Because I have to be all-around mushy, not just Mommy mushy

I think I’ve written a little about this before. I like certain movie genres. I won’t watch romance, tragedies, romantic tragedies, thrillers or depressing documentaries (well, PBS does suck me into those unknowingly) because I want to be entertained. And by entertain, I mean laugh and feel happy at the end. I don’t want to bawl buckets. I probably wrote this already but I outright REFUSE to watch The Notebook.
That leaves romantic comedies, comedies, and action. I’m sure there are more but those are the ones I will watch. My favorite, however, are the romantic comedies. I’m a sucker for those. But they have to be good. They have to be smart, not so predictable yet generally happy movies. I recognize that this is hard to achieve without being formulaic. But that’s why they get paid the big bucks, right? Here’s the thing. I’m also the person who generally dislikes love songs. I find them sappy and just a bunch of noise. I have exceptions like anything sang by Boyz II Men but I think that’s more nostalgia than anything else.
“You’re picky!” you say. “That doesn’t make any sense!” Well, it doesn’t have to because I know what I like and that in itself makes perfect sense to me. It’s just my preference, my taste. As I get older, however, all romantic comedies don’t cut it anymore. I think it’s the whole predictability factor. Here is a list of the ones I love off the top of my head:
• Waitress
• Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
• Stranger than Fiction
And thanks to The Man, I’m adding one more to the list:
• Crazy Stupid Love
I love this movie! It’s smart, funny and unpredictable. Best of all, it left me feeling good about life. THAT is entertainment to me. The best part? I saw a bit of my relationship in this movie. And maybe that’s why I love certain movies – I can identify with aspects of them and it makes me appreciate what I have even more. Without giving too much away, I will say, no, it wasn’t the cheating part. It was the scene in which two of the characters talk the entire night. They stayed up and instead of just getting down to business, they end up getting to know each other and laughing almost the entire time. And yes, start to fall in love. It is a romantic comedy, after all.
I had that. I still do. Minus the staying up the entire night because sleep is a valuable commodity in my household. But the laughing. Oh, we do plenty of laughing. Our life couldn’t be labeled exciting and there are plenty of mundane tasks we do. But The Man makes me laugh a lot. And I know that I make him laugh with my antics. I can honestly say our house is filled with a lot of love and laughter. I treasure that. I don’t take it for granted and, if anything, I’m paranoid we will lose it one day. Life can be difficult. There are many challenges and stressful situations and they can cause two people to forget to appreciate and love each other.
In addition to the good writing and acting, this is why I love the movie so much. It reminds me why I love The Man and why I love and treasure our life together. Those moments, those talks and laughing fits, are so important and desired enough that they were put into a movie. And I have that. Of course, having a hot hubby also helps. (This will only make sense if you’ve seen the movie.) When Emma Stone’s character says Ryan Gosling’s character looks photoshopped, I remember thinking almost the exact same thing when I saw The Man. Mmm-hmm, I have quite a few things to appreciate in my life. I’m not bragging, I’m appreciative.