Love Stinks

A couple years ago, I was working at Blockbuster right after graduating from college. I saw the cover to this movie on the shelf since I'd starting working there, but judged it as kinetic crap by its horribly cheesy cover and name. Yes, I judged this movie by its cover. A customer about my age (25) then told me, unprovoked, that it was one of the funniest movies he had seen in years. He said he was surprised by it and that I should check it out. So, I did.

Wow. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I hadn't seen a movie that made me laugh that hard in a long time. I actually couldn't wait to watch it again--this time with my girlfriend. What a disaster. She absolutely hated it as much as I liked it. We didn't even get through 45 minutes of it because she couldn't take it anymore. Apparently, she thought it was one of the most un-funny movies she'd ever seen. A negative funniness even, if that's possible.

What does this tell us?

This movie probably has a target audience of 18-30 year old males.

Its rather dark view of the motives of women and, to that end, perceived "psycho" women, is fit-form to any man who's been with a woman that went too far, too fast--no matter how well the both of you got along. This movie is funny because of the powerlessness men feel in the face of a psycho woman--they can absolutely tear you apart and make everyone else think that it's your fault because you're the one who is falling apart. As Yoda might say: Dark, this movie is.

French Stewart is completely impotent emotionally, physically, and mentally in this relationship. If you're a man, you probably know this emotion all too well. This movie capitalizes on that darkest of dark corners with which to view a woman in a relationship such as this. In that sense, the movie is almost hyperbolic. Needless to say, it doesn't paint women in any sort of real favorable light. No wonder my girlfriend hated it.

So, guys, watch this movie, laugh you arse off--and don't show it to your girlfriend, she'll hate it. I, on the other hand, watched it three more times.

Let's start off by saying that this is the wrong movie to see if your girlfriend is trying to pressure you into marriage. With that said, let's talk about how funny this movie is.

French Stewart and Bridgette Wilson star in this satrical, un-romantic comedy. From first frame to fade-out, LOVE STINKS will make you laugh harder than you have in a long while.

Seth (Stewart) and Chelsea (Wilson) are madly in love with each other. Problem is: Chelsea wants to get married and Seth doesn't. Coming up with a compromise, they say that if they are still together in a year, they will get married. When the year goes by, and Seth still doesn't want marriage, Chelsea wants revenge.

This movie is nothing like what you are expecting it to be. See it and discover for yourself the film that truly lets you know what Hell is like. LOVE STINKS gets 5/5.

Frustration humour is a term me and a pal of mine use to describe comedic situations that rely on the protagonist constantly being put in awful situations (often, but not always, by their love interest). We began using the term in connection to "Green Acres" and "I Dream of Jeannie" many years ago. A recent film examples of this would be "Meet The Parents". If done properly, it can be funny ("You, Me and Dupree"). If the correct balance isn't struck, it's just frustrating and annoying ("License to Wed").

"Love Stinks" pushes it about as far as it can but it's resolution leaves you feeling satisfied. Bridgitte Wilson and French Stewart are both fantastic in this film. I'm truly amazed Wilson hasn't become a bigger star. The film begins with Seth and Chelsea meeting and the chemistry is immediate. We all know that euphoric feeling of early infatuation and it's captured perfectly in this film. I felt myself falling for Chelsea. But as a relationship matures those feelings fade and reality sets in. Sometimes, it isn't pretty. This film is about one of those times and it's truly hilarious. I'm sure most of us has dated someone who turned out to be a little looney. It's always nice to be able to laugh about it later.

Firstly I'd like to mention, that this movie is a rather over-the-top and not very intelligent or realistic comedy containing rude/insulting humour (looking at the rating many would probably call it just stupid) mainly about a woman who turns into a quite she-Satan when the well-off man she has sinked her claws on refuses to marry her. If that sounds like it will make you feel bad don't watch this, go have a glass of milk and some cookies instead.

After seeing 'Love Stinks' I thought it probably hasn't got a very good rating here because of bashing from some ferocious feminists and other people who take themselves and things in general too seriously. However when I checked the ratings (which weren't very high as expected) I saw that women didn't in general give lower points than men which was a pleasant surprise. I guess there are more than few women who can take even a little provocative joke after all.

The reason why I expected women to bash this movie is that it portrays many women as either rather bimbo-like (many of the side characters) or manipulative control freaks (especially the main character and also to some extent her woman friend).

The main plot revolves around Chelsea and Seth who meet at a party. Chelsea is the bridesmaid and Seth is the.. umm.. 'groomsmaid' at their friends wedding (can't remember the real word at the moment, bad English, sorry, if u want to make a complaint please make it in finnish ;)). They get together and for a while things are OK. Then Chelsea decides she wants to get married and starts plotting on how to get what she wants. At first it seems to work but then Seth starts to get worried and jumps on the brakes. When he determinedly refuses to propose to her Chelsea goes slightly mad and tries to rip Seths life apart, which leads to quite a war between the two.

Someone compared this to the 'War of Roses' and I also think the two are a bit similar. The War of Roses is a little better I think, Love Stinks is bit like War of Roses with a screwball twist.

I gave this movie a rating of 6 due to it being a bit uneven (there are few moments that are in my opinion a bit boring or stupid). However I would recommend seeing this because the funny parts are quite funny. There's a farting in bed - scene for example that has been circling in the net (Feeder on fire! Incoming..! ;).

I think that every man and woman should watch this movie before they get married!!!! It really displays the true actions of people at their worst!!! It was a great date movie, in fact it was a date movie for my husband and I! And we loved it. We can laugh about all the stuff that happened because we are married now! Their are a few scenes that totally show how men can be immature, in fact those we the scenes my husband laughed the hardest!! There is a lot of strong language in this movie so put the kids to bed 1st or just get a babysitter! This is one of the funniest movies that I've seen and we had never seen it until we were recommended by friends to go see it!!!