I am dying to talk about this movie with someone who isn’t dh or ds2. If there’s not a lot of interest when I check on it in the morning, I’ll delete this thread, but if there is interest be forewarned that there will be plenty of spoilers.
Spoiler warning
I had it on my watch list so went ahead and just watched it. So here’s at least one other person who can discuss!
Alright, we can have at it!
I’m going to slow-roll it so people can still leave as spoilers are ahead.
First, I thought Lili Reinhart was great. I don’t watch Riverdale and had never seen her before.
Two, I am from Austin so loved seeing all the things. I need to look up where her parents’ house is. My guess is Barton Hills.
Three, I loved the premise. Ds2 said some stuff that I thought was really interesting. He said how hopeful the movie is, which I think is true, but he said I am not the movie’s demographic (also true) and that the demographic for the movie so often gets wound up that there’s only one true way for things to work out. I mean, intellectually, no, obviously, but I get what he’s saying as so many kids are so black-and-white in their thinking. Ds2 is still working on this so I can imagine that seeing a different choice still turn out OK is comforting. I’ve tried to tell him how, IMHO, no one has a soulmate – you could marry lots of people and have a satisfying life. And you could get a different house or job or live in a different city and it would all turn out OK, just different.
Four, and this is where I needed someone besides dh with which to discuss. Why was the choice the choice chosen to represent? I feel like they took the less-political option by making her not pregnant as the other option as opposed to being pregnant and choosing an abortion as the other option. She could go to LA and life would carry on as usual. Dh was trying to say how it would change the whole movie, and that ticked me off because it wouldn’t. It would affect, perhaps, how people feel about the movie, but I feel like by trying to take the non-political route, it’s kind of political. Anyway, I was most irritated at dh as I feel like he’s believing the idea that if a woman has one her whole life is somehow disrupted and it couldn’t possibly be the same movie. Am I wrong? Not about going on with their lives … I know that’s true … but would it have SOOOO required drastically changing the movie? I’m asking not to get political about abortion … I’m asking from a film-making POV.
Five, the whole things reeks of privilege in a way with which I am uncomfortable. Nat had a supportive family, partner, friends in both scenarios, which makes life a lot easier, especially in the PG scenario. I pointed it out to ds2, and he said that he didn’t think young people would take it as an instruction manual to make life choices. That was fair. But he also agreed with my observation.
OK, those are some of my thoughts. Agree or disagree?
The movie was watchable but like Natalie’s first artwork that she showed Lucy, I thought it was derivative and unoriginal. There have been plenty of movies etc. that involved lives splitting off at a specific point, Sliding Doors perhaps being the best known. It made me think of the Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular when DS was in elementary school.
In terms of Natalie’s choice - the film was initially called Plus/Minus, so the premise was meant to be about fate rather than choice, I think. Having the divergence be between keeping a baby or not would have made it a different concept. But I thought there was a missing element as to why she chose to go ahead with her pregnancy. Gabe was correctly supportive of her choice and onward. But she made the choice with no idea of how to move forward except to go back home. She seemed ambivalent about the decision, not positive. We don’t know why she made that decision. Although she clearly loved little Rosie, we didn’t get the trope where she indicated that the child was the best thing that could have happened to her.
And her parents’ reaction seemed overboard - why didn’t Natalie tell them they had practiced safe sex? We could hear the parents yelling about it so why didn’t it get clarified? Just a little scene that annoyed me. I also thought we didn’t learn much about her friend Cara - I never quite figured out what happened with her advertising job and got mixed up if she was disappointed in both paths or not. I gather she ended up with the upstairs neighbor in both paths.
Other than that, two Hallmark movies merged together. I knew Mom Nat was going to end up successfully creating a night owl work. I knew Not-Mom Nat would find her voice once she thought about it. I knew both Nats would end up with the love interests.
I’ve seen a fair amount of discussion about the ending in reviews. One idea is that both paths are potentials and never actually happened, as we see Natalie still on the toilet. Another idea is that alternate choices will turn out OK so no need to stress or think too hard.
Oh, I like the idea of it being about fate rather than choice. That immediately makes me feel better. Thank you!
I didn’t give much thought to which ending was “real,” but I agree with the philosophy that because it ends with her back on the toilet that she is projecting what each answer might mean.
Just watched last night. It was an okay movie overall. Thought the actress was good.
The movie was about fate. The two paths were pregnant and not pregnate. Notice how after finding she was not pregnant how happy they were–straight back to partying. The whole focus of the movie would be different if the decision was abort or not. I agree with your husband.
The pregnant path did hold the option of abortion–her friend told her he’d support her in “any decision she chose”. She chose to have the baby partially because she DID have a supportive family. I would hope that having a family who supports its members is not a “privilege” per se.
I enjoyed the family reaction. It was one of few humorous moments in the movie. And saying you DID have safe sex changes the discussion focus from asking for support from your family to defending yourself in an obviously losing position.
Cara seemed like a placeholder–supportive friend in both scenarios but not much else.
Both paths eventually land her in the same position career wise. But you can’t tell if Rosie added in the plus column or not to her life.
My biggest problem is that I didn’t think her art work was good enough.
My favorite “fate” movie (alternate universe) is “The Family Man” with Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni.
I LOVE The Family Man.
My husband and I both enjoyed the movie. (It was a bit confusing in the beginning, so we liked it when Mom-Natalie had a haircut… ha then confused again when they swapped that.). I liked the hopefulness of it.
Per your point #4, if Not-Mom-Natalie storyline included abortion… then I think there would have been some conservative outcries, media angst etc. This way they just got to tell an interesting story, with broad appeal. I’m OK with that (even though personally pro-choice past few years, after being on the fence about it for a long time).
I’m going to watch Sliding Doors now, based on Marilyn’s comment!
Watched Sliding Doors but not a fan.
I now have Sliding Doors and Family Man on my Watchlist app.