Love Happens
Hair: B+
In one scene Jennifer Aniston’s character sports braids and a knit cap. For the most part, however, she rocks her signature look wearing her long honey blond hair loose and slightly wavy. Of course, it looks beautiful, sexy and natural (even though we know it’s not). See my October 24, 2009 post, http://hotheadsgroupie.blogspot.com/2009/10/want-ride-in-time-machine-forget.html.)
Chemistry: D- I’ve liked Jennifer Aniston in other romantic comedies, but I didn't in this one...and sorry, but I just don’t find Aaron Eckhart attractive. He has an expressionless face, anchor person hair and an unremarkable body. This one just didn’t do it for me….at all.
Most Romantic Scene: Since this was a completely unbelievable love story, this is a tough one. I’m going to go with what had the greatest potential to be romantic. There was a scene where Jennifer Aniston’s character, Eloise, borrowed a bucket truck and parked it close to a stadium where a sold out concert was taking place giving her and her new beau their own private box seats. I’ve got to admit, that would be pretty cool!Lesson(s) Learned: The words, quidnunc, poppysmic and sesquipedalianist. Quidnunc means a person who seeks to know all the latest news and gossip. Poppysmic refers to the noise that results when you smack your lips. (For some reason that I still don’t understand, Jennifer Aniston’s character wrote these words on the wall behind random hotel prints. ???) A sesquipedalianist is a person who loves to use long and unusual words.
I was also reminded about how grateful I am that I got to go through the stages of my son’s life where he made me absolutely crazy. I’m grateful I got to hear clicking skateboard sounds when he landed jumps perilously close to other people's cars. I’m grateful for the piles of clothes that were always all over his floor. I'm grateful for ALL the parent/teacher conferences I had to attend. I’m grateful for the screeching guitar amps I had to listen to… and I’m grateful for the never ending homework arguments we had. The most heartfelt scenes in this movie were delivered by a Dad whose son didn’t live long enough to put him though these things.
Overall Rating: D (Good hair alone can’t carry a movie!)
The Notebook
Hair: A When playing a teen, Rachel McAdams looked adorable whether her hair was swinging in the wind on a carnival ride or pulled back in a ponytail at the beach. As a young lady, she wore her shoulder length hair in pin curls, waves and sometimes set off with a tasteful ornament or a faux flower as was the rage back in the 1940s.
Gena Rowlands hair was senior chic. It was chin length and quite healthy looking in a tasteful shade of white blond that perfectly complimented her complexion. I can only hope my hair will look that gorgeous when I’m at that stage in life. Since her character was no longer in the cognitive place where she woud’ve made this happen on her own, it was all the more touching. This wasn’t something that was explained in the story, but it was understood. Someone who knew this had been important to her in her younger days – maybe the James Garner character or maybe one of her daughters – made arrangements to make sure she still looked beautiful every day. She certainly did!
Chemistry A+ Oh my goodness. This movie made me rearrange my top ten movie kisses list. Wow! If you haven’t seen this one yet, please go rent – or buy it. I don’t even know how to explain it. There were sparks flying off the screen. I’m kind of glad I watched this one at home so I could rewind a scene or two.
Most Romantic Scene: There were so many. The one that I had trouble getting out of my head, though, was the one pictured above. It's also on the cover of the DVD. Guess that means that scene has the same effect on everyone who watches it. When Noah and Allie are standing in the rain and he tells her that it wasn't over when they were teenagers and that it's still not over …. before he passionately kisses her, carries her into the house and ravishes her with everything he’s kept pent up inside him for the prior seven years…. it is cinematic lightening in a bottle.
Lesson Learned: Ah… the passion/security dilemma… How many movie heroines have faced this one? In the end, they almost always choose passion and they almost always live happily ever after. In real life, the women I know who chose security seem to be better off. (They aren’t supremely happy either, but for the most part, their husbands are still around and still seem to adore them and they aren’t worried about how to pay their electric bills.)
