Steel Notes Magazine February 2017 | Page 60

Steel Notes Magazine
February 2017
genre yet , when she did return to the rom com factory , she made some wise choices or at least the screenwriters did for her characters . For example , Julia ’ s character accepted her failure to be with the man she initially wanted in 1997 ’ s “ My Best Friend ’ s Wedding .” It might not seem like much in such a romantic confection but the fact that she pursued her best friend from college ( Dermot Mulroney , a semi-regular veteran of this genre ) and hoped to marry him if they did not meet anyone by the time they reached the age of 28 , well , the ending came as a bit of a surprise considering her devotion . Mulroney ’ s character is engaged to marry Cameron Diaz ’ s character and Julia has to accept that someone else is going to make her best friend happy . In many ways , it is the most romantic thing you can expect in this genre nowadays .
I have avoided many romantic comedies in the 2010 era but I can say “ How to Be Single ” ( which is not nearly as cheekily fun or as outrageously crude as “ Bridesmaids ” or “ Trainwreck ,” a romantic comedy that has big laughs and a truthful romantic spirit ) is upbeat and almost nostalgic for the days of “ Sex and the City .” It is not as sharply written or as wittily observant as that trenchant HBO series but it does have some curious questions about women that rises a few steps up from “ Bridesmaids ” and “ Trainwreck .” It assumes young women today can make a choice and live with it – what a novel idea ! Dakota Johnson plays a paralegal in NYC who has a college boyfriend whom she dumps , has trouble sparking any communication at a singles bar , has ambitions to settle down with a widower who is not ready to settle down , has to consistently run into her ex-boyfriend , and then finally decides , after much drinking and copious sexual encounters , to let go of her inhibitions and consider her own space of being single . The other women in the film – Leslie Mann ’ s nurse who decides to have a baby , Alison Brie ’ s anxious Lucy looking to get married – find their exits from the single life because they choose to , not because a man enforces it . Dakota finds her inner happiness by fulfilling her ultimate dream – visiting the Grand Canyon . Hey , a man can ’ t compare to one of the great natural wonders of the world . For more film reviews , check out Jerry Saravia ’ s blog at http :// jerrysaravia . blogspot . com /

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