Broken English

This film is a shallow treatise on the problems of locating love for a young woman in the city. The main character is self-centered, and yet seems to have no real interests. She is desperately looking for someone to love her in order to save her from herself. She is not really interested in other people, only in their ability to "love" her, even if they are assholes and total strangers. The movie takes the position that her attitude is normal, and in doing so misses an opportunity to be interesting. The movie fails to make an assessment about the existential problems of the character, or to question her myopic vision and lack of center and dignity. The film, like its characters, is a surface without a center, and ends up being mainstream, shallow, hollow, and sentimental. It's no wonder that's it's safe for audiences today, for it reinforces the popular idea that women are dependent on men for their happiness and to fill a hole or void. The film is indeed a fairy tale, for a woman who behaves like a depressed, mopey, self-hating dishrag all of the time would be very lucky to find a man to love her.