Without Men

Once again I find myself having to explain why I love a film a lot of people hate. Without Men starring Eva Longoria is one of my all time favorite films. Since it so happens to be one of my favorite films, as usual I have discovered that it is hated by the masses.

I love this movie for a lot of reasons. The main one being that it's just awesome. The main premise of the movie is that a small Latin American village is left stranded without any men when all of the men are drug off to fight in a war. That premise is what originally got me to watch the film and I have loved it ever since.

One of the things that hurt this film a lot was the way it was marketed. The poster for the film is arranged in such away that if you were to just see it at a movie theater you would automatically assume that it was a romantic comedy about a man hating woman who by the end of the film ends up with Christian Slater. That is so unbelievably not the case it's down right hilarious. The trailer didn't help either. The trailer doesn't make it appear to be a run of the mill romantic comedy like the poster, but oh boy is it bad. It starts by explaining the premise of the film then proceeds to show a series of the parts of the film that make the women in it seem stupid. Out of context it's just painful to watch and had I seen the trailer first I probably never would have watched the movie.

I find reviews for movies completely useless when it comes to picking things to watch. I never give even the slightest regard to any review whatsoever mostly because I never actually agree once I've seen the film. Sometimes for fun I do read them after I've seen the movie just to see what other people thought and that is usually where I hear that people freaking hate that movie I love. It happens a lot to me. In regards to Without Men I discovered that people freaking hated it.

The reporter's boss in the film is a total ball buster woman. In the opening scene we actually see her getting sexually serviced by a coworker while she's on the phone. The complaint I've heard is that no woman in real life would risk the lawsuits. Well, the film's not supposed to be a realistic slice of life. It's supposed to be over the top and in this particular case a point is being made. In like everything ever (well not everything, but a lot) the male boss sleeps with the females that work under him. The point in this film being that a woman is just as sexually charged as anyone with a penis. It's actually one of the main points of the film, that women want it as much as men and really aren't too different in such regards.

In one review I read, the guy who wrote it actually admitted he didn't finish watching it. That alone should make all comments he made void, but, you know, the internet. He stopped near the beginning when the women are first complaining about all the things they don't know how to do without men. I will admit, upon first watching the film, I did debate turning it off myself because it was a little bit painful how stupid and antifeminist the women characters are, but I'm glad I stuck it out. That scene is over exaggerated for the purpose of being melodramatic. Eva Longoria's character, Rosalba, is the only one who is appalled by the statements made. Just about every feminist woman I have ever met has had a moment when talking with other women that you hear something like this and you just want to pile drive your head through a wall.

The film starts off with the women being overly exaggerated as useless for a couple reasons. One being entertainment value and the main one being to make the character transformation a bit more prominent. It's an over the top comedy of manners so it's supposed to be exaggerated. The whole point of the film is that men and women really aren't that different even though at first you're not really sure where it is going.

Another thing I love about it is that it's one of the few films I've ever seen that really has fun with female sexuality and that's probably why it got it's R rating. With the lack if F-bombs and incredibly tame sex scenes it's could easily get away with a PG-13 rating and were it men making the same jokes it probably would have. It's so absurd and fun when it goes there yet still quite true you have two choices: sit there awkwardly or laugh (and I suppose you could also add laugh awkwardly). Men can be crude about things without question in films so it is really fun to see women doing the same thing and to not have it be in The Sex in the City just sleep with everyone fashion.

What I love most about this film is that it shows women don't need men, but they do still want them and that's okay. In the film, Father Rafael says, "Life was finally how God intended it to be. The mans on one side the womans on the other." And I love that the entire film works to rip that apart entirely.

It's a strange film and not everyone will appreciate it, but by no means deserves the 1.5 star rating it has on IMDB. It should be given a fair chance and if by the end of the film you still don't like it fair enough (but you're probably a bit stupid).

Cryptic Messages From My Past

My class notebooks are plastered from cover to cover with writing. Most people think it's because I'm either incredibly studious or I am using class time to pen that novel.  Both are acceptable answers (neither are correct).

The fact of the matter is that I am taking notes on the class and what we're supposed to be learning, but I'm also writing down every other thought that pops into my head as well. This works out fine for me because writing things down helps me to remember it, but if anyone ever wishes to read my notes it would be like trying to discuss physics in Wonderland. You get a few lines of how that science thing actually works before all of a sudden there is a giant caterpillar asking questions like, "The Square Crows Heros?" and all you can do is just move on and hope to God you can get out of there without losing your soul to the black gobliny thing doodled in the margin.

While my notebooks are useless for navigating my classes, they are useful in finding ideas for things. (I actually wrote an entire script for one of my classes in the margins once.) I can reread them and totally know what was going on in my mind at that time. Well, in most cases that is. There are sometimes when I am looking through them and I can't for the life of me figure out why I wrote "FROZEN TURKEY" or "3480 South Galena." Then like a month later I totally remember that it's because we were discussing Thanksgiving leftovers in class or that I was getting a friend directions.

I don't just leave these cryptic notes in my class notebooks either. I'll be on the phone with my mom and need to write something down. The next thing you know I not only have a pie recipe, but a friendly squirrel named Bunny to share it with as well as several questions on what the purpose of a cuticle is. Then later on I'll look at that same recipe on my bulletin board and stare at it for an hour as I try to figure out what, "Ninja Bitch!" has to do with anything.

The amazing thing is, I actually forget that it's weird until the guy I sit next to in public speaking class who wasn't there last class asks if he can copy my notes. I always say, "yeah, sure thing," and open to the page. Then two things happen: 1) he can't read my handwriting for shit and 2) the only part he can read is my philosophical thoughts on Wheat Thins.

I thoroughly suspect that one day in the future, if I put together all the tidbits of my notes I can't figure out how they relate, I will have elaborate instructions on how to get to a magical unexplored land called my subconscious.