illicit diversions

The Watch It Now thing from Netflix is actually pretty cool. You can watch those crappy movies and TV shows that don’t really seem worth the several day wait for the disc to be mailed to you, and you can see the things you actually care about in DVD quality with the regular mail service.

That said, the first thing I watched that way was kind of a dud.

The sad thing is, this movie has all the hallmarks of a story I could really like. Ridiculous plot? Check. Angsty misunderstanding? Check. Lies, more lies, and selfish deceit? By the metric fuckton. So, I will completely admit, I was primed to love this stupid piece of shit movie. Except then it all went to hell in a sexist hand basket. (Are we actually surprised? No, but a girl can dream.)

I actually kind of liked the first half of the movie. Ridiculousness, silly scenes, overblown conniving – exactly my cup of tea. It was how everything was tied up at the end that completely ruined it for me.

1) Hypocrisy. Okay, so yes, everyone does it. But I expect a little more from my fictional characters. She is upset because he was doing it on a bet that will determine his career trajectory? When she was doing it all for an article? When all is said and done, those who live in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing stones around that casually. Both of them get a giant FAIL here.

2) Him. They did a pretty good job of showing what she saw in him, but what did he see in her? The entire movie, we’re shown him time after time gritting his teeth and trying to hang on to her, all for the sake of a bet that will bolster his career. We get a little bit of what he’s feeling during the visit home, but I’m not convinced enough for it to counteract everything that has come before. So his mad dash to get her back when he thinks she really did love him didn’t do it for me. Plus, it’d be cool to see him liking something else about her besides her love of basketball and ability to use his relatives to cheat at cards.

Which brings us to the last and most egregious sin committed by this movie.

3) The Taxi Scene. This is me wearing my radical feminist hat again, but this scene completely ruined the movie for me. Instead of “Don’t go to a job interview in DC because I am here and not there”, the correct answer was for him to kiss her sweetly, wish her luck, and with a lusty look in his eye, tell her to hurry back. Later, they could discuss her applying for jobs in the city, or a long distance relationship (now that he’s making the even bigger bucks with his ‘awesome’ new add campaign, he can probably afford it), or talk of him finding a job there. None of this shutting down her career bullshit. That completely pissed me off, and ultimately makes this movie a complete FAIL.