Can’t believe people are ragging on this the way they are. We watched it because it was a casual Friday night brain dead thing, but I sincerely and unapologetically loved it. So earnest and sincere in its belief in humanity and second chances, and so reminiscent of the rom coms my mom and sister watched endlessly twenty years ago when I was a teenager. I don’t know how one doesn’t like this sort of thing.
On one hand, it’s candy, but on the other hand, it’s so earnest. Doesn’t that sincerity and sentimentality have a place? Must we be so cynical?
I’m reminded of the classics of the 70s. The Godfather. Cuckoo’s Nest. We talk about those films as though they are cynical, but they believe in the human spirit, inasmuch as they remind us of our humanity. To be cynical is not to write about antiheroes; it is to abandon all hope. It is to write as though nihilism is inevitable. It is the MCU. “Everything is meaningless; please enjoy this mid-credits commercial.”
This is the utter opposite of that. An examination of what we might be willing to do for love, and yes, a simple film about a simple idea, but executed so well that to ignore it is to beg pretentiousness and feign ignorance. It’s absolutely Friday night entertainment, but made with a real budget and made by people who care. I’m here for it.
If Richard Linklater made this, y’all would be demanding a real-time sequel eight years later.