Thursday, January 27, 2011

Thank God somebody finally said it














For years I've been lamenting the fact that far too many movies and television shows today feature mismatched couples—a skinny but fit perfect-looking leading lady and an out-of-shape schlub of a leading man. And now—finally!—someone else has noticed too.

Because in an article in this week's Entertainment Weekly that talks about what's wrong with The Dilemma, a movie now playing in theaters starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, one of the first thing that's pointed out is how unbelievable it is to pair these schmoes with two of the hottest women in the film industry.

"Give us a break with these couples," the article begins. "We're not ones to demand gritty realism in all our movies, but even Transformers has a more believable premise than the idea of schlubs like Vaughn and Kevin James landing Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder."

I could not agree more.

The article also points out—rightly so—that the female characters are insulting cliches: one is a crazy-happy adulteress and the other is a saintly girlfriend, two unbelievable versions of women we see all too often in Hollywood movies.

Am I sensing a theme here?

Unbelievable pairings.

Unbelievable female characters.

Unbelievable movie.

The only thing I don't get is why the article doesn't point out that there is a long history of pairing gorgeous women with painfully average men.

Haven't these people heard of Couples Retreat or The King of Queens? Or It's Complicated? Or Still Standing?

Oh, God, stop me, or I'll go on all night.

Still, I'm glad that somebody finally said it. Now if we all start complaining about it, maybe someone will finally do something about it.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not sure how unbelievable the matches are. How many times have you seen a couple and wonder what "she" is doing with "him?" I rarely see it the other way around. Do women have lower standards? Overlook superficial things? Insecure? Or am I biased by only seeing the women as picking sub-par mates? Or maybe it is the movies that are influencing real life choices, in which case complain away!

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