There has been plenty of controversy surrounding this movie. Whether it's the use of CGI to recreate the dwarfs, the protagonist making outrageous allegations, the change in release dates, or the horrible casting where they made Gal Gadot the evil stepmother, there has been no lack of commentary. In what world is Gal Gadot not more beautiful than anybody else? Come on! She is Wonder Woman! Several outlets are rating this movie as unwatchable, yet I wanted to see it for myself and make my own judgment. If you had asked me which Disney princess I identify with, I would say Belle, Jasmine, or even Rapunzel, but never Snow White. She was always a very one-dimensional character; she was young, sang about a prince, was kind, and ate an apple. No real personality there, not enough of a backstory. I can say now that this new Rachel-Zegler-version of Snow White is more relatable than it has ever been. Spoiler alerts incoming!

I heard people arguing this story completely destroys the original plot, but then I asked myself, which original plot? The PG poorly summarized version of it? Snow White is a story that dates back centuries, and over time, the story has evolved many times. So, this are a few of the differences I observe. 

1. We get to know Snow White a little better, as well as her parents. Previously, I didn't know much about them either. In this version, we learn about the princess's education, the values she was raised with, and the kind of ruler her father was, all of which add to the story. 

2. We get a more detailed story about how the evil witch became Queen and how her evil tactics turned the kingdom's peaceful citizens into soldiers. 

3. The prince is not a prince, it is a peasant, a common thief, he does kiss her and wake her up from that poisonous apple curse, but beyond that, he fights along side Snow White, so he doesn't "save her" as much as they save the kingdom together. 

Zegler is a great singer; we saw that in "West Side Story," and she accurately captured the spirit of this princess. Gadot is, in my opinion, not evil enough; she tries, but fails to be scary and menacing, in my opinion. Besides the acting, the use of colour (or the lack of it) plays a crucial part in this movie's aesthetic, and I enjoyed watching the transitions. They still manage to keep some of the original score from the cartoon version, which older generations can appreciate. I enjoyed this movie, it brought new life to a very bland character. Still I wouldn't have chosen that cast to begin with. Sadly, all this controversy has tarnished what could have been a great real-life princess movie. As we move forward, we also have to take into consideration, stories like this, they have been passed on from the generation to generation and they have evolved or morphed, and it is ok to change the message, it is ok to make the story richer, as long as the main characters stay true to their essence and the target audience is considered. In this case, I much enjoyed this movie compared to the overly prolongued version of "The Little Mermaid". I also thought the qualities that Snow White is pursuing encourage new generations of girls to be more the protagonist of their life, less of a damsel in distress: be fearless, fair, brave, and true. I give it a "theatre-worthy" rating. Go watch it, see for yourself.

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny

Wicked - Part 1

It was at least 12 years ago when I saw "Wicked" on stage in a Broadway Across Canada production. I remember hearing about this clever story even before that, where everything is told from the villain's point of view. Everyone has an origin story, and everyone's why has always been the story I love to read and see the most. This movie was shamelessly promoted for months and months before its release, and it is hard to live up to the hype, but it did, at least for me, it more than did. What I know about Ariana Grande was that she has a great voice and she can do singing impressions with remarkable ease, I had no idea who Cynthia Erivo was or whether she could match Idina Menzel's Elphaba. From my kid watching reruns of "Victorious" I saw Ariana had some years of comedic training, and even though you can't compare apples to pears, I can appreciate the character development from a one-dimensional dumb girl to a fun-loving good-hearted witch from Oz. The movie starts at the end, and Glinda (formerly known as Galinda), the Good Witch, tries to explain to the Munchkins that behind the Wicked Witch of the West, there was a very human woman with hopes and dreams and parents who failed her since the beginning. 

