cycle of desperation, and, I don't know - get some work done? Take a class, read a book? (NOTE: This is why I'm not a writer...)
But, she fails to learn anything from the inside info she's gathered, and continues to be needy and obsessive, just with a different person. So who's to blame? This movie comes CLOSE to making a similar point to that of "(500) Days of Summer" - that successful romantic love might be a construct of movies, pop songs and greeting cards (and that women get a double-dose of this syndrome) - but then chooses to move the universe and re-shuffle the partnership cards so as to imply that real true love suddenly DOES exist. So, filmmakers, are you part of the solution, or part of the problem?
There's an attempt to make the stories resolve (at least in the framework of the film, are any character's problems TRULY ever over?) in both unconventional AND pleasing ways, but it can't always meet both requirements. Besides, the damage to our society has already been done by that point. What's sad is that the male/female dynamic is portrayed largely as a negotiation, with everyone trying to make the best deal - and if a deal falls through, they just move on to the next best deal. It's so mercenary - it shouldn't be like buying real estate.
What might have been truly interesting would have been to show some characters who do manage to figure out how to read the opposite sex, rise above some of the B.S. and then accomplish something before just moving on to the next mate.
There's a hint of promise here - an implication that successful romances are like urban legends - turning a long-time commitment-phobic man into a husband was done by a friend of a friend's aunt's step-daughter. And that a Hollywood-style romance is the exception, not the rule. But then the movie sucker-punched me with two (or three?) of the couples' fates.
Maybe if these characters (and people in general) thought more about "What can I bring to this relationship?" rather than "What can I get out of this relationship?", they'd be more successful. I'm just putting that out there - but only ONE of the ten or so characters in this film come even close to thinking along these lines.
Another week of romance-based films? After this, I don't know if I can make it...
Also starring Scarlett Johansson (last seen in "The Prestige"), Ben Affleck (last seen in "The Sum of All Fears"), Jennifer Aniston (last seen in "The Good Girl"), Jennifer Connelly (last seen in "Inkheart"), F.O.T.B. Justin Long (last seen in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno") Kevin Connolly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kris Kristofferson (last seen in "Blade: Trinity"), with cameos from Luis Guzman (last seen in "Fast Food Nation"), Busy Phillips, and Natasha Leggero.
RATING: 3 out of 10 bridesmaid dresses
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