Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine did nothing but further enhance my opinion that 2010 has been the best year for movie releases in my lifetime. Blue Valentine was one of the few movies of 2010 that I did not see in the theatre, and I can only imagine the impact it would have had on me had I seen it on the big screen. It is a raw, emotional antithesis of the ideal life. As the movie ends, you will be grateful that what you have just seen does not parallel your life and hope it never will.
The 2010’s Love & and Other Drugs trailer makes it seem like the movie is a romantic comedy. In actuality, that could not be further from the truth. While there is quite a bit of romance and lots and lots of humor, the movie is far more profound and dramatic than I could have imagined. No purely romantic comedy can take you through the range of emotions that Love & Other Drugs will take you through. This movie slipped under the radar, earning just $32 million at the box office. Referred to more as “that movie that has Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brothers) and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Interstellar) naked the whole time,” it was more than it was anything else. I saw the movie for two reasons. The first was that I was intrigued by the buzz surrounding this movie’s release date.
To say that Frankie & Johnny capitalized on the success of When Harry Met Sally would be an understatement. While When Harry Met Sally was new, fresh, and celebrated, Frankie & Johnny felt played out, stale, and sometimes tiresome. This movie has all of the cliches that a romantic dramedy should have. A middle-aged woman is down on her luck after a number of failed relationships. Off the street comes a man who enters her life. She doesn’t want to like him. She doesn’t want to be involved because she knows she will inevitably be hurt again. So, instead, she spends her nights alone. He keeps pressing, and eventually, she lets him in. They have complications. She questions why he likes her. He responds with the “just let life happen” type response. We’ve seen this movie a million times and will see it a million more.
Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine did nothing but further enhance my opinion that 2010 has been the best year for movie releases in my lifetime. Blue Valentine was one of the few movies of 2010 that I did not see in the theatre, and I can only imagine the impact it would have had on me had I seen it on the big screen. It is a raw, emotional antithesis of the ideal life. As the movie ends, you will be grateful that what you have just seen does not parallel your life and hope it never will.
The 2010’s Love & and Other Drugs trailer makes it seem like the movie is a romantic comedy. In actuality, that could not be further from the truth. While there is quite a bit of romance and lots and lots of humor, the movie is far more profound and dramatic than I could have imagined. No purely romantic comedy can take you through the range of emotions that Love & Other Drugs will take you through. This movie slipped under the radar, earning just $32 million at the box office. Referred to more as “that movie that has Jake Gyllenhaal (
To say that Frankie & Johnny capitalized on the success of When Harry Met Sally would be an understatement. While When Harry Met Sally was new, fresh, and celebrated, Frankie & Johnny felt played out, stale, and sometimes tiresome. This movie has all of the cliches that a romantic dramedy should have. A middle-aged woman is down on her luck after a number of failed relationships. Off the street comes a man who enters her life. She doesn’t want to like him. She doesn’t want to be involved because she knows she will inevitably be hurt again. So, instead, she spends her nights alone. He keeps pressing, and eventually, she lets him in. They have complications. She questions why he likes her. He responds with the “just let life happen” type response. We’ve seen this movie a million times and will see it a million more.