What you can sense throughout the film is that every detail is accounted for, and it is a labour of love, one that took many years to bring to the big screen. The director, the cast, the original Broadway composers and screenwriters, as well as the original cast's cameos, confirmed this is a story as relevant today as it was 25 years ago. And this, a story told so many times, feels different and special because it is not a carbon copy of the original production. It has its own heart and merit, the singers, the choreography, the larger-than-life sets, the incredible supporting actors behind it, it makes the movie flow effortlessly. It is a long movie, 2 hrs. 40 min., but it felt like a blink, one in which I laughed, cried, felt seen, identified with, and outraged. I recommend you watch it in theatres if that is still possible, or just buy it to watch and enjoy from the comfort of your home as often as you want. We (my girls and I) have watched it at least 5 times already, and we have the movie soundtrack on repeat on Spotify. Warning: This is a musical, so if you are not into it, then don't watch it. However, from all the musicals I have seen, this one is very tolerable because of all the other components of the film. Kudos to the casting department, the actors delivered their best performance, from Popular Galinda (Ariana Grande), misunderstood Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), bad-boy Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey breaking hearts again), wise professor Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), master gaslighter of Oz (Goldblum) to evil mastermind M. Morrible (brilliant Michelle Yeoh). I hope the Academy doesn't do to "Wicked" what they did to the "Barbie" movie because it should be ok for a movie to be a box office hit and an award-winning production at the same time; sometimes all planets aligned. 

Days after we watched it, my 10-year-old daughter asked me, "Mom, do you rather do good things but be seen as a bad person, or bad things but be seen as a good person?" thinking about Elphaba. I said, "I would rather do good things, even if nobody believes in them, even if it is not popular; doing the right thing should be the only choice." What an important lesson to leave behind, and who knew green goes so well with pink, wink-wink. This movie is already "part of my collection".

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny

 

We Live in Time

 

I was not a fan of Florence Pugh. Frankly, I thought of her like many of those trendy Hollywood actrices that are too cool to be real and that aren't really talented. It also didn't help that most of Florence's performances happen to be of characters I hate, like  Amy in Little Women or Yelena in Black Widow, mostly the first one (I am a Jo not an Amy). I did enjoy her in this movie and my love for Andrew Garfield just grew bigger. 

I went to see this movie with my husband, which is a rarity these days since we are both busy and are you usually taking care of the girls so the other one can enjoy some grown-up time. He was very confused with his movie because it doesn't follow a chronological sequence. It starts with Florence's character running on the British countryside cooking something for her partner and then it goes to a completely different place. I enjoy that you get to see glimpses of their lives at various points in the relationship. I was mortified by the birth scene but it was equally moving and funny, which is hard to achieve with pushing a baby out of your body. 

This movie touches in key elements on what a healthy modern relationship should look like: 

1. We should put the cards on the table to make our potential partner aware of our expectations: career and family wise. 

2. We should support our partner to do with they love, to be successful in what they love, without guilt. 

3. We should put our family first, when the going gets tough. 

I found both characters very sincere and lovable. Andrew always has a way to show male vulnerability in a beautiful way. Men always talk about women wanting alpha males not betas. I disagree, that is a very binary way of looking at things. I think the man of this generation, the ones becoming husbands and fathers right now understand that women are looking for supportive partners, good fathers, people that allow your true self to shine, and not dim their light. 

I found a couple of scenes quite heartbreaking (spoiler coming); like when Florence's character tries to make her hair-shaving-due-to-chemo fun for her daughter so she is not afraid or when Andrew's character has to throw away their wedding invitation in order to attend the food competition. I found those very real, we as parents don't want to scare our children, we want to be able to support our partners, even when we are mad at them, we want to leave something behind so the world can remember us, that is very valid. 

When the movie ended I thought, if she would have removed her ovaries on the first cancer appearance she probably wouldn't have died so young, but then, she wouldn't have been a mother, probably something that this woman thought about or maybe she didn't, but then I thought, if given the choice I would probably would have done the exact same thing, because my life wasn't complete until I became a mother. 

I would say this would fall under the "it will be part of my collection" but I don't think I can rewatch a lot, because it is sad, usually movies in my collection (the ones I can watch 1000 times) have a happy ending, a very obvious in-your-face happy ending. But I recommend you watch it, at least once. It is one of those that leaves you thinking. 

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny

It Ends With Us

First, I am a huge Colleen Hoover fan. I have read five of her novels, starting with the book that originated in this movie. She has never disappointed me as a writer. She is witty and funny, and her love stories, however unreal they may be at times, do manage to drag me to this make-believe world and make me think everything is possible. 

