So I’ve Been Watching Some Romantic Movies….

 

So the last few days I’ve been watching some romantic movies and I’ve had a little surprise….

 

I have found that I have changed my mind, at least a little bit, on what I find romantic. There was at least one of the films I would have loved at a different time in my life, but yesterday I didn’t like it at all. Things that make you go, “Hmmmm….”

 

Two movies out of the half dozen or so that I watched over the last week are “The Rebound” and “Serendipity.” One I loved. The other not so much.

 

“The Rebound” I loved from the very beginning. Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a recent divorcee who was cheated on by her husband. She has two kids and is starting her life all over again. Aram (the gorgeous and charming Justin Bartha) is also recently divorced. Turns out his wife was only looking for American citizenship/green card and was in love with a guy he thought was her brother. Aram works as a barista and he and Sandy meet over coffee. Somehow he gets volunteered to babysit her kids. What follows is tons of chemistry. First, his chemistry with the kids. He loves them, they adore him. So what do we have right up front? No worries for her about finding a man who doesn’t have problems with her having kids. Second, a wonderful chemistry between him and Sandy.

 

So what is the problem? Age. She is 40 and he is 24. Big age difference. But as the story unfolds—beautifully I might add—we watch them fall in love. And I fell in love with them. I was so enchanted and so awash in their romance. And rooting for them not to care about their age differences.

 

Now of course for the story to work we have to have boy meets girl, boy loses girl….

 

And that’s what happens. Boy loses girl. Because that age thing gets very real. And then we wait….

 

What happens? Well I don’t want to spoil it. But I am recommending this movie to the max. And would I do that to people who only want to read books with happily ever after endings?

 

 

So next there was the film “Serendipity.” Not too long ago I would have adored it. It has a lot of elements that are so true to my heart. Destiny, fate, the Universe conspiring to make Its children happy, true love, and so much more. Yet rather than make my heart sing, it upset me.

 

The set-up is that two people are Christmas shopping for their partners. They both see the same set of gloves and both want them and being a gentleman, Johnathan (John Cusack) lets Sara (Kate Beckinsale) have them. But they find themselves incredibly drawn to each other and wind up spending the entire evening together. They feel destined, and want to get to know each other better, but she says that the time isn’t right. And she is right! The timing isn’t right!

 

He’s engaged. He’s going to get married. And here he is chasing Sara all over New York. And even though it is cute and sweet and they are having ice cream and ice skating and laughing and being silly, all I can think about is Johnathan’s fiancée waiting for him to come home. There he is, by his own admittance, getting a crush on someone else’s girlfriend.

 

So the two of them set up something crazy to see if they should be together. She has him write his number on a five-dollar bill and gives it away, and she buys a book and writes her number in it and gives it to a second hand store. She says if they find each other’s numbers against all odds, then they were meant to be together.

 

And then they spend the next five years and the rest of the movie trying to find each other.

 

In another life I would have found this incredibly charming, but I didn’t. I couldn’t get into it at all. And I was trying to figure out why.

 

Then it hit me.

 

It was because Jonathan might as well have been cheating (even if they don’t hook up) because he is heavy duty after her. Pursing Sara as if he was in a bar and they were both drunk. Chasing her as if…he was single. And he wasn’t.

 

I thought about it and thought about it and finally decided that if they were both unhappy in their relationships….. If they felt unloved or unfulfilled or were with rotten people, then I would have felt different. But that wasn’t the case. Their mutual lovers love them very much.

 

I thought about how hurt I would be if my husband had spent an entire evening chasing some man all over Kansas City.

 

I couldn’t feel for the couple. I couldn’t wish for them to get together. It was all wrong. Upsetting. And I find I cannot recommend this movie at all!

 

But “The Rebound?” They were innocents. They weren’t cheating. All they had to do was get over the idea that being so far apart in age was a bad thing. And I was rooting for them with all my might. Because love always wins, always conquers….

 

If it is pure. Sandy and Aram felt pure to me. Johnathan and Sara felt like they were cheating.

 

So….

 

The Rebound – Two Thumbs Up

Serendipity – Two Thumbs Down

 

I would absolutely love to hear about some of your favorite romantic films. Give me your recommendations. I would love it!

 

Namasté,

B.G. Thomas

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

B.G. Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade. They’ve been married twice. First in 2005—although it wasn’t legal. They jumped the broom (as well as the sword) and were married in heart in front of their friends and loved ones. Then in 2014, they flew to Baltimore and made it legal (and couldn’t have without the help of B.G.’s fans who practically funded the entire weekend!). He can’t get enough of seeing that gold wedding band on his hand, even two years later. /react-text

 

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction, and even horror—as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to conventions his entire adult life where he’s been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was a child; it is where he finds his joy.

 

Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he submitted a story and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days. Since then the stories have poured out of him. “It’s like I’m somehow making up for a lifetime’s worth of stories!”

 

Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message to all. “It is never too late,” he states. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

Find him at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bgthomaswriter Website: https://bthomaswriter.wordpress.com