My rating for the movie for a 10-point system would be a 7.0
The movie started with the main character, Ethan, in an online therapy session. He had been going thru trauma ever since catching his ex-wife in bed with another man… in their home. Fast-forward, Ethan goes for Hibachi and there’s a woman in line (Ari) whose card is declining for the food she ordered. Ethan, being the nice guy, as well as wanting to speed up the line, ends up paying for her food. In the process, he also gives her his phone number.
She does end up calling him, and after a few months, Ethan proposes. Even though she accepts, she confides in her best friend that she isn’t sure if she did the right thing because she doesn’t “love him like that…” Also, that she is still in love with her ex, K-OS, who is serving time in the pen.
This is where I already knew what direction the movie was going in. The storyline was predictable from here. It’s not a story that hasn’t been told before. I texted my brother (who is a screenwriter, and who was the one that told me to watch the movie), and said, “She’s about to wreck his life, ain’t she?” He laughed and said, “I’m not telling you!” Well, he didn’t have to. From this point, the movie played out like I thought it would.
Enter K-OS in the flesh, who shows up one day when Ari is getting off of work. It takes them no time to pick up where they started. And it takes no time for Ethan to begin seeing the same signs that he saw, but ‘missed’ with his ex-wife. Ethan, who has been hurt before, and who thought he could let his guard down with this woman that he’s given everything to… a Benz before he even put the ring on her finger. An investment property. Bought her a salon of her own. Basically, leveled her up, from the girl who couldn’t even pay for her lunch.
At one point, Ari went to her mother’s house and had a candid discussion. Her mother, having been a D-Boy magnet in her own day, saw the signs of what Ari was doing. She expressed to her daughter that she rejoiced the day that K-OS went to jail because it meant that Ari was free of him. She told her that at the time, she would always think that K-OS would be the death of her. In her heart-to-heart, her mother also said, “Sometimes you can’t be with the man you love. You gotta be with the man that loves you. Now Kevin (K-OS) … that’s the man you WANT. But Ethan, that’s the man you NEED.”
In one ear and out the other.
If I continue past this point, I would be giving the movie away and I don’t want to do that for those who might watch it. I’ll just say that this movie, could easily serve as a cautionary tale. These types of scenarios are triggering because it shows that a person can never be too sure of who they have become attached to. You can only go off of what a person is telling you, and sometimes that can lead down a dangerous path because the full truth just isn’t something that all people practice.
At the end of the day, Ethan was the nice guy that they always say finishes last. He’s the guy that we women say that we want, but then don’t quite do right by them. He wanted generational wealth. He was successful. He had a forgiving heart and was willing to move on and not bring baggage of the past with him. And he loved Ari down, and tried to show it in every way.
The reason(s) for my rating of the movie was just because of some plot holes that I saw. Again, speaking to them would be giving the movie away. I’ll just slid one in here without giving it all away. Why if you’re in danger and manage to get free, do you run deeper into the environment, instead of running OUT of the environment? To the point that you have to climb stairs. And when the door—the ticket to freedom—is on the first floor and easily accessible?
Another reason for my rating is due to the way that the movie ended. It was too open-ended and not closed off enough. Some parts of that should have been explained, and it wasn’t. It cut to the next scene like it was nothing. A proper ending would have gotten a slightly higher rating from me.
As it relates to Ari’s character, I don’t think they did a good job of having her actions match the character that they tried to paint. It could have been fixed with a little bit of directing. I think that her character development should have/could have been flushed out more than it was. I say that because sometimes her actions contradicted her character. I get that the main message for her was that the heart wants what the heart wants, and because of that, she was going to move a particular way, but some adjustments to her development would have been good.
Anyway, like with all reviews, everybody’s is going to be different. I can see viewers liking it because it was a ‘hood love story. But IMO, there was just a little more finessing that was needed. Did you see it? What did you think? Let’s chat about it.