I will be the first person to laugh at a romantic gesture or get queasy at the sound of a sappy love quote. And Valentine's Day is my least favorite day of the year, even when I do have someone to share it with. I am just not romantic, to say the least. Although I am pretty uncomfortable with romance there are a few romance movies that everyone --even those with the blackest of hearts will enjoy. Warning: spoilers ahead.
1. Silver Linings Playbook. This movie, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, covers a lot more than just love and laughter. It tells the story of two troubled people, both recovering from their previous marriages and suffering from mental illness, falling in love. Not your typical happy romcom, right? Silver Linings Playbook addresses mental health issues and shows a love between two people that is weird and uncomfortable, not storybook and magical.
2. Stuck In Love. This movie has probably 239 story lines going on at one time. I am kind of kidding. Stuck In Love is an Indie film that tells the story of a broken family who each struggle to find love throughout a year. The promiscuous daughter finds love in a quiet guy in her class, the divorced parents get back together, and the son is left patiently waiting for his drug addicted girlfriend to come back to him at the end. I know it sounds like a typical romance movie, but the journey that this film covers is far from the norm. The creative and artistic personalities of the characters shows through the love stories.
3. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Although this movie created one of the most overused love quotes of all time --"We accept the love we think we deserve" -- the movie is not your damsel in distress getting saved by her prince. The plot follows the lives of three teens who are all a little different from their peers. They go through the struggles of fitting in and dealing with their closeted skeletons. This film highlights the love of friends more than romantic love.
4. Garden State. This movie is on my list of top five favorite movies of all time for reasons other than the romance involved. Zach Braff does a phenomenal job of explaining what it is like to go back home after you have been away for a while and the soundtrack to the movie is to die for. This movie also addresses struggles of mental illness and friendship and family and love. But, what really landed this film on this list is the ending. Braff's character ends up not leaving, but instead of saying all of the typical thing you hear in a romantic movie, his final lines are, "So what do we do? What do we do?" I think that is pretty real life stuff.
So, if you are like me and are annoyed with the phoniness of Nicholas Sparks love, but still need a reminder that real life love does exist, these movies should not disappoint.
