The Romantics

So, I saw the Romantics today... and since I've been doing research about the movie on the internet (Google is one of my best friends). Most people, or at least most of the reviews I found, seemed to think that the characters where exaggerated and unreal. "How can educated adults act like teenagers?". Truth is I kinda got the movie.

For those that haven't seen the movie it's about a group of friends that get together for a wedding. Who's getting married? Well, Laura's ex with her best friend and roommate from college. The most fucked up part is that Laura and her ex have kept in contact in more ways than one since they broke up. So, the night before proposing to Lila, Tom, was actually with Laura. So, the night before the wedding, Tom, disappears and the six friends decide to look for him, dividing in non-couple groups.



Laura finds him, and as they talk, she starts to tell him off, and basically they discuss their whole relationship with her trying to make him see what an asshole he really is, which we all get, and how weak. He loves Laura, but is marrying Lila. And Laura, knowing him for himself, can't help loving him. Meanwhile, everything is happening around them at the same time. Trip and the Adam Brody's character (I can't remember the name, but oh god! Can I remember Brody!.... geeky looking guys do it for me sometimes lol) start doing some coke and end up making out, while her husband and his fiancée get drunker and decide to run around the yard naked.



Later, Laura goes out again, barely clothed I must say, and Tom sees her and goes after her. They kiss and basically spend the night together. She wakes up happy, thinking he won't get married is my guess, and finds herself alone. And the camera shows us Tom hiding from her, basically because he's a coward that doesn't know how to tell her that he loves her but it's still marrying Lila. Besides, I can't help remember when he told Laura: "The problem is, every time we had these amazing nights,I would wake up the next morning in a freaking panic." Panic because how can you top the perfect night? How to go on from perfect??? So, he cowardly settle for what he could manage, what was not perfect for him: Lila. Laura was his ocean.

I must say that THE worst character in the whole movie is Lila. She doesn't want to hear the fact that he doesn't love her enough, that he's been cheating on her and the only thing that matters in her head is that she won because he is marrying her! Isn't that demented???? *Sigh* She reminds me of someone I use to know...

And who the hell invites her boyfriends ex to be the maid of honor???!! Haven't people learned anything from My Best Friends Wedding????? I mean, as we get to know Lila's character you understand that what she does is because she wants Laura to see her winning the last match. Laura, I get it, she's kind of her friend, she want to scream at Tom, and everything else... So, I get why she went, and why she shouldn't but making her maid of honor was a lapse in judgement.





Which, reminds me, what Laura tells Tom after her speech:

You know what?
It was easier than I thought it was gonna be.
- Laura


Really? Because I thought it was, harder,
it was harder than I thought it was gonna be.
- Tom



At the end, while they are about to say the vows it starts raining. Tom screams, Laura laughs... THE END. And basically me staring at the credits with a no-fucking-way-that-was-the-end face. What the heck happened? Are we suppose to guess? Invent it ourself? What kind of lazy ass writing is that?????



But ending part aside, I kind of understand the movie because so many of those things have happened to me or my friends. Tom, basically thinks that by marrying Lila he's making the more rational decision, because with Laura the relationship was too passionate, while the one with Lila was calmer, because she never let her temper get the best of her or lost control, no matter how badly she wanted to. But truth be told, the way she treated him was like so freaking patronizing!

What's wrong with people nowadays? Getting married simply because they are afraid of ending up alone, trading great passion for commitment and someone hot that doesn't matter enough to fight with, to miss?? Getting married without trust, loyalty, or even liking each other? Giving each other trained answers that they know and recite like a robot when asked how you met, was it romantic?? Please!

I'll give the movies a few point: (1) it shows how incredibly stupid people can be, (2) it had lot of passion in more ways than one (silence can be passionate or very desperate, filled with nerves, not being sure... like Lila's was the night before the wedding when she was doing the "emotional emergency kit": liquor, candy and cigarettes), (3) it had some really good lines, that said more than big speeches or paragraphs... For example:

Lila is looking at Tom, standing alone at the beach looking out onto the horizon, when her mother tells her: "He needs to love you more"... (and she is of course right).... "He has to love you more Lila, more than you love him. That's the only way marriage works."

Laura, right before they go out for the wedding, confronts Lila and tells her the truth about Tom cheating on her and how they still love each other: "You know I'm trying to change this feelings. I've done everything. Other guys, other, other, other toms, other jobs, and they say that it gets easier with time, but it doesn't! If anything the more time passes, the more I miss him."

Another one is when Tom starts saying his vows... “When I look at you, I’m speechless. Words fail in depth and complexity for my feelings for you. But the thing is, without words I have nothing.”



At the end of the day, this movie had everything to make it a great movie: a great cast, great problems, emotions, and complexity... the only thing missing??? A great ending because I'm sorry but rain, scream and laugh doesn't tell me anything! And I don't want to say that I wasted way too much time on this movie already, though I have, but if it had have a great or sad ending... a conclusion, doesn't matter which one, if he had got married or not, it would have been a WHOLE movie! As it is... it's merely the prelude to what can or could be.