The book and the movie talk about a girl, Lilly Bloom, played by Blake Lively, who meets this too-good-to-be-true man, Ryle Kincaid, played by my fave feminist actor, Justin Baldoni (please watch his TED Talk: Why I am Done Being Man Enough). Lilly is still working towards a career shift; Ryle is a neurosurgeon in training, hot as hell, very experienced and emotionally shut down. Slowly but surely, they start a relationship only to realize that he isn't as perfect as she thought. At the same time, we are catapulted back to when Lilly was a teenage girl and met this homeless kid, Atlas Corrigan, played by underwhelming Brandon Sklenar. Lilly and Atlas have both experience with domestic violence. Lilly's father is physically and emotionally abusive to her mother, and Atlas' mom and stepfather are horrible to him to the point that they kicked him out of the house. As Lilly begins to date Ryle and falls more and more in love with him, Atlas returns to her life. 

The movie tried to be as faithful to the book as possible; I can see it. Lilly's tattoo made the cut, which is a huge focus point in the novel; the flower shop and the best friend are accurate. I think it still missed the spirit of the movie because it centred more on Ryle and Lilly as opposed to Lilly and Atlas, possibly because Baldoni is a way better actor and good-looking than Sklenar (my humble opinion). I wish I had seen more of that relationship; I don't think the audience was able to understand how Lilly and Atla's contribution to each other's lives changed the course of their lives, how connected they always were, and that even though they weren't together, they still long for each other. 

Lilly's wardrobe is distracting, too. Honestly, the wardrobe is more of Blake Lively's than Lilly's. Lilly's fashion choices are never mentioned in the book, at least nothing memorable I can recall,  and in this movie, they are almost like a whole new character by themselves. Also, Lilly is not rich. She is an entrepreneur, putting her entire career and inheritance on the line for her shop. She can't afford those clothes. Be real, people! 

At the end of the day, they manage to relay the last message, to break the cycle of violence, to choose better for your kids, to rewrite the story in the way you wish your parents would have done for you. You will always have people in your corner willing to lend a hand. There is no valid excuse to condone domestic violence. After all, the last 15 minutes saved the movie. You can also catch author Colleen Hoover as an extra at Allysa's birthday party. I give it a "theatre-worthy" rating. 

PS. I am also super annoyed at the PR nightmare behind the movie for creative differences between Blake Lively (actress) and Justin Baldoni (actor and director), which takes the focus away from an important issue to tackle in today's society. 

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny

Twisters

 

The image of a flying cow will forever be imprinted in my mind. That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about "Twister" (1996).  I was a fan of the original film. "Twisters" doesn't have flying cows but many flying people, which is disturbing. Starring the talented Daisy Edgar-Jones and the new Hollywood "it" man, Glen Powell. This movie is a modern take in which the original roles of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are reversed. Kate (Edgar-Jones) is a meteorologist living in New York with a traumatic history with tornados but a spot-on instinct to track them. Tyler (Powell) is a tornado cowboy collecting followers for his YouTube channel doing stupid stunts and is entirely unapologetic about it. Both collide during the tornado-chasing season for different reasons. Kate is helping a company map a 3D version of a tornado that will help collect data to better predict and plan and hopefully save lives. She soon realizes this company doesn't have the same honourable intentions as her and that she has more in common with the cowboy than she initially thought. 

I enjoyed the storyline and the director's choice not to include kissing scenes and let the chemistry with the main characters build up. Even though this is not a remake or a direct sequel to the original movie, it does pay tribute to it with some minor details. The son of the deceased Bill Paxton has a small role in the film; there is mention of Dorothy, the technology introduced in "Twisters," and the colour of the famous pick-up truck remains the same dare-devil red. Both movies left me thinking about how hard it is to deny your calling; no matter how far you go or try, it will somehow find you and draw you back to fulfill your destiny. For that, I enjoyed this movie and all its special effects, but I remain terrified of this part of the US and still edgy when the tornado warning hits my phone. I give it a "theatre worthy". 

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny

Top 10 Rom-Coms

10. When You Were Sleeping (1995)

If my memory serves me right, this movie put Sandra Bullock on the map. She stars as Lucy, a forgettable train toll operator who happens to daydream about this businessman who comes in daily. Lucy rescues this man, who is now in a coma, and by some misunderstanding, everyone thinks she is his fiance. She ends up meeting Peter's (Peter Gallagher) entire family. She is obligated to keep the lie going, first to not upset anyone, later because she falls in love with all of them, being an orphan during the Christmas season. The conflict begins when Peter's brother, Jack, shows up and gets suspicious of Lucy, and then a unique and intimate connection develops. I loved this movie because the scenes reminded me of my family, a loving, meddling ball of chaos who mean well but don't always get it right. 

