Classic Female Predicament?

So the bad boy and the nice guy are the same person in this scenario?
That's a fresh take on the cliche.

Okay, so let's pick either one, the sensitive bad boy or the nice guy....what usually happens to people as they get older, whether they are male or female is that they mature. He clearly didn't, every time she tried to have a conversation with him, he twisted what she said to suit his own insecurities or whatever. And his solution to everything was more physical intimacy, maybe she had grown up into a woman and wanted her boyfriend to become a man (not in the way you think.)He was great with his daughter, true but do you feel that maybe the reason they get along so well is because he is closer to her level of maturity than his wife's?
There were parts of the film in which you could easily empathize/ or feel sympathy towards Dean, it's true but overall I think it's a little harsh to generalize and use Cindy as an example for what women want from relationships.
"It's all very complex. Or else it's very simple. Or perhaps both. Or neither."

I'm a woman and I really feel this movie. So far, I think you and all the others above, are right.

I don't think Michelle's character is a bitch. I believe that there is some kind of fear that most women possess for the security of their child. No one is the bad guy.

I'm a guy and I had ZERO sympathy for Dean. Immature, drunk all the time, irresponsible, no ambition. I was praying she would dump him by the end. She did take advantage of him with the shotgun wedding even if he did want it, and kept the real dad out, but being a great dad isn't the same as a great husband

And he wasn't "nice". She was doing ALL the work running the family. That oatmeal scene made me want to punch his lights out!

Amy: I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!

women are conformists i.e. as kissers and expect men to be the same, conform to stupid society and they call it maturity.

well if it wasn't for men's 'immaturity' we never would have left the caves.

look at all the big inventors throughout history and how badly they just couldn't fit in with society as they saw what a fake arbitrary contraption it was.

women want for men the same mediocre existence as they have.

Uneducated? You really think her problem with him was his lack of education???

She had problems living with him cos he was clearly a immature and a little messed up. The possessive behaviour, the jealousy, the constant spontaneousness, the neediness. Look how he behaved when she told him she bumped into an ex. She said 'we met, we spoke' and he wouldn't let it drop (yes I'm aware that he beat him but all she did was speak two words to him); look at the way he refused to listen to her and booked a hotel room then got drunk and angry because she left early to go to work (something she told him she'd do). Being married to a kid is never easy...






Ashmi any question

If anything, the film only reinforces that the bad guy/nice guy is a false dichotomy. Bad guys do just enough nice things to keep a woman hopeful, while nice guys do just enough bad things to make a woman keep guessing.

Here's what happens in the film. Cindy meets a guy who surprises her with his charisma, energy, and his passionate attraction to her. She's a kid. Shiny things catch a girl's attention. Being a kid she does a lot of stupid things, including getting knocked up. But then...

REVELATION! she grows up. She has a kid, gets a career, and becomes responsible.

Meanwhile, Bobby stays the same pre-tween he was in the beginning. He's an alcoholic, drinking at 8am, makes a mess of breakfast, has no ambition, and barely brings in a paycheck to help with the bills. The only person he can win over with his charm is his daughter, a kid, just like Cindy was when she met him.

REVELATION: his good looks and charm can't get him through with a grownup.

When you come home after a long day of work or have a long day of work to look forward to and your kid needs to eat breakfast, the last thing you want to do is tap dance or cuddle in a motel. When she goes to the motel, she's hoping to feel something for him, anything. When he tries to be soft and romantic, she feels nothing, so she tries to make him be rough, so she can feel something. When she still feels nothing, she realizes that they are truly finished.

The film is not about bad guy/nice guy. It's about how "love" is just the spark, but everything else sustains the flame. If the couple doesn't grow together, they will grow apart.

Modern feminism teaches women that they can have everything at once. Maybe it's supposed to make up for so many years of oppression? In any case, it's impossible to have your cake and eat it too. But that seems to be what Cindy (and many other women) have decided is their inalienable right in society. Have the exciting guy, the alpha male, the house dad, the clever boy, all at once. It doesn't work that way. This film did a pretty good job illustrating why.