Happy Anniversary on Netflix Reminds Me Why I Hate Rom-Coms

Oh my God I hate these characters.
And the hearts are upside down!
HaQuirky!

This movie just did so many bad things for my life. I've written stories that were better than this and they will never make me any money, nor will they entertain anyone other than my immediately family, so that sucks. I enjoy writing, I like it so much that even if I'm watching a poorly written movie that I am not into and steadily growing bored with, I'll keep watching it just to be able to write about it and post it so that nearly no one will read it. Why? I like writing stories number one, but number two is that I like to write in general, so I find myself occasionally writing reviews of Netflix movies. Is there any benefit to this other than the fact that it gives me a reason to write when I can't think of a good story to write about? No, I got nothing out of forcing myself to sit through this movie for the sole purpose of writing a negative review of it later. Were I not going to write a review of this movie I would not have watched all of it, I would have checked out much earlier, probably about 30 or 40 minutes in is when I checked to see how much longer I had.

It feels like this movie was written by someone who has seen too many movies and thought that since those movies were good and popular they'd just have their characters act like every other character in every movie and react to situations from other movies in way that those characters reacted; and all the while they're thinking that all of it is funny and cute and worst of all - good. It's not. It's annoying and the very definition of banal. The whole time I was watching this it felt like someone found an old story I wrote when I was in high school and thought it was good enough to be made into a movie.

I have no idea really, maybe the people who wrote this and thought it was good enough to make and even had the drive to bring it all together were all of them highschoolers. If so good on you and this whole thing takes on a different tone, if this was all put together by an adult - let's say an adult who should know this movie is no good should be no younger than 25 - then you should know better, seriously.

The talking in this movie, the conversations had, are ridiculous and rather insulting. Sure I can see people talking like they do in this movie, I've known people who talk like the characters in this movie, hell years ago I'm sure at times I'd talk like that myself - but even then, when I did, it was only for a short time before all of those involved would laugh at how we were talking and - what we thought - cinematic (meaning cool) we felt.

Can you imagine being of the mind that talking and acting like characters from a movie was the right way to be while at the same time talking about starting a family? A child being raised by a couple who thought characters in movies was how people were supposed to be would be a child born to lose.

Netflix has this tagged as offbeat - it's not, its cliched in all ways; romantic - it's not, they're talking about breaking up the whole time, unless you think it's romantic to watch two people talk about how they hate each other and are unhappy and break up, get back together, then break up again then sure it's romantic; they also have it labeled as sentimental - it is, boy oh boy is it ever sentimental, but not in a good emotional moving way, sentimental in how they continue to flash back at their good times and bad times for no purpose other than to show the audience that these two truly don't know what they want nor what will make them happy.

Well I do, and it's not this movie.

On a side note, I know no one that has cancer so I have no point of reference to this, but if MY dad had cancer and I was going with him to chemo I wouldn't make / let him drive ME to his chemo appt. That just seems shitty, but that's just me. Now if she made him drive her home after his chemo appt. - now THAT would have been insane and maybe would have saved the movie but who knows . . . probably not.

The Week Of: The Netflix movie that is a balance of an “Adam Sandler movie” and a “movie with Adam Sandler in it”.

A movie that isn't half bad,
with half an "Adam Sandler
movie" and the other half a
"movie with Adam Sandler
in it".

I would not consider myself an Adam Sandler fan. Yes, I did see Billy Madison in the theater when it came out and yes I did and do consider it genius, and I saw several of his movies after that, and I also consider Punch Drunk Love probably the greatest rom-com movie I've ever seen and it only pulls that off because of Adam Sandler. Now with all of that being said, his movies of the past ten years (probably longer) are simply so insultingly bad that I just simply do not consider myself an Adam Sandler fan.

I actually tried the western movie he did for Netflix, but just couldn't get very far into it - it's just that bad. He also did a movie about a famous Hollywood agent I think? I saw Life with Mikey, that's about all I need to see or can even take when it comes to a movie about an agent. I mean maybe if you're close to the industry, or really interested in the business of being an agent but honestly who would care other than the usual Sandler fans.

Now I know people who love his movies, as insulting to any number of people as they are, people here in Middle America are fans of Adam Sandler no matter what he does, so if you're wondering why he's able to still make these kinds of movies - or even why he would think it would be a good idea - look no further than people of the Kansas area who will watch his movies and laugh and enjoy them.

I feel like I've grown up with Adam Sandler - except that he hasn't grown up really. When I was single and hanging out with friends and having fun Billy Madison came out and it was just perfect and for a while his movies continued to be, and then he just failed to grow up while his initial audience did. He has greatness there, it's obvious with Punch Drunk Love and as my tastes in movies changed that one just struck a chord and made me appreciate the director, the music, the acting, the photography, all of it, but then he shook that off and went back to what basically was going to make him popular and probably most importantly - money. I can't blame him for that but I don't have to like it either.

I saw The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and I liked it, I mean the guy can act and I'll be damned that when he does stuff like this I can freaking relate and it's an embarrassing thing to find yourself tearing up during a movie with Adam Sandler in it.

Which is a good time to explain that there is a difference between an "Adam Sandler movie" and a "movie with Adam Sandler in it". Honestly there's nothing to explain, just see The Ridiculous 6 (but don't really) and then watch The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and you'll see the difference. You will like one, or the other, but not both - at least I don't think it's possible - like humanly physically possible - to like them both. It's one or the other.

Which I think is why I did like The Week Of, because it seems to find a perfect balance of these two types of movies.

The Week Of has the humor of an "Adam Sandler movie" but the heart and acting of a "movie with Adam Sandler in it". Watching the preview I found myself laughing at a Sandler movie like I hadn't in a long time, and also feeling like he's doing a real movie because of the story of a father struggling to pull off his daughter's wedding on his own, to keep all the mistakes and missteps hidden so that everyone has a good time with no worries. Adam Sandler plays a guy I can relate to, but also a guy who's got more problems than I ever will so it's kind of fun to watch him go through it all because it's making me feel better about my own life, and all while laughing - and then at the end, the talk with his daughter was just so freaking sad and amazing and . . .

Yeah, I have now found myself tearing up at an "Adam Sandler movie" and I love that fact, I am happy it happened and happy I can say that and want to be able to say it more.

I found out long ago that just because I grew up, had a family and kids, that didn't mean I had to change entirely - not at all, but I did have to change. I can still be weird and funny but you have to balance it with the reality of life and all that surrounds it. This movie pulls that off and if he keeps doing this then an "Adam Sandler movie" and a "movie with Adam Sandler in it" may both be a good thing.