Thursday, February 17, 2022

Thursday Movie Picks: Second Chance Love (Romantic Tropes Edition)

 

For the seventh week of 2022 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks as part of the romantic tropes series. We venture into the subject of second chance love where it plays into someone who either lost someone or got dumped as they endure another chance in having a happy ending. Here are my three picks:

1. All That Heaven Allows
Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama about a relationship between a widow and her gardener as the latter is 15 years younger than her as it does play into the taboo of ageism but also in social standings. It is a film that breaks a lot of rules but also this exploration of a woman trying to find happiness again yet there are those who are appalled by choosing someone as a gardener who isn’t just younger than her but also lives a simpler life that appeals to her.

2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Nicholas Stoller’s 2008 film is about a TV show composer who gets dumped by his TV star girlfriend who leaves him for a rock star. It is a hilarious yet heartfelt rom-com that plays into the heartbreak of a man who goes to Hawaii for a vacation only to learn that his ex is also there with her new boyfriend where a kind-hearted hotel concierge allows him to be at the hotel. It is a film that is much smarter than it needed to be as it really served as a break-out performance for Mila Kunis as the hotel concierge who has the film’s star/writer Jason Segal the chance to find love again and realize that is ex is a bitch!

3. Enough Said
Nicole Holofcener’s 2013 film is a bittersweet film to watch as it features James Gandolfini in one of his final film performances. The film has Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a masseuse who meets Gandolfini at a party as she also takes a job for a woman unaware that she’s Gandolfini’s ex-wife. It is a film with a lot of wit and heart where it shows that Gandolfini isn’t just funny but also sensitive as the scenes he has with Louis-Dreyfus are filled with sweetness and care as it is about these two people given another chance to find love again no matter how messy things can be.

© thevoid99 2022
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5 comments:

  1. SJHoneywell6:26 AM

    Of these, I've only seen the first of them.

    Sirk was melodramatic to the extreme, of course, but when he got something to fire on all cylinders, it really worked beautifully. Far from Heaven is an homage in a lot of ways to All That Heaven Allows, but much more modern. It's what Sirk would have made if he were still around in 2002.

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  2. Brittani Burnham6:36 AM

    We match on Forgetting Sarah Marshall! I know I saw Enough Said but I don't remember a single thing about that movie. I wish Galdolfini was still around.

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  3. Birgit10:28 AM

    I saw all 3 of your films. I love Sirk movies for all the drama and colour. The taboo parts still play out today especially when a woman is with a younger man. Even the term "cougar" has a predator feel about it whereas Tony Randall marrying a girl that could easily be his granddaughter was never really talked about.
    Sarah Marshall is better than the average comedy that you think you will be getting with this one. I enjoyed Russell Brand in this.
    I finally saw the last film just recently and it is funny but endearing. Gandolfini is very sweet and completely opposite his brutish portrayal in The Sopranos.

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  4. ThePunkTheory6:02 AM

    I haven't seen any of your picks, but I'm really curious about Forgetting Sarah Marshall now!

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  5. thevoid994:57 PM

    @SJHoneywell-Far from Heaven is a variation of All That Heaven Allows as is Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

    @Brittani-I think you need to re-watch Enough Said as that is a great movie.

    @Birgit-Glad to know you like all 3 of those films.

    @ThePunkTheory-See that film now. It is hilarious.

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