khaosworks | (Reply)

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Hmm. Gretchen and I saw the movie about a month ago, but didn't take it the same way that you did. Let's walk through what I think was our collective take on this end.

First, the movie really wanted to be Love, Actually. It's not, despite the arrayed star power, but that's ok. It's a pretty decent film on its own terms. And that includes "happy" endings for all of the characters, save for Bradley Cooper's character.

Let's start with the Goodwin / Long pairing. It's not that she's an exception to any rule. Long really never treated her any differently than he treated any of his other friends and acquaintances. She simply found herself in a relationship that grew out of a completely unexpected friendship. That's not a bad way to do it, all things considered.

Aniston / Affleck: having had a friend who was allergic to marriage and in a long-term relationship, I found this pretty familiar. :) And sometimes the answer simply turns out to be "If I don't have to get married, then getting married is ok." I should mention that those friends got married a couple of years ago...

Cooper / Connelly / Johansson: The only person who comes out of this badly is Cooper, who gets what he deserves, which is nothing. Both Connelly and Johansson are well off without the jerk and are proceeding to live their lives. And why was the smoking an issue? Aside from her father dying of lung cancer, it was simply the lying. The affair could be forgiven, because he came clean about it. But if he still kept lying about the smoking, what was the next thing he was going to lie about?

Barrymore / Connolly: and the relationship here is just a lightweight ending to tie up all the loose ends. Nothing wrong with that -- take it for what it's worth.