9. 13 Going on 30 (2004)

Jennifer Gardner has established herself as the relatable queen. By that, I mean she is pretty, but you can still see her reflected as your best friend. She doesn't send out femme fatale vibes, and she is always likable. She starts in this movie about 13-year-old Jenna, a victim of fashion magazines. She decides she wants to be "thirty, flirty and thriving," which I find hilarious since I remember being thirty and not recalling all three simultaneously. Jenna wakes up in the body of her 30-year-old self but the mind of a 13-year-old, with a naked man in her apartment and a successful job in a fashion magazine with friend-enemy Lucy (Judy Greer) and bumping into childhood friend Matty (Mark Ruffalo). She learns the meaning of that proverbial saying, "Be careful what you wish for," now that she has the career and the life of a woman she barely recognizes, so far removed from the things and people that bring her joy. If I know the choreography of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," it is because of this movie. In the end, Jenna can go back to being 13 years old and make completely different choices, and it made me wonder what I would change about my choices if I were given the opportunity to go back and do things all over again? 

8. Never Been Kissed (1999)

My sister and I consider this a cult classic. We have seen it more times than any other movie. Drew Barrymore plays Josie, an introverted newspaper copyeditor who never gets over her high school rejection. Josie is pushed to go undercover back to high school to dig out stories about today's youth. In her return, she finds herself in the same nerd-status position as before, but her luck changes as soon as her brother infiltrates high school and makes her "popular," showing that really is all it takes, one person to say you are ok so that others start believing you are. David Arquette plays the brother who hasn't succeeded in adulthood, proving that some people might just peek in high school. In the process, Josie finds herself attracted to her literature teacher, Sam (Michael Vartan) and makes some questionable choices with her fashion, dancing, and overall persona. Many scenes in this movie bring me enormous shame for Barrymore's character, which is fun and mortifying to watch. This movie would only work in the time it was released because even now, as an adult, the whole student-teacher relationship gives me the creeps. But thinking about the year it was released, me going through my last year of high school, feeling a bit of a nerd and equally unwanted, this movie gave me hope and continues to do so. 

7. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

The oldest plot line in Hollywood history; a guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants a girl (Larissa Oleynik), and the guy finds a dumb but rich guy (Andrew Keegan) to pay the other guy (Heath Ledger) to hang out with her perpetually annoyed sister (Julia Stiles). The deal doesn't go as planned, as more feelings are involved, and nothing really is as black and white as first portrayed. What I liked about this movie were the little jokes and the massive amounts of sarcasm thrown in every line. Every character was interesting in their own way; the single father that didn't want his girls getting pregnant, the school counsellor who missed her calling writing soft porn books, the popular girl who isn't as dumb as expected, the dangerous boy who is actually pretty mellow and the hostile feminist teenager who is actually pretty nice once you get to know her. Shot in Seattle with a killer soundtrack, this movie won my heart when I was young. It brought me love and gave me an edge to get rid of the undesired mush.

6. To All The Boys I Have Loved Before (2018)

Of all the movies on my list, this is the most current one, the one when I am actually older than the characters when I watched it for the first time. Lara Jean (Lana Condor) has a secret crush on her best friend, her sister's boyfriend. She decides to write him a letter, like the ones she had written to other boys she once loved, but the letter gets out of hand when her sister mails these letters to all of the recipients, pulling the lid off Lara Jean's secrets. Lara Jean makes a pack with one of these boys, Peter (Noah Centineo), but things go differently than planned, as usual. I liked this movie because Lara is not the typical white teenage girl character, and in an 80s rom-com, she would probably be reduced to a sidekick, but here she is, stealing the heart of the hottest boy in school. Also, if I were 20 years younger, I would have a mad crush on Noah Centineo; he is funny, charming and handsome; what more can a girl want? 

