1. I almost cried during this movie. Multiple times. Having been through some pretty terrible breakups, this movie rang very true. Not to say it wasn't funny, because it was, but when it aimed for emotional sincerity it hit the mark. The three scenes that had my lip trembling were: When Celeste kept calling Jesse after the Ikea dresser incident; when Jesse came over, confessed he had no idea what he was doing and held Celeste on the couch; and when they said goodbye after finalizing the divorce. These scenes didn't feel contrived or manipulative the way a Nicholas Sparks movie might. They felt honest.
2. This movie had a stellar cast. My preexisting crushes on Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones were only strengthened. Ari Graynor, who's been pretty good in a lot of movies that were not very good at all, and
Eric Christian Olsen, who was great in Not Another Teen Movie and the underrated Fired Up (seriously, give it a chance), are great as Celeste and Jesse's best friends. The out of it weed-dealer is not exactly a groundbreaking new character type, but Will McCormack brings something new to it, by which I mean I actually laughed. Elijah Wood got some huge laughs out of me as Celeste's gay boss/friend trying really hard to be "sassy" and failing miserably.
3. Both Celeste and Jesse were sympathetic and relatable. I saw myself (and exes of mine) in both of them. When Celeste insisted on being right- I've been her. When Jesse thought she would come around eventually and it wasn't weird they were spending a lot of time together- I've been him. This movie pulled off the difficult balancing act of having both characters hurt, and feel hurt by, the other without the audience ever feeling like either was the bad guy.
4. The reason Jesse decides to move on and be with another woman is that a one night stand turns into a pregnancy and, since he is compatible with her and feels the need to grow up, he decides to try and make it work. I would have preferred the same story but with no baby. It would have felt more true to life if he had just made the decision to move forward as an act of taking agency in his own life- rather than having the cover of an accidental life-altering event. It would have made the balancing act from point #3 a lot more difficult- the audience would be rooting for them to get back together so Jesse choosing to grow up and move on would make him the default villain in the audience's eyes. However, it would drive home the point that they didn't work because her big realization, to not take the people you love for granted, came too late. And sometimes, mostly, that's how things go.
5. The one thing I always wonder about in situations like this is how people soldier on and remain friends. The feelings involved in such a long-term and intimate relationship are huge and overwhelming. I realize that the casual nature of how they dealt with their breakup is the big joke at the beginning of the movie, but once they had been through the events of the film how do you remain friends and just meet up for coffee without this being foremost on your mind? Maybe this speaks more to a character flaw of mine or, in terms of the film, how invested I am in fictional characters. Regardless, see this movie.
