"Crazy, Stupid, Love"

My roommate and I saw the movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love" last Friday night in a little theater that shows movies after they've already hit the big screen for the first time. We decided to see it on a whim, and I don't think either of us had read any reviews on the movie. We had both just heard it was funny. So we settled into the theater and waited for it to begin.

Before I begin with giving my thoughts about the movie, I will tell you this may contain some spoilers. The movie begins with a husband and wife sitting down to eat dinner in a restaurant. They both look uncomfortable as they try to order what they want. The husband asks the wife what she wants, and she looks up at her husband and says she wants a divorce. The husband is shell-shocked, not expecting that confession, especially in a public restaurant. The scene then flashes to a bar/night club when a very handsome, well-to-do twenty-something man approaches two young ladies sitting at a table in the club. The man comes on to one of the women, but wisely, she says she has to go and leaves the club.

What made me a little upset about the movie was when it started to devalue marriage. The man, whose name is Hal, shows up at work and his coworkers hear him crying in the bathroom. They think he might have cancer, but when they find out why he was crying, they all breathe a sigh of relief that "it's just a divorce." This upset me because many people in this society believe that marriage does not mean anything anymore. Movies like this are a prime example of why marriage does not mean as much in the eyes of the world as it should. Marriage is a union set up by God to be a reflection of Christ and the church. Movies like "Crazy, Stupid, Love" tell the audience that divorce is not that big of a deal when really divorce is one of the ugliest things known to man. It tears up families, friendships, love, relationships, and God hates it.

Throughout this movie, themes of infidelity, adultery, lust, and promiscuity echo in almost every scene. Some of this can be looked at for the audience to "learn a lesson" from. But why do these lessons have to be indirect, basically saying, "Don't do what you see in this movie." Why can't movies be made that are still funny but encourage moral themes? We wonder why society as a whole is going down the drain. Look at what we're watching and spending out time putting inside our brains.

What also makes this movie sad is that, of course, Hollywood has to make it funny. I will admit, I laughed quite a bit in the movie. The whole audience laughed a lot. And I hate leaving a movie thinking, "Well, that was funny, but it was horrible." And I think the topper on the cake that made the movie horrible was something that happened in the last scene. In the movie, a seventeen-year-old girl takes pictures of herself in the nude for a reason I will not name. But at the end of the movie, she gives the pictures to a thirteen-year-old boy who has a crush on her. Peachy, right? I was livid when I saw this. Right now, in this nation and around the world, pornography is a sickness in the lives of so many men, women too, but mainly men. Pornography wrecks the lives of so many individuals, families, homes, marriages, and men who are supposed to be leaders but who are brought down by this awful addiction.

And what did this crazy, stupid movie do? It practically encouraged it, condoned it. It basically told anyone watching, "Well, this thirteen-year-old boy can't date this seventeen-year-old girl yet, but she can give him pictures of herself in the nude for him to enjoy until he is old enough to date her." What the movie doesn't show was how horribly corrupt this boy will be before he is even old enough to date her.

So, yeah, if you're looking for a movie that will counter every moral belief you've ever held dear, this is the movie for you. Yes, in a way, it kind of has a happy ending, but overall, I would never recommend this movie to anyone. I know plenty of movies that are good, clean, and funny and still uphold what I believe. But if you're looking for a movie that will upset you and frustrate you as it has me, leaving you angry with Hollywood, then yep, this is the crazy, stupid movie that will do it.

I hope love never becomes crazy and stupid. I hope love always remains holy and pure as God intended it to be, something not to be corrupted, especially by Hollywood's cheap attempts. Lessons learned: 1. read reviews before watching a movie and 2. God created love in a way that is sacred, and it only comes from him. Thank goodness, because the love that was portrayed in that movie is nothing I want.