I was so excited to watch this movie, but it ended up frustrating me mostly. What a shame too, it started strong for me. I love the opening narration about how we have things programmed in our minds since we are little girls....the quote was “We are all programmed to believe that if a guy acts like a total jerk that means he likes you.” I think this was somewhere around the time where they show a little boy being very mean to a little girl at the playground and the Mom tells her that he acted that way because he liked her. That was so true, that we are taught that
I ended up staying awake until 2 AM to finish it, and then it kept me up for at least another hour, just thinking. It made me think of my daughters and all they will face in the all to near future. Seriously, one day my daughters can be saying something like this:
“I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”
The twisted journey of a girl into womanhood, in summary (more or less):
Be Mommy's little doll and Daddy's little girl; Grow up trying to find yourself, then all of a sudden feels good in your own skin;Then come the boobs, and they always come too soon or too late; Next a period; Afterwards your friends change and boys come in to play and you don't know who the hell you are once more; The next 10 years are spent trying to fit in and impress the boys and trying to find yourself yet again; Start a career, still have no clue who you are most of the time (if you know exactly who you are at an early age as a female, then you were one of the lucky few, us females are complex!); After the college years if you haven't found the one I have seen many girls make that their main goal. Quite sad really, and then there are movies like these. Really? Does it sound like we need it? Do we need to add this much more frustration with all of the other roles we have to fit in?
This movie makes dating more complex than an AP Trig class. There are rules, and exceptions, and signals, and it is plain exhausting. Have I been married too long? Is this really the way that it is? I wish I could just magically make this movie disappear so that I can sleep at night knowing my girls wont be watching some rerun of it on TBS one night when they are 13 and impressionable. I mean really, it is overwhelming.
Was the movie a chick flick? Sure. Was it funny? At times. Happy endings? Mostly. Realistic? I have no idea, though I know that not one of my girlfriends would ever advise the other one to go after a married guy, because he just may leave his wife for you and you will live happily ever after. EVER! (yes, that part just made me angry, to see us so portrayed so weak) Mostly in the end, I think this movie was depressing and long as heck. What a let down too with that star studded cast I was so excited about.
After thinking about it, I conclude that the guys actually looked better than the ladies in this one. We seemed neurotic. Them, cool and collected with us just falling apart at their feet. Maybe that was the point, if there was one. If that was the intention, then I am just bitter.
I can see it now, a bunch of beautiful twenty somethings sitting around watching this movie trying to make one feel better after a break up, with pizza and chocolate all over the floor. Not my idea of Girl Power, I will tell you that much. Seriously, I think a tequila shot and dancing all night in your sexiest heels would be more therapeutic.
Love is supposed to be easy. You find the one and you just know. Everything works when that love is real. It all falls into place. No games involved. It feels good, feels right, it is just easy. Right? Well fellow readers, half of you are saying, yes that is right, so true. The other half of you are calling bull shit. Talking about how nothing is easy. Love is hard. It takes a lot of effort to make it work. Does it? Well, don't ask me, those weren't entirely my thoughts. It is all just another point of view. More of fairy tale, romance novel, sort of hype that we create in our minds.
I think I will get a point in the worst mother of the year category on this one, but I think I rather have Gen and Bella watch MTV than junk like this one day. No Lifetime Movie Network for them until they are adults! Please, they have enough living up to those beautiful Disney Princess movies. The perfect little girl fairy tale. I think that is enough stress to live up to as it is.
Again, my opinion doesn't matter. It is merely that. Love is easy and just feels right, to me anyway. Its more about how you nurture that love, and keep that love strong, be unselfish, forgive, now that's the hard part. The nice thing about it is there are no rules! No exceptions! No little rule book to flip through. When it comes, it will come and hit you like a train, and if it is real, it will always be there. Yes, love gets hard, it gets messy, it always does, but if it is real, you will know, and it is worth it. Quite novel isn't it? It is not neat and pretty like Disney, but it certainly shouldn't be this hellish to explain either.
I know it all too well however, that one day I will be wiping away one of my baby girls' tears because of a silly boy. (he will be just a boy after all, they come and go, it is the way of life) When that happens, I will certainly man-bash, take their side, and go get them a fabulous outfit if thats what it takes. Then there will be movie night-- most definitely.
I hated this date movie, honestly I think I just decided I really hated it. But, yes, there is always that one movie that makes us feel better, my girls will have one of their own in given time. As for me, I will tell my girls, that even their old Mom has one of those. Undeniably it will be her, me, Edy's and it will simply and absolutely be "The Sweetest Thing".
*Keep dreaming my little Princesses. Enjoy it as long as you can. Keep it simple, keep loving, and you will live Happily Ever After, no matter what comes your way.
But always remember:
“if a guy treats you like he doesn’t give a s--- it’s because he doesn’t give a s---.”
* Disclaimer.....please no hate mail, I am not quite sure when they can watch MTV, I was just saying! But really, it's something to think about! Dont you love the parents that do not let their kid watch something like hmmm Harry Potter, (its the Anti Christ some say) but somehow Bat Man (you know the one where Heath Ledger scares the crap out of himself, I sware there were like 6 year olds there) is OK? Hmm? See, really I have no idea, only that I will not worry about these crap movies or MTV anytime soon and that Noggin is my best friend.
I cannot believe that my baby boy is 6 years old today! At 3:47 AM, six years ago, I had just endured endless hours of labor. I was exhausted from not eating in over 30 hours and from the pain and work that labor brought me. Yet in the still of the morning, my spirit was renewed, my life forever changed. The last 27 years didn't matter anymore. He was born, I was reborn. I was different, I was exactly where I needed to be for once in my life. Everything had substance, my eyes saw things in a different light. I would never go back.
"One last push" , the Dr. said, " before we take you in for a C-Section." Lights, camera, action, people everywhere ready to wheel me out. My mothers face blank, Johns face in awe. My heart heavy, had I endured these thirty plus hours for nothing? All was a blur, the seconds ticking. I braced myself. Took big breaths. Then silence. The doctor sang him a song when his head appeared, (sweetest thing ever frankly) then my last push. I was so tired, I pushed with more than I had to give, I don't know where it came from, but it did. (goes to show that a Mom can and will do whatever they can for their children, it starts at conception!) Then time stood still. Finally, the most beautiful cry I ever heard. First his, as he made his appearance, then mine as they placed his wet perfect little body on my chest, then my mothers as her life went full circle at that very moment. My adventure as a new Mom finally began thanks to the miracle of my perfect son.
