A Couple's Guide to Romance...(Cinema): Recent Episodes
Couple'sGuide
We are a zany married couple that loves watching and talking about romantic movies - from rom coms to independent art house gems, we'll discuss them all with a pinch of seriousness and a dash of odd humor. New reviews are released weekly. Send all feedback and movie suggestions to acouplesguide2romance@gmail.com. Like us and leave us a review on Soundcloud, Itunes, and Facebook.
And we're back! Justin and Paula return to the glorious world of recounting romance with a summer speed date featuring hits such as Destination Wedding and Always Be My Maybe.
With Godzilla presiding as timekeeper, the movies of our summer fly by and, honestly, we are ok with that. While upon initial watch these movies hold our attention, we think we are probably going to ghost all of them on date two--well, all except for Keanu Reeves.
How many doors must a boy live down before you can call him a man? Based on this title, more than one!
Not to be confused with all those other books and films based around young males living in close proximity, Justin and Paula explore Jennifer Lopez's finest (only?..) erotic thriller "The Boy Next Door". Newly separated J.Lo can't keep herself from lusting after the seemingly well-rounded neighbor hunk, but does he have a dark past? Who cares!? Seriously Jenny he's a 20 year old full-time high school student, you can do better!
Paula and Justin watch Basic Instinct, which is basically a film noir version of a softcore porn or is it the other way around? Michael Douglas is back as a cop who falls for the wrong women and Sharon Stone steals all the scenes in her breakthrough role as a sexualized psychopathic author.
This movie is full of cliche, but you know you are watching it for the interrogation scene, so just deal with it.
Paula and Justin watch Fatal Attraction, the film that made adultery seem way less fun than before. Glenn Close embodies Alex, an associate publisher who has an obvious undiagnosed mental health issue that causes her to obsess over Michael Douglas --Michael Douglas! The 80's were a weird time.
Unfortunately the end of this film takes a hard turn toward psychopath, eroding our sympathy for the female antagonist while creating a happily ever after for the philanderer male protagonist. Go figure.
Paula and Justin watch Cold Mountain, the Odyssean light epic love story set in the hills of western North Cackalacky. Jude Law and Nicole Kidman become hardened, resilient bad asses over the course of 2.5 hours. So much so that when they meet, they immediately take the bone train to pound town.
If ten minutes of shared screen time doesn't scream romance, what does?