I have no idea . . . surely not any romantic comedy I’ve ever seen. They always have the bit where there’s some kind of misunderstanding and it looks like the two leads are going to break up, only to of course work it all out in the end. I guess this is done to build suspense, except there’s no suspense because everyone knows the formula already. I always think, “If this were me and my wife, we’d have apologized and made up within 10 minutes.”
Ugh - I watched this movie after filing for divorce and it made me a little sick to my stomach watching all my fights played out. Definitely real in the “stupid stuff to fight about that points to the end” in the movie. A friend of mine was getting divorced a short time later and I told him “you aren’t ready to watch the arguing.”
“I don’t want you to wash the dishes because you have to. I want to you want to wash the dishes.” “Who wants to wash dishes?”
And the lemons!! It was all just a play out of ‘it’s important to me, that’s why you should care’ and it was just heartbreaking. For someone that had just been through it.
Yeah, even though she’s in a pretty horrible situation.
But what the heel does she see in Karl? Sure, he’s good looking, but is there a personality there? I don;t think he has more than 2 lines in the entire movie, and they’re both pretty vapid. Then again, she fell in love with him in 30 minutes, so maybe she’s a bit shallow.
I’m gonna go the cynical route and vote for War of the Roses.
I would hesitate to stay, that in this case the story is NOT about Sarah and Karl. The story is about Sarah and her brother Michael. That she loves him so much, that rather than just leaving him in that mental health facility by himself, she sacrifices her chances of romantic love and a real life by constantly being there for him.
And I agree that Karl might be a heel, but I don’t think Sarah falls in love with him because she’s a bit shallow. I think she falls in love with him because she hasn’t been able to have any realistic interactions with anyone in a long time - and he’s the closest thing to a relationship she’s ever been able to have - someone who works a few feet away from her and she can have interactions with on a regular basis.
But when she gets to the next level - that’s when she can’t keep up. She’s as much in restraints as her brother is.
If you want to be you, be you! And if you want to be me, be me! There’s a million things to be, you know that there are!
I love Harold and Maude. I would contest however, that although a lovely story - they are not a truly equal partnership of love.
Therefore, I nominate Laura Roslin and Commander Adama.
what?
That’s an excellent analysis of the Sarah/Karl/Michael story. Thank you.
The funny thing about that movie is any story on its own is not much of a story. There’s very little depth because there’s so much width. It’s a little like Crash in that regard. That it all works is a credit to the film editor.
Another vote for When Harry met Sally. Plus I can relate to it in real life. Before my ex wife and I began dating she pretty much hated me, she called me a slimy worm and worse more than once, and meant it! Even though the marriage didn’t work out, we still like each other and hang out sometimes.
So even though the movie is a comedy, I thought it was a realistic portrayal of how love can begin between two people.
My bf and I actually watched the DVD the other day, including some of the extra footage (documentaries and stuff) and one of the things that I found interesting is that there is actually like 80 minutes that was cut from the movie. Which I think would give it more of the on-screen depth you are looking for.
I think one of the things that the editor/director hopes is that you will find a story or two within the group and say, “yeah, I know what that’s about” and fill in your own depth - as they had to leave a lot of it on the cutting room floor! :))
Fatal Attraction.
What?
Ok, enough facetious suggestions followed by “what?”
I agree with Lost in Translation and High Fidelity.
I would also like to include The Two Towers for Eowyn’s unrequited love. There’s one scene, after Aragorn returns from a mishap, where she is delighted to see he is alive and well. But then, from afar, she sees the elf pendant, and her face starts to crumble. Painfully realistic. (Aragorn’s survival of the mishap perhaps less so.) Also good is when she volunteers to go with him into the Paths of the Dead.
In Before Sunrise there is a scene where the characters are in a listening booth in a record store, and as the music is playing they take turns sneaking looks at each other (but with each trying not to get caught looking at the other). That is a near-perfect scene.
Lolita.
What?
Oops, sorry. 
These are the movies I came in here to mention, but I have to disagree with your characterization of the second movie. I feel that Before Sunset wasn’t so much about lost love as it was about love finally succeeding (it just took ten years to do so).
I guess we’ll see in a few years when we get the next installment.
But I only meant they were wistful about the lost years, and what might have been.
Clerks:
DANTE (panicky): But…but you said you only had sex with three guys! You never mentioned him!
VERONICA: That’s because I never had sex with him!
DANTE: You sucked his dick!
VERONICA: We went out a few times. We didn’t have sex, but we fooled around.
DANTE (massive panic attack): Oh my God! Why did you tell me you only slept with three guys?
You know, I actually own that movie. This thread even inspired me to watch it last night.
And I have never looked at the special features.
I recommend that you do (i.e., look at the special features/deleted scenes from the film Love Actually), if for nothing else, for the deleted scene about the essay written by Karen’s son Bernard about his Christmas wish. It’s hilarious.
Not sure if you’re joking (or half-joking) but that is one of the reasons I loved the movie. When people talk about loving or wanting something you can’t have, then no longer wanting it when you can, they always make it seem malicious – but I think this was the case here, and not because Enid was a raging megabitch. She didn’t know what she wanted. Turning fantasy into reality is often no fun, and fooling around with someone you liked can be a bit like meeting your heroes (as in, disappointing). The movie captured adolescence perfectly for me, including the nausea and pressure of relationships.
No one said ‘Eternal Sunshine’ yet? Hmm.
Eternal Sunshine.