Reviews

It's not great, but it's not as horrible as the IMDB rating would lead one to believe. It was interesting. I never read the book, but from what I've heard this was a closer adaptation than the 2014 film, which was an awful run of the mill parent doesn't want their daughter with the her bf trope. In the 1981 version you felt the obsession and there was a dark tone to it. With that said, it could have been much better. From what I read about the book Jade was plain, Brooke Shields was stunning, so it was understandable why David would be obsessed. It's almost like they cast gorgeous leads so they didn't have to develop a deeper relationship. I think casting a plainer actress would have had to force them to show more character development of what attracted him to her. They only showed a superficial relationship. The beginning needed more fleshing if out overall. Things turned really quickly, one minute the family loved David, literally the next, they (dad and Keith) hated him. This was definitely a liberal family, so I was surprised the dad reacted so strongly when he found out David and Jade were having sex, albeit in the house. I would have liked to have seen more of the family dynamics before the fire. The mom was one of the few likable characters, but what a weirdo! She watched them having sex. I understand she was living vicariously through Jade, and realized the passion missing from her own relationship, but it was creepy. She was enamored with David, that always seemed obvious. She told the husband to let Jade have a pill when the father was freaking out. She was very unprotecting of her daughter. But she stayed more true to the character of being permissive. Whereas the father seemed more permissive at first, but did a 180 rather quickly.

The second half is when it went off the rails. Timelines were off. At David's sentencing he still had a fresh bruise on his face from the fire. Was the trial held the next day? He was sentenced to 5 years in jail, but was sent to a mental hospital instead. In the film he he was inspired to set the fire by a story his friend told. At that point he seemed young, desperate and stupid, but not necessarily crazy. Once in the mental hospital, it became obvious David was not mentally well no matter what the movie tried to portray. He wrote Jade every day and had visions of her. It was not just obsessive love, it was more like schizophrenia. He finally convinced his parents to get him out, and the scene right after he gets home is him in NYC where Jade's family moved. No thought process shared about maybe this isn't a good idea bc if caught near the family I'll be thrown in jail. He goes to see the mom who basically has no problem with the guy who burned down her home! She was always his biggest cheerleader. She tells David she and Hugh divorced. Jade is away at school and the youngest son crashes on her couch. They reveal it's only been 2 years! Jade was 15, the youngest son was no more than 13 when the fire happened. It made 0 sense. It should've been a longer passage of time. The mom tries to sleep with David who turns her down. In some odd ways David had more meaningful interaction with the mom than Jade. Anyway, then David is walking in a city of 8 million when Hugh spots him and darts in the street without looking.... David does see Jade and when she tells him it's over, he attacks her until she submits. Therein lies another issue, I never felt the 'endless' love was mutual. I think Jade would've been fine falling in love with someone else. It didn't feel mutual, David was the obsessive one. So in the end when she visited him in jail where he had to finish out his sentence, it didn't ring true. I thought it was a interesting tale of obsession, but I never rooted for David and Jade. As an adult watching it in 2023, David was dangerous. If Jade ever left him or she was with someone else, he'd kill her or that person. The fact that he physically attacked her, burned down her home, got inadvertently got her father killed also never entered her mind that she needs to run. So I never found it romantic. Shields, Hewitt, Spader were at their peak of gorgeousness. Both sets of parents gave excellent performances, especially Shirley Knight. The movie was decent to me, but could have been better. The title song is the real classic here.

I'm not really sure why I liked it as much as I did because the script was a mess. Decent chemistry and I liked the work setting. Unlike some other reviews, I didn't find it cheesy for a romcom. I thought the 'hate' banter was really good, but the development of the love story was nowhere to be found. It could have been a 10 with a stronger script. Like the book, I felt they were in a bubble. No outside friends or fleshed out lives really. Like I wondered why Lucy was sitting home writing Smurf fan fiction instead of spending Thanksgiving with her family. The setting was NYC at Christmas time, they showed footage, but you didn't feel it. No office holiday party, no gift buying/giving, talk of plans etc.. The pitch for the job was after NYE. That was a pivotal time in the relationship, so one would think she would be upset about not spending it with Josh, but that time was completely glossed over. I have no idea why they chose to set this during the holidays, it added nothing except questions.

The last 15 min were terrible and undermined everything that came before. Lucy was more concerned about the company than Josh's 'betrayal'. Not even a 'how could you use me?' line. Then he just allowed her to think he was playing her for a very lame reason. When he wasn't in the office, she was more concerned about what he was plotting for the job interview. She just didn't seem fazed at all about the relationship. The film started with them basically telling us despite fighting, they had an attraction. One would expect some meaningful dialogue when it took a turn about how it got there, it just never happened. The film needed fun scenes away from the office with no discussion of work or family drama. There was never any real discussion of how they felt about each other and what they wanted. Josh also said that women usually don't see him as long term.. like what? He seemed like a catch and if he wasn't they didn't tell us why not. Before that, Josh kept intimating, because no one can just come right out and say what they're feeling, that he wanted a serious relationship with her (wish they would've shown how he got to that point), but Lucy ALWAYS brought it back to work, even when it shouldn't have entered the conversation. She seemed to just want a FWB situation with him.

I thought Josh was way too educated and motivated to be an assistant. He didn't really seem passionate about publishing either. The job seemed very beneath him. He seemed more of a finance guy and I think the level of positions and/or setting should've been changed. Especially that books have shifted to devices, which wasn't addressed. Going from assistant to a director/management position was a stretch and Lucy's proposal wasn't even relevant to the position, it was marketing. The office also seemed kind of small as far as employees. Complaints? They showed the same 3 employees who were friends of Lucy's. The sex scene should've been longer & hotter. The after sex scene was unsatisfying and sort of awkward. Can't believe this was R rated. I liked Danny, who she totally used. In many ways she had a more natural relationship with him. They talked about their families, had some fun nights out. All things she should've done with Josh. Though, it was another example of the bizarre writing. She's supposed to have had her finger on the pulse of the company was friends with Danny, but didn't know he was leaving?

This could have been so much better with more capable writers.