Rating: 5/5
Saw at a screening at Alamo Drafthouse, fun to see all the little details on the big screen
I’ve seen this movie probably a dozen times, but it’s been several years since I last watched it. Watching it now, I realize why
Jim Carrey’s character resonated deeply with me in my early 20s, complete with all the insecurities and the desire to meet people more interesting than me to make up for what I thought I lacked. Over time, I decided he was the antagonist of the movie because I didn’t want to be that person anymore
And here I am, not-so-freshly out of a long-term relationship with someone who was a little similar to Kate Winslet’s character, but our complaints about one another were not all that different
Watching now, I can see that neither was the antagonist — they both were in a relationship where neither was happy, and neither knew how to get out because each had a part of them that wanted to stay. They wanted those good parts, even if they might never come again
If we erase those pains, we erase what made us know we want something different. Otherwise, if we forget — or block out — those lessons, we’ll just keep learning them over and over again
That said, this movie is an imprinted memory at this point: I can’t erase the feelings I have about it. It doesn’t shake me to my core like it once did — except for the Jon Brion soundtrack, which is still perfect — but it’s still a nice memory I like to return to from time to time