Day 180: Confetti

In an attempt to win a house, three couples take part in a magazine competition that’s looking for the most original wedding. While working through their themes, each couple comes to understand their relationship in a new light.

For the wedding themes we had: Hollywood musicals, tennis, and naturist. The first and last sounded interesting but the second one was boring. Out of all the couples who auditioned (dinosaur couple, hello!), why oh why would you have picked the couple with the tennis theme? They are given the least attention by the wedding planners. That could’ve been because the theme was boring or because the couple were awful. Despite my issue with the theme, the actual wedding was kinda fun. I mean, I’d never have it myself but it wasn’t horrible. The naturist wedding was really sweet, and I’m so glad they stuck to their guns and were naked for it. The magazine bosses were completely against them being naked and it almost split the couple up but then they did what was right for them. The musical one sounded great in theory (I have a soft spot for musicals, I don’t know why) but the actual wedding just seemed far too much. If I was at a wedding that did this theme, I’d probably be cringing the entire way through.

The naturist couple, Joanna (Olivia Colman) and Michael (Robert Webb), had a difficult time in coming to an agreement on how the wedding should be. Michael had always been a naturist but Joanna was new to it, so she wasn’t entirely comfortable being naked in front of a lot of clothed strangers. He was completely inflexible about it, however, and just kept saying she was beautiful so should be fine with it. She did want to have a proper naturist wedding though and managed to find the confidence to go through with it.

The tennis couple, Isabelle (Meredith MacNeill) and Josef (Stephen Mangan), were just insufferable. If you knew people like them in real life, you’d never willingly associate with them. Obviously as tennis players they’re quite competitive but sadly they bring it into all aspects of their lives and don’t leave it on the court. He is quite insecure and he says in a counselling session that he’s worried she’ll realise that he’s not enough for her and can’t offer her anything. That does help to explain a lot of his behaviour but still didn’t convince me to root for them as a couple.

The musical couple, Sam (Jessica Hynes) and Matt (Martin Freeman), seemed to be the most secure couple. There were some stresses with Sam’s family but the couple stuck together through it. He helped her to find the confidence to stick up for herself and make the choices that she felt were right for the wedding, without giving in to pressure from her mum and sister. A musical theme seemed a bit out-there for them, considering neither of them could sing or dance. If I was to guess at their reason for picking it, it would probably have something to do with Sam always feeling like she’s in her sister’s shadow and her wedding day is a chance to do something big. And she did look like she really enjoyed it, so that was a good moment.

I wouldn’t watch the film again but it’s an easy film to watch if you’re looking to kill some time. There were some cute moments and the acting was alright.

6/10

Day 136: What's Your Number?

Ally (Anna Faris) reads in a magazine that the average number of sexual partners women have  in their lifetime is 10.5 and that if your number is more than 20 then you’re less likely to get married. She is currently at number 19 and that same night she hits the 20 mark. Not wanting to go any higher, she decides to go back through her exes and see if she’ll end up with one of them. In order to track them down she enlists the help of her neighbour Colin (Chris Evans).

The synopsis on IMDb says, “A woman looks back at the past twenty men she's had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them might be her one true love.” That would make you think that perhaps Ally had decided what was best for her and thought she’d find what she was looking for in a past relationship. But you would be wrong in thinking that. In the film she is essentially slut-shamed into not going any higher than 20 and she only decides to trawl through her exes because she doesn’t want to be a woman with a higher number than 20 because guys don’t like it. Which makes me want to explode. At one point she tells a guy that she’s had 20 partners and he actually says “yuck.” Her friends try to make her feel bad about it and one of them says that women who have sex with lots of different guys have low self-esteem. I’m not saying that’s not maybe true of some women but that’s not just universally true. Some women just like sex and they enjoy it with more than one partner. And it’s not “gross” and it doesn’t say anything about who the woman is herself. So, enoooough.

Once you ignore the ridiculous plot of the film, it’s alright. There are some funny bits and Colin was sweet. But seriously, people of the planet. It doesn’t matter if you have sex with lots of different people or if you don’t have sex at all. All that matters is that it’s what you want.

5/10