5. The Holiday (2006)

I couldn't care less about Cameron Diaz's character and love story; I have disliked her and everything she has done since "My Best Friend's Wedding." I find her annoying. I know there is no logic behind this, but I wanted Julia Roberts to end up with her best friend. Cameron is not the reason I like this movie. I like this movie because of Kate Winslet. This actress has grown on me, slowly but surely; her choice of work and films only gets more interesting with time. This time, she is Iris, this brilliant editor in a toxic relationship with his stupid ex-boyfriend, who decides enough is enough; it's time for a change. So she swaps houses with Diaz, so she goes to LA, and Diaz goes to this little town outside of London. We have all been there, in Iris' shoes, wanting to pull away from these men who have some sort of magic hold on us, making us feel good and bad about ourselves simultaneously, without really not committing to us. She starts this friendship with this music composer, Miles (Jack Black), and together, they plot a plan to get their new friend, Arthur, an old retired Hollywood director, to get the courage to walk to accept an award. On this trip, Iris regains the confidence in herself and the courage to cut ties with this toxic man, and only then is she open to a new beginning with a man who loves her right. 

4. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Rene Zellweger gained 30 pounds to play this average 30-something single woman struggling in the dating world and figuring out his career in London. This modern and weird adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I say weird because I didn't find Elizabeth to be an intelligent, proud woman in the original version. In this movie, Bridget is not precisely smart or driven and gets into these unfortunate, shameful situations that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Bridget finally thinks she has found "the one" in the fascinating new editor, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), only to have her heart broken when things get serious. In the middle of all of this, Bridge meets Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), a dry lawyer from a wealthy family who seems like he is constantly annoyed by her but turns out to be quite a catch. I don't think I could ask for anything more in a "make-believe man" than Mark Darcy; he is good, intelligent, and, in the end, passionate.

3. Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

Of all the leading men in Hollywood, Steve Carrell wouldn't be one I would particularly like. But I'm attractive, endearing, and believable. This story starts with an unhappy wife going through the motions of a flavourless date in a routine she hates now, wanting a divorce at the end of it. I love watching Julianne Moore, but I really hated her here; her character, married for more than 20 years to Carrell's character, had cheated on him with a co-worker and now wanted a divorce. On the other side, we have aspiring lawyer Hannah (Emma Stone) getting rejected by her safe choice of a boyfriend, Richard (Josh Groban), who wants to spice up her life by having a fling with the hot guy from the bar (Ryan Gossling). The last love story is the one with one of Carrell's kids, his 14-year-old son, hopelessly in love with his babysitter, Jessica. It all collides in a beautifully disastrous scene where Kevin Bacon gets punched in the face. I loved this movie because each character goes through a metamorphosis to discover love, discover themselves, or rediscover love. I particularly love the makeover scene where Gossling tries to get Carrell to update his wardrobe to seize his new bachelor status. Equally lovable is the "Dirty Dancing" scene with Stone and Gossling, in which he shows her "the move" to get women into bed with him. This is where you laugh and cry and everything in between movies.

2. Someone Like You (2001)

Not a lot of people know of this movie, but this movie made its way to my heart many years ago. Ashley Judd stars in this movie about a romantic turns cynic TV producer who decides to prove a theory about how men treat relationships with women; once they have lured the new target with sad stories about previous relationships, they have a brief honeymoon period until eventually, they get bored and moved on to the next prey. Judd's test subject is her new colleague, played by Greg Kinnear, who lets her stranded when he gets cold feet, making Judd move in with his playboy producer, Eddie, played by Hugh Jackman. There are many cute moments in this movie, many relatable moments, as she spirals out of control into a total freakout when her theory is proven wrong. I love it because it shows that people can surprise you, that sometimes you find love in the most unexpected places, and that people may say and don't mean something, but others speak louder with actions than words. 

1. Love Actually (2003)

Situated in London, this is a collection of stories that carry on simultaneously during Christmas. Somehow, the stories overlap as some of the characters know each other. I loved this movie from the moment I watched it in the theatre. Every story has something for everyone; a widower advising his pre-teen son how to get a girl, the best man secretly in love with his best friend's wife, the prime minister and his crush with an assistant with a potty mouth, some porn doubles that find a connection, a has-been rockstar making a comeback and his faithful manager, and my favourite; the man that falls in love with a woman that doesn't even speak the same language. I am older now; I watched this movie when I was 21, when the concept of soulmates was the most intriguing part of the love formula. This movie speaks about attraction, sacrifice in love, platonic love, young love, and mature love, but even if the outcome is not happy, it still has a glimmer of hope. If this movie is playing on any channel or available on any streaming service, I will watch it; it always makes me happy. 

