Anti-Valentine's Day films for the dateless
Lauren Barbato
Film snobs, beware: Hollywood has left the box office graveyard and entered the Land of Fluff, where subpar chick flicks reign.
Fortunate enough to have a living and breathing significant other on Valentine's Day? Well, if you're into snuggling for 90 minutes in the depths of a crowded theater, then there's an assortment of movies opening in time for the big day.
There's "Fool's Gold" featuring power couple Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, "Definitely, Maybe" with the all-too-adorable Abigail Breslin and "Step Up 2 the Streets," starring a horde of shirtless break-dancers. All are guaranteed to leave your heart warm and fuzzy as the end credits roll.
For those without a heart, but with a brain, there's an array of "anti-Valentine's Day" films to rent while your roommates are professing their love over candlelit dinners.
Unlike most romantic comedies, these films focus on painful endings rather than promising beginnings, painting the last legs of relationships in the most harrowing, beautiful ways. They're offbeat, twisted, existential and even bloody; these films can change your life.
"Annie Hall" and "Manhattan"
The charismatic and neurotic Woody Allen is known to only discuss a few topics - literature, philosophy and foreign films. Somehow, he interrelates all of them, and usually within the context of his relationships with women.
In "Annie Hall," Allen documents his relationship with Annie, a woman he believes he could love.
Allen never exaggerates or heightens the relationship, but portrays it for what it was: fleeting moments of chasing lobsters around kitchens and contemplating sleeping with other women; moments that come and go like the passing New York City traffic in the film's final scene.
In "Manhattan," Allen takes a darker turn. He plays a 42-year-old TV writer divorced from his ex-wife turned lesbian, currently dating a high school senior while lusting after his best friend's mistress.

Be the first to comment on this story