MovieChat Forums > Dan in Real Life (2007) Discussion > Mawkish, pollyanna, fake--how do people ...

Mawkish, pollyanna, fake--how do people still fall for this formula?

posted 10 years ago by groove76
1 reply | jump to latest

I don't know what universe this movie is supposed to take place in but it sure as hell isn't the one that I'm from. What family of adults gets together in their cabin and all agree to act like kids—dancing in the yard, playing football, "talent shows," etc.? Was this written as some Christian fantasy of what life ought to be like? This movie made me cringe so much for how detached from actual reality it was, my abs felt like I had done a few dozen crunches by the end of it.

This isn't the first romantic comedy I've seen that exaggerates its nonsense to such delusional extremes. "Love, Actually" was another movie that was dripping schmaltz to the point I'm surprised the DVD itself wasn't perfumed.

How do people still fall for the lies of movies like this and not get up and leave? The only reason I watched this was for whatever reason I put it in my Watch List. It was likely for an actor/actress that I cannot remember why. I regret doing that as this was a profound waste of my time. No wisdom, no entertainment, nothing authentic—just a stroke session. I would have rather watched an actual pornographic movie where someone actually was orgasming instead of this 100-minute marathon of lies about life.

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Behold, bastard son
I am the evil one

[–] xstrym 10 years ago

Well, that's why it's called a work of fiction. I bet your life would be so great as to put it on screen. Is it?

My question is: why do people seem to constantly confuse and blur the lines of fiction with some sort of reality based interpretation? It's rampant on IMDumB.com. Did you also post this on Spielberg's "Close Encounters" board too? That movie, like most of his, are complete fantasies, yet they have raked in billions for that dude. Curiously, I don't see pilgrimages to devil's tower on a regular basis to wait for first contact, however.

I will never understand why people try to view art as anything but.

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