Technologically and mechanically brilliant yet socially-awkward and adorable—Laird Mayhew aka James Franco is the boyfriend every girl had at one point in her life. Or will at least encounter at one point.
While some have the luxury of latching on to one perfect boyfriend and marrying their high school sweetheart, many have to go through variations of different types of guys to actually find the right one. Ladies, if you’ve been involved in the dating scene, you’ve probably come across the many different types of guys out there and unfortunately, sometimes it turns out that the bad qualities outweigh the good.
Some men can be too dominant, controlling or abrasive and some can be too quiet and shy, or even too smart or good-looking for their own good. But if you’re lucky—at one point you will come across the guy who is a spicy combination of all those characteristics. A few examples:
There's the creative genius: usually artsy or geeky with an adorably awkward personality. Then, there’s the hopeless romantic: he’s usually a lush and turns you into a sucker for sweetness with his suave, charming ways. There’s the party animal: usually a socialite and ultimate life of the party—sometimes ultimate tool-bag—and it takes a certain type of girl to tame that animal when he gets out of his cage. There is also the damaged yet adorable guy, who may be socially awkward and he might say or do stupid things due to his problematic upbringing—but he means well. Well, let’s just say that James Franco’s Character in “Why Him?” is a hilarious combination of these boyfriend archetypes all wrapped in one.
Currently in theaters, “Why Him?” is a hilariously quirky and raunchy rom-com about a family’s visit to see their straight-A, Stanford University student, sweet and innocent daughter, Stephanie Fleming (Zoey Deutch), and to meet her tech-savvy, socially awkward, crazy yet misunderstood, billionaire boyfriend, Laird Mayhew (James Franco), for the very first time. Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston), the overprotective yet loving dad goes head to head with Laird in a moronically hilarious battle over his approval for Laird to date his daughter.
Minus the billionaire part—Laird and Stephanie’s relationship is relatable. Though the movie is obscure, elaborate and some parts are pretty unbelievable, the personality breakdown of Laird is everything we’ve ever seen or will eventually experience with lovers in our lifetimes.
We’ve all dated that person who is way too over-the-top. They say all the wrong things, piss us off at all the wrong times, agitate and purposely get on our nerves, but we can’t help but to still love them. In fact, we are obsessed with them. No matter how much they piss us off in petty arguments or act like an asshole in public and in front of family, we still care for them deeply—because we see something special in them.
This shows how Laird Mayhew is the boyfriend all girls love to hate. There are so many reasons to feel insecure when dating a guy like this. He’s smart, charming, sexy, sweet, funny, witty and most likely has a “ladies man” past that we absolutely can’t stand—but he’s also everything we’ve ever wanted and we love to hate that about him.
A review on RogerEbert.com said the movie “collapses the way so many R-rated comedies do. It goes soft and nice and wants us to care about these characters who barely resemble human beings."
Even though this review has a good point about these outlandish characters and their seemingly non-relatable, far-fetched situations—the odd couple pairing of Franco and Cranston actually resembles the odd relationships so many of us form in our lives. Whether your new boo makes a bad first impression with your friends, or gets too drunk at a family function and has an awkward conversation with your dad, relationships are always weird at first and sometimes, as the love affair grows, the relationship part can get even weirder.
Even if critics think this movie is too cliché and predictable due to the chaotic build-up into a happy fairy-tale ending, it parallels the realism of how difficult life can be as we work towards our happiness.
Just like Laird Mayhew, even if he's a super-douche, sometimes he still ends up being the one. And through all the up's and down's, all we wish for in the end is our happily ever after.
