I saw it, even though the trailers made me cringe with thoughts of cliches. Yeah, it is a typical romcom, but there are little things about it that made me really happy.
First of all, if you haven't seen it, you should, even if romcoms make you break out in hives.
The premise of the movie is that the main character Anna, played by Amy Adams, is a career girl in a big city, who suffers from slight insecurities about her relationship with her boyfriend. She has worries similar to most women, when will he propose? and why hasn't he yet?
In order to remedy her engagement-less situation she decides to take charge of the situation and follow her man to Ireland in order to propose to him herself (huzzah feminism!). When things go wrong with her flight she does everything she can to get to Dublin, including taking a sketchy ship into massive storm. She finds herself face to face with a cute Irish bar owner, how jealous was I?
Here is where I'll fast forward to my favorite twists in the typical plot. At one point it appears as if Anna has left Declan, the cute Irishman, and gotten on her bus. I expect Declan to chase after her and the plot to continue in that fashion, but instead she has stayed.
They continue on their journey, and it's clear that Anna and Declan are attracted to each other, but when her boyfriend finally proposes to her, she accepts. Which I appreciated. Why would I appreciate that she accepted the guy that wasn't as charming, cute or predictable? Because, if any woman were put into this kind of a situation she would take the safe choice. Who would immediately pick the random stranger that's been charming for all of the three days you've known each other? Especially over the guy you've known for years and planned out a future with? Stability wins over charm. It just does. I watch romantic comedies and I always see the same false ideas thrown around.
Yeah, I envy the women who could make the choice to so easily go with something new and different. I long to be the person that could drive to Oregon on a whim. I dream of taking a weekend to just wander around Paris. I've even looked up the tickets many times. Sure, it would mean giving up a fair portion of my college fund, but it would be so worth it to have spontaneity in my life.
In the end Anna does end up coming back to Declan. Which was also a cool move because in the process she realized her fiance was an ass. It was pretty annoying that when she went back she was wearing high heels, which she realized from her first trip weren't a good choice in footwear.
Though, her shoes were pretty cute.