Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Gene Hunt.
So, I was trying not to go there in my post about Valentines Day yesterday, but then scottstev brought the bitter for me (which I really appreciate, by the way!):
I really hate that somehow all these stunningly attractive people are pretending to have messed up and lonely romantic lives. I can see messy (and there are problems with ambundance, I'm sure) but I don't believe that Jessica Alba was ever at a loss for suitors and would get pity from a hotel clerk.I think this is really true, and it's one of the biggest problems in American movies today. People like Jessica Alba may have romantic problems, and I sure wouldn't take her shotgun wedding to Cash Warren any day, but they exist in a separate category from my romantic problems, or most other people's. British movies and TV shows recognize this, and it is to their everlasting credit that John Simm is recognized over there as the sex symbol he undeniably is. But while Simm takes my breath away (you have noticed the State of Play obsession, folks, right?) he's not someone that most American casting directors would even notice if Brad Pitt were anywhere within a fifty-mile radius. And that's too bad. Dramas are more compelling when the people acting them out can really inhabit the emotions behind them. I'm sure Jessica Alba's love life is interesting, and I might even like to see a movie about it. But her problems aren't mine, and it's weird for any movie to try to pretend that they are.