I have a few issues with the messages it’s sending. Particularly with the character Gigi. I felt it totally championed her pathetic, desperate, unhealthy, stalking personality as being positive and romantic by “keeping hope” that one day, someone would really love her. A better message is one of self improvement – I thought for sure, we’d see her overcome her desperate, unhealthy ways and see how it attracts the men! We did see a hint of it but not enough to make a difference and that speech she gave which made her unhealthy desperation sound like something to be proud of just made me cringe. Keeping hope and an open heart does not have to mean being a desperate stalker! They made it sound like this was just normal behavior that everyone experiences at some point but it’s definitely NOT. And even if one does experience it, it’s not something to be proud of.
The other message I had a problem with was with Beth’s relationship. I love happy endings and all but this is just sending the message that men who say for 7 years that they never want to get married WILL eventually come around. Sorry ladies but some men will NEVER come around. And believe it or not, there are even some WOMEN today who have no desire to get married.
The only realistic aspect of this was the fact that Ben ended up alone. I cringed at the line Drew Barrymore had about “what if you meet the right person but they’re already married?” So now it’s okay to get involved in an affair? So the fact that Ben did not wind up with his mistress after all was one of the few saving graces of this movie.
I don’t believe that people do and believe whatever they see on TV or in movies but I also don’t believe they have NO influence on our perspections of real life whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, I love a nice, happy ending but the thing that really bugged me about this movie was that it started out talking about the negative influences we have on our perspections of men from the time we a child… and then goes on to simply contribute to them!