Let me tell you about my favourite movie – you’ve never heard of it, I’m sure.
It’s about this guy, quite straight-cut, career oriented, married to his job and wanting to marry a girl with the same job. His job is his life. Literally. And then when he screws up one day, all of it goes away.
Sounds familiar?
He doesn’t lose everything, of course – he’s still got his family and friends (the girlfriend is a rather different story, but we’re not supposed to like her anyway), and yet he feels like he’s lost everything. And he decides to kill himself.
I hope this doesn’t sound as familiar.
But then, right when he’s about to do it, his phone rings, and on the other side it’s his sister. And you know what she tells him? Their father’s dead. Well that kind of thing surely makes you rethink life, doesn’t it? Their father’s dead, and he – the main character, Drew – has to go to his dad’s hometown and take care of it. And no one but him can do it for reasons that make sense but that don’t matter to us right now. So he gets his dad’s blue suit, gets on the plane, and heads to… take care of it. And this is where the interesting part – for us at least – starts. You see, the plane is almost empty. There’s barely anyone there and so he, Drew, is moved to first class. And because there’s almost no one, the serving flight attendant is bored out of her wits, and she’s this weird figure that just can’t sit still – or stay bored – so she goes and sits next to him and doesn’t let him go to sleep even though it’s two in the morning and everyone else has dazed off long ago. She talks to him on and on and draws a little map how to get to his dad’s hometown for him, and gives him her phone number, and he couldn’t be less interested.
He gets off the plane, drives to his dad’s hometown, Elizabethtown – and hey, that’s the name of the movie actually! – so he drives there, getting a little lost on the way, and then one night when he’s really bored, he’s calling everyone he can think of. His last resort: our cute but weird flight attendant, Claire. He calls her, but then his ex-girlfriend calls him and his sister also calls, and so he just leaves Claire on hold for… who knows how long. And we like Claire already even though we don’t quite know why, but it’s her understanding, I guess, and her ability not to judge him but just to move on that make her so adorable and lovable. So eventually he remembers that she’s waiting on hold for him – this one sentence might describe the whole plot of the movie in a way – and then they start talking. And it turns out that they actually have a lot in common. And they have fun talking to each other. And she drives him into these bizarre conversations, and they listen to music together over the phone, and she sends him to steal beer, and he gets caught, but then the guy who catches Drew steeling the beer ends up telling Claire he loves her and then telling Drew the same. And it’s just this bizarre funny situation that makes you smile because it’s so silly and because a part of you wishes it was you that it was happening to. And then they decide to meet, not having slept a minute that night, and they drive to meet each other half-way, and they watch the sunrise together only to discover they have peaked on the phone. Then they split and it seems that they’ll never see each other again because she’s flying to Hawaii and she has a boyfriend and he tells her that he has a girlfriend – the girl we actually know is his ex, - and we’re just sitting there wondering if that’s how it all ends.
But you see, it’s a romantic comedy and you should never underestimate the ability of romantic comedies to bring their main characters together. So he goes back to the hotel – well maybe there’s something with the funeral arrangements between their separation and his going back to the hotel, but who remembers these things anyway? I’m telling you this story for a whole different reason after all! – so he goes back to the hotel and his phone rings. He picks it up and it’s her on the line telling him that she’s checking out this really cute guy. And then a balloon pops behind him, and guess what – she’s back!
And they spend this crazy day together, running around a cemetery, looking at statues and choosing urns for his father, and then they go back to the hotel and they go into this hall where the beer guy is going to get married on the following day. So the hall is empty and she goes to the microphone and shouts “I like you!” And by this moment you’re not even surprised that she would say something like this – you almost expect it because you see her silliness and you see her honesty and you like that. But Drew just stands there with a weird grin on his face because don’t forget that he’s this very straight-cut guy, career-oriented, conservative and he would never ever do anything like that and of course he doesn’t know what to say. And he doesn’t say a thing. But it doesn’t matter because if it were up to him, he would have never got himself into that sort of situation, and you’re just sitting there and loving it how she’s pushing his boundaries and slowly breaking his mould. And then they end up making out, forgetting his dad – who’s in the urn by that time – in the hall, then running back to get him, then sleeping together, and when she wakes up the next morning, he’s still fast asleep and unawakanable, so she goes out and he comes running after her. And you know what he says? ‘Oh, Claire, please don’t leave me, I couldn’t live without you!’?… No, not exactly. He tells her about his failure in his job and how he got fired after making a loss of almost a billion dollars (I mean come one, you’d fire him too over such a number).
