The Movie: Bridesmaids
The Lesson: Hitting rock bottom can be a good thing.
In the hit film Bridesmaids, the protagonist Annie (Kristin Wig) is suffering through a hard time in her life while her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is happily engaged and planning her upcoming wedding. Maya is financially secure and has a loving relationship with her fiancé. Meanwhile, Annie is struggling financially, her business closed down, she is single and she is often being mistreated by men. And when Annie is forced to move in with her mother due to financial hardship, her mother quickly realizes that her daughter has hit rock bottom. Annie’s mother tells her that “hitting rock bottom is a good thing, because there is nowhere to go but up.”
This movie did a great job in teaching its audience that everyone goes through hard times, and that sometimes you need to hit rock bottom in order to find the motivation to fight for a better life.
Hitting rock bottom also helped Annie realize she needed to stop spending time with men who were mistreating her, and instead focus on the man who was treating her well. In other words, she realized she needed to spend time with people who could help lift her back up, because she is deserving of love.
The Movie: Just Go With It
The Lesson: Sometimes the perfect person for you has been right in front of you the whole time.
Sometimes the one has been right in front of your face the whole time. This was certainly the lesson in the movie Just Go With It. Danny (Adam Sandler) is a successful plastic surgeon who confides in and has a close friendship with his Office Manager, Katherine (Jennifer Aniston).
Danny often pretends to be someone he is not, and lies in order to get women. Finally, Danny realizes that Katherine is the only person who truly knows the real him, always brightens his day, and he confesses that he is in love with her. Katherine confesses that she loves Danny for who he is, and that she is in love with him also.
The Movie: She’s Out Of My League
The Lesson: Never assume that you’re out of someone’s league.
Kirk (Jay Baruchel) is often told by his friends that he’s a 5 out of 10. He’s goofy, slightly awkward, and he never thought a 10 like Molly (Alice Eve) would go for him.
However, one day when Molly leaves her phone at the airport security area where Kirk works, she arranges to meet Kirk to retrieve it. Molly then takes Kirk to a hockey game to thank him. At first, Kirk has no idea that Molly is interested in him, but her best friend informs Kirk of Molly’s interest and the two begin to date. Kirk’s lack of confidence in the relationship (due to him believing that Molly is out of his league) begins to cause issues for the two of them. Molly fell for Kirk because of his personality. She truly liked him for who he was.
The lesson here is that sometimes someone will fall for you because of who you are – so you should never assume you’re out of anyone’s league, because you’re amazing!
The Movie: The Nanny Diaries
The Lesson: Never put a thankless job ahead of your love life.
Annie (Scarlett Johansson) is a recent graduate who cannot decide what she wants to do with her life. She decides to work as a live-in Nanny while she figures out her path, because the money is great. Despite this, Annie’s employer is negative and unsupportive, and it is quite a thankless job. Annie’s employer has a rule that she cannot date anyone who lives in her building, which becomes a problem when Annie falls for a man who lives in the building. Even though Annie’s employer does not appreciate all of her hard work and extra hours, and even though all of her friends are begging Annie to quit, Annie still decides to put her job first and attempts to reject the man who lives in the building.
The lesson here is never to put a thankless job ahead of your own wants and needs. The only person in this world who truly looks out for you, is you. You must put yourself first sometimes especially if you have found love – put that love first.
The Movie: My Best Friend’s Wedding
The Lesson: Sometimes you have to just let go when someone does not love you back.
In the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, 27-year-old Julianne (Julia Roberts) is having a hard time accepting that her best friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) is getting married to Kimmy (Cameron Diaz). In college, the two made an agreement that if neither of them were married by the time they turned 28, they would marry each other. When Julianne realizes that she is in love with her best friend Michael, she sets out on sabotaging his wedding and making him see how wrong Kimmy is for him, and how right she is for him. Julianne feels she is meant to be with Michael, however he does not feel the same way. She painfully realizes that he is truly in love with Kimmy, and wants to be with Kimmy, not her.
Unrequited love is hard to deal with, but the lesson is that if that person does not love you back, it is not meant to be and you need to let him or her go.
Am I missing any? What are some valuable lessons that you’ve learned about love from your favorite movies?
