Long Live the Chick Flick

I went this weekend to see The Vow.  It's the latest romantic comedy with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, and as soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I had to see it.  I am a HUGE fan of The Notebook (the book and the movie), so anytime I see Rachel McAdams as the female lead in a movie like this.... I have to see it.  I will say, she did not disappoint.

Quick Sidenote:  The previews at The Vow included one for the new Nicholas Sparks' movie The Lucky One.  I feel a little cougar-esque even mentioning it... but holy crap, Zac Ephron has grown up.  Can't wait to see this one as well!

Back to The Vow... The Vow is the story of an adorable couple who has a devastating car accident.  The car accident leaves Paige (Rachel McAdams) without any memory of her husband Leo (Channing Tatum).  It's the heart-wrenching tale of him trying to remind her of how much she loves him.  Tatum plays this character that you just quickly fall in love with (and makes you wonder why McAdams doesn't just PRETEND she remembers and go with it!) 

Go see it, and take tissues.  I totally cried throughout the movie, in that "good cry" kind of way.  CNN actually published an article this weekend about how people like to go to movies and cry.  I guess I'm that girl, and I'm guessing you might be, too.  My friend Kris and I just sat there for a while after the credits had run when the movie had gotten the best of us.  We finally left when we saw the cleaning people... but not before we spent a few minutes comparing the disappointment of the weeks' dates and wondering where our real-life Leo might be. 

Now, I know that there are opposing views out there on chick flicks.  In case there is any question, I am VERY pro-chick flick.  While I'm a practical Capricorn, I'm also a hopeless romantic.  I like to think that this kind of beautiful love exists in the world. 

Do I think every relationship is perfect and like the movies has a happy ending?  
No.  

Do I believe that people connect on this deep of a level?  
Abso-freakin-lutely.

Actually, I know they do.  I've been there.  So wrapped up in another person that you'd literally do ANYTHING for them, when you simply light up in their presence, and you can't wait to tell them the good news and the bad.  They are your better half and you theirs. Would I remember them if I had a brain injury and amnesia?  Hmmm.... not sure, but I know this to be true...

Now, I know as children arrive, multiple car payments are due each month, and 20 years of being with one another...  relationships transform and change.  I don't expect it all to be rainbows and butterflies, but what I do know is that I want it.


As a 30-something.... I have many friends that have been married a long time.  Several have been divorced, and they're all warning the single girl of the peril of relationships and how much WORK it is.  It's these same folks that try to tell you that chick flicks are destructive.  I don't think I could disagree more.

I'm 35 and single.  And, I plan on finding it.  

And when I say it, I mean the connection.  I don't mean all the shenanigans that go along with the movies.  I don't expect grand gestures (i.e. the final dance scene in Dirty Dancing.)  I don't expect him to climb up the balcony to "rescue" me (ala Pretty Woman,) and he won't build me my dream house and steal me from my fiance (i.e. The Notebook.)  I don't even expect him to desperately try to make me fall in love with him again when I get amnesia.  I get it.  I live in the real world.   

But I do and forever shall expect to be loved.  Here's to finding it, if you don't have it yet either, get looking!  Don't waste another moment.  I know I won't!

Happy Valentine's Day