Wedding, Together, Partaker (2006)

Romcom with Realism, for good and bad

What I loved and hated most about the film is the healthy dose of realism to this romcom. From the stressful in-laws (on both sides, for different reasons) that weren't overdone, to the getting-used-to-each-other phase of being newlyweds, to the stress of living in a place that isn't your own, and more. It was real but it was funny. And the leads were so cute. And despite Angie being hot-headed and Jed being rather weak-willed, I would dare to say that they were a perfect mesh for each other. They knew how to apologize to each other after a fight, and really wanted the other to be as happy as possible.

But, we also get the other side of that realism: the likelihood of a man cheating on his spouse goes up significantly with pregnancy. For a number of reasons. Loss of attraction. Less bedroom activity. Change in the spouse's attitude. Etc. Etc. And in reality, many spouses will still forgive their partner afterwards with the reassurance that it won't happen again, after a good/sincere apology, and/or on behalf of the baby and their post-partum state.

Even when this plot element was introduced, I still really liked the movie. The way Angie handled it was spectacular. And I expected nothing less from my girl. Even when she's on her last leg of pregnancy, she handled that like a boss. And it looked like she was gonna make Jed work for her forgiveness.

But alas, the film botched the story towards the end. Jed didn't grovel as much as he deserved to. And several characters contributed to this narrative of the infidelity being an easily forgiven transgression - on behalf of him being a man and it not meaning anything. For instance, Jed's mother seemingly shocked but relatively okay when it came to light - because, I mean, what does it matter if your son went against basic loyalty morals since you hate your daughter-in-law? And then Angie's father gave this whole spiel about how "men work different" and "just because we cheat doesn't mean we don't love our wives anymore" speech while comforting her.

And then we have Angie saying she feels bad because she married Jed in the hopes of changing him? That didn't even make sense with the movie! Did me and the scriptwriter watch the same movie? At most, Angie hoped Jed would grow more of a backbone and stand up against his parents wishes/opinions. What does that have ANYTHING to do with his ongoing affair?

This could have been a great movie. And I would have loved to debate the "should she/shouldn't she forgive him" aspect of the story. But the ending just really messed that up. It made the cheating out to be much a smaller dealer than it was, and tried to paint hot-headed pregnant Angie as part of the reason it happened.

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