And this is the sad part, so pay attention.
He says all this and then she tells him that at least for a moment she thought that he’d be actually sad to see her go. And he apologizes, but we know it’s not sincere. And then she says ‘You keep trying to break up with me, and we’re not even together.’
And this is where my opinion of the movie recently changed. Because you see, I used to like the guy. I used to think that she had such an awesome influence on him. She made his failure less painful, less important… she got him to enjoy his life more and to appreciate the time he’s had with his father. She helps him heal and even grow emotionally. She pushes him to his limits without him even realizing it because he’s having so much fun in the process. And in the end of the movie we’re actually back to liking him.
But should we? I mean, from where I’m sitting right now it seems that he could easily be one of the most selfish characters in the history of cinema. Because he had her right there in front of him saying that she liked him, and yet till the very end he kept her as a second option. I wonder what would have happened if his ex had called. Or if his boss was to re-employ him. Would the ending be the same? I doubt it. Because you see, all he cares about is himself. And despite her clearly being the best thing that ever happened to him, he would have never realized it if he had another choice.
And what about her? Oh, Claire, I love you to pieces, but you were too patient with him. I used to admire her, you now. I used to want to be with her because of how natural and honest and carefree she was. And so understanding too! No matter what, she always kept a door open for him, she kept giving him opportunities to come back until eventually he did. But did he deserve all those chances, Claire? Or were you really that in love with him to give them anyway?
My point is… hmmm, I think I lost it a while ago. But who cares anyway, right? I’m sure you don’t.
It’s about this guy, quite straight-cut, career oriented, married to his job and wanting to marry a girl with the same job. His job is his life. Literally. And then when he screws up one day, all of it goes away.
Sounds familiar?
He doesn’t lose everything, of course – he’s still got his family and friends (the girlfriend is a rather different story, but we’re not supposed to like her anyway), and yet he feels like he’s lost everything. And he decides to kill himself.
I hope this doesn’t sound as familiar.
But then, right when he’s about to do it, his phone rings, and on the other side it’s his sister. And you know what she tells him? Their father’s dead. Well that kind of thing surely makes you rethink life, doesn’t it? Their father’s dead, and he – the main character, Drew – has to go to his dad’s hometown and take care of it. And no one but him can do it for reasons that make sense but that don’t matter to us right now. So he gets his dad’s blue suit, gets on the plane, and heads to… take care of it. And this is where the interesting part – for us at least – starts. You see, the plane is almost empty. There’s barely anyone there and so he, Drew, is moved to first class. And because there’s almost no one, the serving flight attendant is bored out of her wits, and she’s this weird figure that just can’t sit still – or stay bored – so she goes and sits next to him and doesn’t let him go to sleep even though it’s two in the morning and everyone else has dazed off long ago. She talks to him on and on and draws a little map how to get to his dad’s hometown for him, and gives him her phone number, and he couldn’t be less interested.
