Week 4-Worse than the total agony of being in love?

(Note: this post is less of a film review and more of a rant about why The Notebook is lame and Love, Actually rocks.)

I didn’t really like The Notebook.

There, I said it. I feel like I’m betraying my gender or something, but honestly, the movie didn’t really do much for me. And I didn’t particularly like the book either. I just found it TOO overly sentimental and loaded with cliches. I mean, how many times has the rich girl/ poor boy/ parents hate him/girl picks rich guy then leaves him for poor guy thing been done before? And that whole ‘I’m a bird’ thing was just lame. I’m sorry, but it was. You are not a bird, Rachel McAdams, you’re just some stupid chick with fifties hair flapping her arms around. I’m actually not a completely heartless cynic when it comes to chick flicks, though. My pick for the ultimate chick flick would probably be Love Actually. I watched it for about the millionth time a couple of nights ago- it is, quite possibly, my favourite movie of all time.

I think the British are just exceptionally good at romantic comedy-and Richard Curtis has written some brillant comedies-Blackadder,Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hil and The Boat That Rocked. They tend to have a good balance of snarkiness and sentiment so it’s cute, but not throw-up-a-little-in-your-mouth cute. And I don’t really know why, but I just love Hugh Grant, whether he’s playing an awkward-Englishman type or a womanising jerk. And Love Actually doesn’t really take a two-dimensional romantic fairytale approach to love, either. Yes, many of the storylines are romantic boy-gets-girl type things, but there are also stories about platonic love between siblings, between parents and children, even between lonely rock stars and managers. There’s even one that’s pretty much just about sex (remember the guy who went to America to get laid?) Another thing I like is the fact that they’re not all happily-ever-afters. Some of them work out, some of them don’t. So I guess I’m not quite the heartless cynic I make myself out to be. On the other hand, I’ll never be a soppy romantic Notebook-loving type, either. Just to prove it, I would like to end on one of my favourite lines from the movie, which has nothing whatsoever to do with love: ” Hi, kids. This is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don’t buy drugs….become a pop star and they give you them for free!”