A suckerpunch to the heart

My favorite book is a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and in the closing lines of the title book Carver says, “I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making. Not one of us moving. Not even when the room went dark.” And I think that that's what writing is: it's listening for that beating heart. And when we hear it, it's our job to decipher it to the best of our abilities.

— Greg Kinnear as William Borgens in Stuck in Love

This movie is a suckerpunch to the heart. It may or may not have made me cry at least three times tonight. I realize I am particularly biased towards books, movies, and TV shows that reference other works of fiction and those that feature writers, and I won't make any apologies about it.

Stuck in Love is a funny movie with a fair share of heavy drama, that watching it made me feel like I was wringing my heart dry. It's no Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my ultimate favorite movie!) but what it lacks, it more than makes up for in its cast. Greg Kinnear *swoon* and Jennifer Connelly were great as a divorced couple struggling to find a healthy balance between distancing themselves from one another and being there for their kids, but the real superstars of the film are Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Liana Liberato (I seriously thought she was the girl from Flipped!), and Nat Wolff. They were all very compelling and likable and convincing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in the future.

I really enjoyed this film, but it's riddled with implausibilities. I can understand waiting for someone for six months, I can even understand waiting for three years. I can understand trust issues and feeling abandoned. I can understand reeking of romance and good intentions. I can understand the process one must go through in order to be able to write well. I can understand all these things, but for the love of God can someone help me understand how a 19 year old Fiction Writing student was able to have her book (that she wrote in a month!!!) published without riding on her dad's coattails? And how she was able to have a direct connection with Stephen King, much less have him help publish her brother's work? Oh well, I guess that's what suspension of disbelief is for.

Despite the loopholes, I really liked Stuck in Love and would probably sporadically use some of the quotes from the movie.

"I remember that it hurt. Looking at her hurt."

Oh man, I miss being in love.