Those who know me well know that I come from a long line of women who have done this the wrong way. My (maternal) Great Grandmother had a whole mess of suitors. This was quite the surprising discovery for my cousins and siblings and I when we went through our Grandmother’s attic following her death. (My Mother and Grandmother were raised in the same home as it was built by my Great Grandfather who had been a local contractor.) There were love letters and post cards from a number of different men all wanting dates with my Great Grandmother and/or her hand in marriage. I don’t know the whole story or timeline, but I know that she was married more than once. My (maternal) Grandmother married for security and was miserable. My mother married a guy of modest means - my Dad - who swept her off her feet but ended up breaking her heart. (He’s now on marriage #7.)
My mother reacted to what happened in her youth, just like Allie’s Mother did. I grew up hearing, “You can fall in love with a rich guy just as easily as you can fall in love with a poor guy." Mom also added this… “plus if and WHEN it doesn’t work out with the rich guy, you’ll get a better divorce settlement.”
What I heard when she said that was that I’d have to choose between love or money. I chose love. I married a poor guy who rocked my world. Turns out he rocked a lot of women’s worlds.
When I see movies like this, I tend to be skeptical, because I know how grand romances often play out when real life intervenes. Also, things are rarely as simple as making the choice between love and financial stability. In this movie, for example, unlike in Titanic, the "acceptable" suitor also happened to be a really great guy. Add these facts to the mix: 1) Being poor sucks. It does. You don’t hear music playing in the background while you look into your beloved’s eyes if there is a collector threatening litigation on your answering machine, and 2) Women are not helpless beings whose only hopes of prosperity sit on the shoulders of the men they choose. (Well, we’re not helpless now. Obviously women in other generations were much more limited in their choices.) I figured opting for passion was saying: "I’m not with him because he’ll be able to buy me a nicer car. I’m with him because I love him and I’ll make enough money to buy my own car, thank you very much."
I kind of had an epiphany watching this movie though. What was different about Noah’s and Allie’s romance was that he worked hard for her, that he tried to be better because of her and that he genuinely wanted what was best for her. Maybe I should change my assessment of the most romantic scene to the one where she awoke to find flowers on the pillow next to her and was directed to the painting studio he had built on faith for her. That was a deal changer. That was a man who didn’t just say, “You make me happy and I want you”. He said, “I get what makes you happy and I want to give it to you”.
I have many a friend who has advised me to be more sensible the next time I get into a serious relationship. I keep trying to talk myself into the idea that I’m supposed to be with a guy who is well endowed… financially (please get your minds out of the gutter :) …. and it’s been making me kind of sad. I have never been able to let go of the idea that I want to be smiling when I wake up in the morning. I do care more about the security part at this stage of my life, but I’m just not ready to let go of the passion part. I want both. I also want someone with shared values and someone who cares about my happiness as much as I care about his. I want someone to build me my painting studio. (Well my painting studio is really a beach house, but you get the point.) Can that still happen when I’m post 40 and most of the truly good ones are already taken? Gosh, I hope so!
Overall Rating: A I’ve been hearing about this one for years, but I never watched it until this week. I figured it to be a big stereotypical schmaltz fest. This felt so gosh darn real to me though. People who are "in love" throw the term soul mate around like phone companies throw around their latest, greatest cell phone plans. The couple in this film were believable as soul mates.
This was a beautiful story about a couple who had a long, wonderful, complicated life together. It had all the right emotional notes. I laughed. I cried. I lusted. (Did I mention that scene after they got out of the boat? Did I mention the part in that scene where a rather buff looking Noah, water dripping down his back, has Allie pinned against the wall when they first get into the house? Did I mention the part where he gently slides her stockings off? I could go on here, of course, but I won't. This isn't that kind of a blog.
Bottom Line: The scenery was gorgeous. The acting was inspired and the story was touching. Call me a sap if you want, but I loved this movie… just loved it!
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