Valentine's Day Conventions

My brain jumps to words like love and romance for Valentine's Day, but not the regular kind. I think of that extravagant, orchestra swooping, grand gesture kind of romance you find in the rom-coms that are churned out by the film industry to give wine-binging soccer moms their next fix. I have no idea what it may be, but I'm guessing that there's some sort of movie like that that came out today.

I do actually have a soft spot for a few of these movies. I believe that if a film is entertaining to someone, they should never be ashamed of it. That's what I tell myself, at least, because I really dig the movie Made of Honor.

It's the most hopelessly romantic and unrealistic depiction of a love story. In the film, Thomas (played by Patrick Dempsey) literally is asked to be a male maid of honor for his best friend Hannah's (played by Michelle Monaghan) wedding, when he is in fact in love with her. It has all the right cues: he agrees, he falls deeper in love, the guy she's marrying is a rich douchebag, she starts to develop feelings for him but denies them, she walks in on a bridesmaid trying to seduce Thomas and all hope seems lost for a second but they end up together in the end anyway, and the douchebag gets punched in the face.

Happily ever after.

It's all the Valentine's vibe. This inflated, drawn out idea of romance that's so unrealistic, yet so reflective of how love can actually feel sometimes...?

Wasn't expecting to end this post on such a sappy note.