Waiting for Forever

The other night, I watched Waiting for Forever on Netflix not because either the movie image or summary interested me in any particular way, but because a standard romantic comedy just seemed like the right thing for the moment. I didn't care whether or not I liked the movie much. But one of those moments happened: I had randomly chosen a movie that I ended up connecting with.

Some aspects of this movie reminded me of Benny and Joon, but carried out in a way I felt closer to. I won't give plot specifics, but will just talk in a more general way.

I really liked Will's character, and not just because I'm a "romantic" (maybe I am in some ways, but it's more than that). It's the literary idea. It's the concept of ideals. It's the image of how much a single thing in a person's life means, of how everything is important and makes an impact -- and some people see this impact more. Proof (I think) that I'm not just looking at this movie in the regular "romantic" way is that I don't think it necessarily had to end the way it did. I liked the ending, but it could have ended in many ways. Part of the point for me is that the ending doesn't matter so much as the how. It matters what Will thinks and feels and decides, not so much what the other characters do or how their actions affect his situation. It's his story, and the most important thing for his character is the emotion itself, not what accompanies it.

A nice movie (quite funny at times, too, if you click with the sense of humor). Some people will call it slow, but may I ask why you would want to only watch movies that pound and pound the adrenaline scenes as they catapult toward the ending? Movies can achieve on such a variety of levels.

(To further my idea that even romantic comedies can have variety, here are two other movies I've watched recently. The Yellow Handkerchief, with all its indie goodness, was silly and sweet and entertaining. Love and Mary I absolutely hated; there aren't too many movies I'll say this about, but I didn't even feel like finishing this one. So there it is: one movie I hated, one I loved, and one I was on middle ground about.)