The Reel Thing

We are not going to lie. It took us forever to write this review. Not that Jane and Thor don’t make a cute couple, but honestly, what chance is there for an immortal Norse god and a slightly shy, entirely human lady scientist? As if that weren’t enough of an obstacle, the story ends with Thor back in Asgard, Jane still on Earth, the Rainbow Bridge broken, and no way to…well, bridge the gap. How do you rate a couple’s chances when circumstances seem so stacked against them?

Have you heard the one about the handyman who tricked the amnesiac socialite into believing she was his wife and the mother of his children and then somehow she actually fell in love with him? Oh, wait! That’s not a joke. It’s the couple we’re reviewing. You can see how we’d get confused.

By chance we happened upon this lovely coming of age story set on a British council estate when it was first released in theaters. When it came up in a recent conversation, we decided we really needed to watch it again. It’s still just as charming as we remembered, and we went away cheering and hopeful for these two young boys in love.

After a stolen kiss and the promise of a date to go dancing, we were happily imagining Peggy introducing Steve to all the other things couples like to do together, and how there would be a wedding and kids and more crime-fighting and… Then Steve’s ship crashes in the Arctic, and he’s in suspended animation for 70 years. Fighting evil can be so hard on relationships!

We have to ask ourselves: Could we start a new life with an exact double for the lying, cheating bastard who stole the best years of our life?

The real question for us here was not if Elizabeth Halsey and Russell Gettis would end up together but how Elizabeth ever managed to become a teacher in the first place.

While we can understand Nick’s physical attraction to Kate, who is certainly physically attractive and also trots out some pretty hot wardrobe numbers, we don’t really get his interest in her as a serious girlfriend.

We have to start off by saying these movies with multiple relationships really do not help make our jobs easier. Which unlikely couple do we focus on? Gil and his mismatch of a fiancee Inez? Gil and his imaginary girlfriend from the 1920s Adrianna? Or Gil and his pedophiliac fantasy Gabrielle? None of them fosters a strong sense of longevity.

You’d think with the first wife dead and no kids around to remind you that “You’re not our mom,” life would be a breeze for the new Mr. and Mrs. de Winter, but not so.

How much crazy is one guy really willing to put up with? Not this much, in our opinion.