A Trilogy of Realistic Love

2006 was a great year for romantic movies. If you were lucky there was maybe 1 decent realistic romatic movie a year unlike the the dozens of crappy Hollywood cheesy romatic comedies. The Last Kiss, The Break Up and The Groomsmen stood out to me last year and I enjoyed all three very much. A lot of what each of them said hit home to me, had me entertained and just plain was believable.

Starting off with The Groomsmen, it had an all star cast including, John Leguizamo, Donald Logue, Jay Mohr, Matthew Lillard, Ed burns and Brittney Murphy. Everyone does a great job with their role but Jay Mohr as the dumb ass steals the show. He has a bunch of funny lines and some pathetic situations he puts himself in. Im a fan of Ed Burns directed movies but this one is definitely more mainstream than his others. There is a lot of good insightful discussion about marriage, dating, etc... that was dead on. The cheesy American Pie style cover i think helped rent it out cuz it was always gone at my local Blockbuster for a few weeks. Its basically about one friend thats about to get married and all his groomsmen which are childhood buddies come down to hang out for the week until the weddding. He basically goes through anxiety and all the usual jazz but its done in an intelligent and entertaining way.

Next up we have the Break Up. I think by now everyone that interested in this type of movie has watched it by now. Yes there are some hilarious moments with Vince Vaughan and his usual schtick but the surprising thing about it was the meaningful moments. The second half was depressing and had a great and un-hollywood type ending which probably turned off a lot of cheesers. Anyways the movie had a great lesson on compromise in relationships and what it takes for it to truly work.

Last we have The Last Kiss which is my favorite of the 3. Zach Braff is great in the movie as someone in a relationship thats about to have his first child and he realizes the finality of his situation. There is a young vixen that shows up and he has to struggle with his temptations. He goes on an obvious journey that leads him to what is finally what truly matters in his life. Very touching, realistic with a couple of funny moments. Im glad directors are finally "getting" what true relationships go through and not just the same old cookie cutter type of movies every year.