He gets off the plane, drives to his dad’s hometown, Elizabethtown – and hey, that’s the name of the movie actually! – so he drives there, getting a little lost on the way, and then one night when he’s really bored, he’s calling everyone he can think of. His last resort: our cute but weird flight attendant, Claire. He calls her, but then his ex-girlfriend calls him and his sister also calls, and so he just leaves Claire on hold for… who knows how long. And we like Claire already even though we don’t quite know why, but it’s her understanding, I guess, and her ability not to judge him but just to move on that make her so adorable and lovable. So eventually he remembers that she’s waiting on hold for him – this one sentence might describe the whole plot of the movie in a way – and then they start talking. And it turns out that they actually have a lot in common. And they have fun talking to each other. And she drives him into these bizarre conversations, and they listen to music together over the phone, and she sends him to steal beer, and he gets caught, but then the guy who catches Drew steeling the beer ends up telling Claire he loves her and then telling Drew the same. And it’s just this bizarre funny situation that makes you smile because it’s so silly and because a part of you wishes it was you that it was happening to. And then they decide to meet, not having slept a minute that night, and they drive to meet each other half-way, and they watch the sunrise together only to discover they have peaked on the phone. Then they split and it seems that they’ll never see each other again because she’s flying to Hawaii and she has a boyfriend and he tells her that he has a girlfriend – the girl we actually know is his ex, - and we’re just sitting there wondering if that’s how it all ends.
But you see, it’s a romantic comedy and you should never underestimate the ability of romantic comedies to bring their main characters together. So he goes back to the hotel – well maybe there’s something with the funeral arrangements between their separation and his going back to the hotel, but who remembers these things anyway? I’m telling you this story for a whole different reason after all! – so he goes back to the hotel and his phone rings. He picks it up and it’s her on the line telling him that she’s checking out this really cute guy. And then a balloon pops behind him, and guess what – she’s back!
And they spend this crazy day together, running around a cemetery, looking at statues and choosing urns for his father, and then they go back to the hotel and they go into this hall where the beer guy is going to get married on the following day. So the hall is empty and she goes to the microphone and shouts “I like you!” And by this moment you’re not even surprised that she would say something like this – you almost expect it because you see her silliness and you see her honesty and you like that. But Drew just stands there with a weird grin on his face because don’t forget that he’s this very straight-cut guy, career-oriented, conservative and he would never ever do anything like that and of course he doesn’t know what to say. And he doesn’t say a thing. But it doesn’t matter because if it were up to him, he would have never got himself into that sort of situation, and you’re just sitting there and loving it how she’s pushing his boundaries and slowly breaking his mould. And then they end up making out, forgetting his dad – who’s in the urn by that time – in the hall, then running back to get him, then sleeping together, and when she wakes up the next morning, he’s still fast asleep and unawakanable, so she goes out and he comes running after her. And you know what he says? ‘Oh, Claire, please don’t leave me, I couldn’t live without you!’?… No, not exactly. He tells her about his failure in his job and how he got fired after making a loss of almost a billion dollars (I mean come one, you’d fire him too over such a number).
And this is the sad part, so pay attention.
He says all this and then she tells him that at least for a moment she thought that he’d be actually sad to see her go. And he apologizes, but we know it’s not sincere. And then she says ‘You keep trying to break up with me, and we’re not even together.’
And this is where my opinion of the movie recently changed. Because you see, I used to like the guy. I used to think that she had such an awesome influence on him. She made his failure less painful, less important… she got him to enjoy his life more and to appreciate the time he’s had with his father. She helps him heal and even grow emotionally. She pushes him to his limits without him even realizing it because he’s having so much fun in the process. And in the end of the movie we’re actually back to liking him.
But should we? I mean, from where I’m sitting right now it seems that he could easily be one of the most selfish characters in the history of cinema. Because he had her right there in front of him saying that she liked him, and yet till the very end he kept her as a second option. I wonder what would have happened if his ex had called. Or if his boss was to re-employ him. Would the ending be the same? I doubt it. Because you see, all he cares about is himself. And despite her clearly being the best thing that ever happened to him, he would have never realized it if he had another choice.
And what about her? Oh, Claire, I love you to pieces, but you were too patient with him. I used to admire her, you now. I used to want to be with her because of how natural and honest and carefree she was. And so understanding too! No matter what, she always kept a door open for him, she kept giving him opportunities to come back until eventually he did. But did he deserve all those chances, Claire? Or were you really that in love with him to give them anyway?
My point is… hmmm, I think I lost it a while ago. But who cares anyway, right? I’m sure you don’t.