I think you missed the point she was making about women in the film.
1. women find love as well. Natalie clearly loves the prime minister, and the portuguese girl loves Colin Firth. And the girl body double is clearly quite keen on the man body double. And the newly married woman cleqrly loves her husband, it isn't her fault the other chap loves her, and it doesn't seem to make her unhappy.
2. Women often are qttrqcfed to men in more powerful positions. few women fantasise about being with men of a lower social status.
3. natalie isn't fat, but she isn't one of the very skinny girls more commonly seen in films. The bitchy comments made about her do not put Hugh grant off.
4. Agree the laura Linley story is pretty lame, but why couldn't she turn her damn phone off?
5. I think the point of the film is that everyone at Christmas ends up with the person they love most, and it is clear that she loves her mother most.
6. Emma Thompson's story is sad, but in a film like this that's inevitable, you are going to get some sad stories.
7. Alan Rickman's character seems very passive. he doesn't appeqr to be greatly attracted to the secretary. That part could have been done better.
8. I agree the fat jokes about the maid's sister are unnecessary.
9. The bit about the anerican girls and the english boy is pretty silly.
10. wwll, really you get that in most romantic films. There is so little time for a romance to develop in films.
the man in love with keira Knightley doesn't speak to her because she is married to his best friend. She only finds out by accident, when she sees the wedding video.
1. None of those women were the main character in those storylines. Why didn't we start with and follow any women that found love, I think is what the poster was implying.
2. This is a great type of argument for all the things people complain about in this film. I would add that there are actually many women that have a lot of money and if they want to fantasize they have a pool of older average looking, or even ugly men, or good looking men who don't have as much money as them.
3. Yep, she isn't fat, great that you agree with the poster and understand the body shaming media industry.
4. Because she's the emergency contact for someone that is incapable of handling independent adult responsibilities. Though, like so much in this movie it could have been written differently, but with blank sheet in hand they wrote that character into a lonely existence loving someone that cannot love them back in any way that would give them pleasure or solace.
5. I don't remember that, I thought she ended up next to her brother, moving on.
6. I'm a man, but I can understand the poster's point, and you did as well it seems, that if there's going to be a sad person in the movie that it is going to be a woman... or a shallow cue card wielding man.
7. Agreed, and it's not like anyone other than him would make advances on a woman like that. Her dance card is empty during the holidays for sure.
8. Agreed.
9. Agreed, and the posters point was it's very male centric in it's outlook, and this scene only drives that home like a sledgehammer. Ironically, so much so even some men didn't find it funny, entertaining, or in any way realistic.
10. Truth!
She doesn't need to find out since he'll be clear in the form of cue cards that he lusts after her and doesn't care about her happiness. One cue card has photos of supermodels that he'll hopefully hook up with and then forget about her.
If You're Failing to Plan,
You're Planning to Fail.
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louiseculmer
8 years ago
1. why does it matter which character appears first? Both end up with someone they love in most cases.
2. the film was designed to appeal to women chiefly i imagine, since women tend to be the main viewers of romantic comedies. featuring a rich woman fancying a poor man wouldn't necessarily go down great with the intended audience. maybe if he was posh. Impoverished aristocrats have always goine in for marrying rich women from families in trade, but it isn't necessarily something that would thrill the female audience.
3. she wasn't fat, but not as skinny as the women who were criticising her size. Women do that a lot. They can be extremely cAtty about other women's bodies.
4. her brother appears to be in some kind of institution, we see a nurse looking after him in the scene where she is visiting him. She could have left them to look after him for an hour I would have thought.
5. that was a typing error.
6. well, i suppose they could have had Emma Thompson as the adulterous one, but that would not have appealed to female viewers, who would sympathise madly with Emma Thompson when she opens that parcel and it's a rubbish cd rather than the expensive necklace. What would a male equivalent be? A pair of cufflinks? A tie pin? it doesn't have the same impact.
7. her attraction to him is probably based on him being in a position of power, but we see very little attraction to her on his part.
8. that bit is in very poor taste.
9. that part is pretty lame.
10. yes.
he does care about her happiness, the thing with the cue cards is intended to make her laugh, and it does. he is reassuring her that he will get over her, which is what should happen. Nobody should spend years getting over someone who didn't love them.
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Mr_fizzlepop
8 years ago
1. If it didn't matter than there would be more female leads in movies, especially romantic comedies, wouldn't there?
2. I was just making a real world point, and Reese Witherspoon could be an example of a rich female marrying a much poorer male.
3.Agreed
4. Points, and enough wasn't revealed for us to know how much is her and how much might be his possible quick descent to death.
6. Agreed, and I might not be as critical if I didn't know writers started with a blank page and can then make any character as well as the world and everything any way they want. No matter what they write, it's deliberate.
7. True, I was just making the point that she was quite attractive and could probably bag a single rich or powerful guy with just a bit more work. [ True story, I knew a really hot woman that was going out with a guy, but wasn't really happy. I asked her out, and she said yes, and I said "Drop your boyfriend and we'll go out" and she wasn't willing to do that. We got to be friends and I asked her about how often she was asked out. Her response? about 6 times a day.] so it's likely that our red hot secretary had offers, and if she toured the right locales, probably from rich men.
Agreed on the rest, but for cue card guy I would go back to the blank page argument and the fact that he is written as a guy that has a thing for a type of women that seems to be strictly based on looks. It's directed so that, yes, she doesn't find it disgusting and horrible given that he's the groom's best friend, but I can't imagine a realistic portrayal where she wouldn't be conflicted about him and her husband's friendship, which certainly wouldn't make her happier, and thus, had he thought about it, he would have realized that the cue card move had no chance of making her happier. Though you are right I think, that the character did think it would make her happier.
For many women, just him showing up at the door of their home and wanting to hide whatever came next would be enough to ruin anything that came after.
It's likely the realistic reaction shots would have been "oh hi..oh wait what..oh no...oh *beep* is this guy going to show up when my brand new husband isn't home..creepy stalker? Should I mention this to my husband? Conflicted! Fakey smile?"
They didn't write and direct it that way, but again, given they started with a blank page, I certainly think a better unrequited love story could have been created.
If You're Failing to Plan,
You're Planning to Fail.
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