*Bonus. Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 

This is probably not what you call a conventional rom-com, but it sends these vibes nonetheless. Pat (Bradly Cooper) is a man with bipolar disorder working through his mental health problems while he lives with his family. He meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a depressed, self-destructive mess of a woman, and they decide to enter a dance competition together. Pat intends to get back with his estranged wife by winning the competition. Pat's therapist encourages him to see the silver linings in his life to avoid triggering his panic attacks and violent outbursts. Tiffany is manipulative and sad, she keeps getting in these on-sided relationships where she is only used to numb the pain of the loss of her husband. This film's dark moments are full of suffering combined with funny and corky moments, proving that life is lived on a grey scale, not blacks and whites. This performance earned Lawrence an Oscar, and the film received several nominations. I liked it because it is a perfect example of how love can find you in the most inconvenient of times, and there is always someone out there who gets you and loves you the way you need. 

A Family Affair VS The Idea of You

Both movies have Oscar-winning actresses leading and women (mothers) who fall for much younger men, but one is a clear winner. 

"A Family Affair," streams on Netflix, starring the age-defying Nicole Kidman, tells the story of a very self-absorbed actor, Chris Cole (Zac Efron), who starts a fling with a Pulitzer winner writer and a more mature woman, Brook Harwood (Kidman), who also happens to be the mother of his personal assistant, ) and inspiring producer Zara (Joey King). It is meant to be funny, like physically, in-your-face funny, but it falls flat apart from that first face wall smash courtesy of King's character. Apart from this comedic moment, I find Zara a very one-dimensional character, with no real depth to her or her drivers; she is basically the same girl from "The Kissing Booth," awkward but cute. I also never understood why an intelligent, beautiful woman like Brook would even entertain a romance with this manchild. The only part of the movie worth rescuing is Brook's conversations with her former mother-in-law, Lella Ford, played by Kathy Bates. Although I thought it was a very progressive relationship, given that Harwood was the widow of Lella's son, it has honest conversations about the expectations of women who are wondering what to do in this new stage in life; once the children are raised, and the awards have been won, and the husbands have been buried. Can anything still excite us? I think I would have felt very differently about this movie if there was ever a glimpse of profound and deeper understanding from the male character, besides the smoking body, the youth and the fame, things that I wouldn't think a character like Brook would really care for, I didn't see any charming element that would make her take a leap and fall. 

"The Idea of You" premiered a few months ago on Amazon Prime, and although it starts with the same premise, an older woman and an exciting celebrity young love interest, it gives me all the reasons I need to defend that love. Sol (Anne Hathaway) is a single mom of a teenage girl who has a complicated relationship with her ex-husband and new wife. She meets boyband member Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galatzine) at a meet-and-greet event at a music festival. Sol has trust issues after a cheating ex-husband, an artistic and meaningful career, who puts her daughter's needs above it all. Now that I get. Even if their relationship was purely physical, which tracks, I understood the why; I got the crazy chemistry and attraction irradiating from both characters. But there is more; there are layers to Hayes; even with his youth, he gets her soul, which is hard to find and even harder to explain. I understood all the character's reasoning and actions throughout the movie; the daughter that is mad at her mom for hiding her relationship and struggling to support her, the ex-husband's selfishness and inability to see fault in his own character, but quickly to judge Sol for her choices, Sol's decision to sacrifice a potentially lasting relationship for the sake of her daughter, it all made sense. Besides that, Hollywood gifted us with a happy ending not included in the original story. I knew it was forced, but I was pleased because you should be able to be a good mother and still find the love of your life; why the hell not? It gives hope vibes because what is more romantic than a love that is willing to wait until you have your shit together? 

I give the first one a rating of "popcorn was the best part" of the movie, and the second one "will be part of my collection." It is good for Hollywood to push for stories where women don't just become dead inside whose identity is only defined by motherhood after they are 40. 

 

Rating:

OMG, so good!

It will be part of my collection!

Theatre worthy

The popcorn was the best part

Is this for real?

So bad is not even funny