Gotta Give My Anger

Warning: Adult topics and language ahead. Reader discretion advised.

Last week's blog I talked about some discoveries made from watching my family collection of movies. Today, I wanna talk about a movie called Something's Gotta Give. First, I wanna state that I am a huge Rom-Com fan. It is my escape into a happy fantasy to watch these movies, even though most of them have huge glaring plot holes and clichés in them. I also know that the format is pretty similar from one movie to the next, just change out the details. So, going into this I knew what I was getting into and I was looking forward to it, and in the end I thought it was a good movie and well-written and one I would have enjoyed no questions asked in other circumstances. I had a bit of hesitation when I watched it, however. This next section contains spoilers, so if you're curious to see what I'm talking about and experience it first hand do it before this next paragraph. As soon as I read the description for the movie I knew how it would end, more or less. An older womanizer finds his world changes after he has a heart- attack in his girlfriend's mother's house. Okay so obviously given the description he and the mother fall in love. It seems intriguing and a unique spin on that sort of set up, so I turned it on. And I thought for the first half of the movie I was wrong, and was happy about it. I thought perhaps the womanizer (played by Jack Nicholson) was going to have a genuine connection with the young girlfriend and it would focus on the relationship I recently learned is called a "May/December" relationship. That would be interesting because it could focus on Jack's character transforming from a creepy asshat who is trying to finesse young, impressionable women to a mature adult who is dating someone younger because they have a genuine connection. And then when I saw his and the mother's interaction I was like dammit they're gonna like each other aren't they? Then, in walks Keanu Reaves. And at first I thought he was just there to have someone for the young daughter/Jack's girl to be with so that the mom and Jack could be together, no problem. And then, after the daughter was like "ooooh mom! he likes you ;)," I was pleasantly surprised because it introduced an interesting relationship possibility. First, it's Keanu Reaves. You get a romantic interest that looks like him-- past or present-- it's definitely a plus. But I've always been one more interested in the person behind the looks, so the fact that his character was also a genuinely good guy, smart, caring, attentive made the question as to whether he was a good option a no-brainer. Now, the other interesting thing was that the possible relationship between Keanu's character and the main female lead (the mother character who I will from now on refer to as FL) was that it was another "May/December" relationship, because FL was almost 20 years older than him. And normally with those relationships, it's the man that's older, and that is because women tend to mature faster than men so some women seek a man that is similar maturity to themselves. The potential relationship between FL and Keanu is interesting because even with his young age, he still matches her in maturity. So pretty soon after that line that introduced the idea of them being together, I shipped it. This also caused me to be mad soon after, because not long after that point in the movie did it become obvious that the movie would follow a trope for love triangles where the love interest introduced first is the one usually chosen. Even though many times the one thrown in later is usually a healthier choice that makes more sense. A lot of times I accept this trope because it's inevitable, and because the person the MC usually ends up with does some character growth. But for some reason I just couldn't get behind this one. I kept hoping I was wrong. I mean Keanu's character was a fan of FL which might have been some of the initial draw to her and have influenced his attitude towards her. But he then seemed to genuinely connect with FL as a person, and would constantly compliment and support her. Jack's character didn't even know her name after weeks of staying in the same house! And yet, it progressed just to make me suffer. I get the "opposites attract," and hot and angry feelings can turn to love, because it's happened many times in other rom coms I like and I am here for it. But this woman also has a genuine connection with a man that would give a healthy relationship. And, in the third act she got mad at Jack and broke up with him, devastating them both. Also that same night she completely stood Keanu up to be in that situation-- just forgot about his existence... FL did redeem herself and apologize sincerely to him and they started to date him. And was excited because my OTP was happening! It was so good because he supported and cared for her while she wrote her script for a play to cope with her heartbreak. I thought ending it there would be interesting and a good message. Sometimes you can change a significant other's mind about things and it still doesn't work out. It's okay for it not to work out with the first choice. And it's good to have a support system. Lastly, sometimes people can change their minds but that's hard. What's harder is for someone to completely change their personality. I also understand that part of what pushed them together may have been that they were closer in age to each other than their other romantic interests. But for two adults, being close in age isn't always the most important thing. As I pointed out earlier, sometimes people can be well-suited for each other despite an age gap. And sometimes two individuals close in age can be leagues apart when it comes to maturity.

In the end, I kept asking myself one question: if someone had the romantic choice between a genuinely good guy that looked Keanu Reaves and someone who was an immature ass that looked like Jack Nicholson, who in their right mind would choose Jack?!?! What bothered me most besides that was that at the end of the movie, it had been 6 months since FL and Jack's character had broken up. She was happy with Keanu's character, but when Jack shows up to finish his tour of visiting his exes to understand where he flicked up, she supposedly is still in love with him? I get that he may have helped her to realize she's still got it, but Keanu's character did that too. He may have been good at sex (gag), but I'm willing to bet Keanu's character isn't bad either. So Jack does the rom-com trope of the "3rd act kiss and make up" (one character screws up but does some big apology and shows how they change and they get back together- usually with a kiss), which I'm normally here for because yaay character development! But this time is different obviously. And the extra kicker that gave another point in the Keanu column is that when he realized that FL still loved Jack, he convinced her to go to him because that would make her happy and he wanted her happiness. How could not choose that man? Well, all I know is if I were in that movie I would be a shoulder for Keanu's character to cry on.

Anyway, that's all for this week, thanks for reading my rant, my Jellybeans. Stay happy, healthy and safe.