It's Friday and here's my input on a movie I watched this week:
From the makers of Notting Hill and Love Actually, this romantic drama/comedy is about a young girl (Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine) who- just hearing the sex talk at school- wants to know all of the details on how her dad Will met her mom (they are currently divorcing) and his relationships leading up to getting married. The dad (Ryan Reynolds from The Proposal) reluctantly tells her but changes the names of the three women and says that his daughter has to guess which one is her mom in the story.
The woman -of course- are a blond (Elizabeth Banks from the TV show Scrubs and the Spiderman movies), a redhead (Isla Fisher from Confessions Of A Shopaholic) and a brunette (Rachel Weisz from The Lovely Bones and The Mummy movies). Beginning in the early nineties when Will has just graduated college and is off to help Clinton get elected, the movie goes through all of the years of life-before-marriage while his daughter crosses off her list which one she thinks is her mom.
At first, it was a little odd because he does talk lightly to his daughter about having sex (including a hint at a girl-on-girl love affair) but after you ignore that, it's a really sweet story of how much we change over the years, and the effect people have on us. I am a sucker for love stories but what I really liked about this movie is how it isn't just a man and a woman but about lots of relationships. During the "behind the scenes", lead actor Ryan sums it up by saying that in most movies/books, you know the love interest on page three, while in this movie, you don't know who he's going to end up with. Also, it reminds us that our parents are people, too, and actually had a history before children. I also thought it was interesting how the political scandal timeline follows the mood of the movie. People were so excited to have Clinton in office to "change the world"- they were full of hope and dreams (just like Will is when he graduates college). Then we had to deal with the disappointment of his affairs while in the oval office (which is mirrored when Will goes through a tough heartache in his life).
I did adore all of the cast. It says Dane Cook was up for the lead role (whom I might have enjoyed more- he's SO hot) but Ryan is really good in this. And of course, the daughter is everybody's darling. What's not promoted on the box is that brilliant Kevin Kline plays a small- but important role- in one of the relationships.
My MOST FAVORITE part of the movie: one of the female characters collects Jane Eyre books because her dad gave her one with an inscription (which she lost) so she's always on the lookout for it :D
I liked this movie and would watch it again!
**************************SPOILER ALERT*********************************
Well, even though you don't KNOW who he's going to end up with in the end of the movie, you really just like one character (the redhead) so you kinda guess they live happily-ever-after. It is odd that he signs off on this divorce papers without ever stating what the marital discord was about. We all want Happy Endings but in this movie, the ending is better than if he had stayed with his wife.
While watching the "behind the scenes", they talk more about his future career plans but I'm glad they left it out....I don't like politicians! It is weird they barely touched on what he does for a living...it would have been better if they had at least shown him happy with where he's working in the final scenes.
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