Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Crazy Stupid Love - A Review

Dr. Zack Eswine reviews this new movie.  He writes:
It surprised me. For a while it glamorizes the hook-up lifestyle alongside of a broken marriage. For a while it tells us that we are right to have cynicism of marriage and lasting love and that we need to learn how to embrace the sex without commitment way of relating as men and women. But gradually it shows us how this way of life is more like a “creepy game,” that hides what is personal and true in favor of what is formulaic. A habit of this unravels us and leaves us saying to a stranger, “Would you mind asking me something personal?” The movie shows our unraveling by subtly reminding us that every woman slept with is someone’s daughter or our kids’ school teacher or someone’s wife. It also shows us the impact on our kids, the next generation, who are watching and learning from us. It even suggests that instead of married people needing the mentoring of the hook-up culture, the hook-up culture could stand some mentoring from those attempting a life of real and lasting committed love with all of its challenges and gifts. The movie is imperfect. For example it shows how porn informs the way young people think about what it means to love. But it doesn’t push back on this. That being said, the humor and the dominate question this movie raises along with the insight it poses for us is a welcomed change. For any of us who feel the temptations in our own hearts and especially for counselors and pastors, who daily see behind the veil into the actual damage done to many young men and women by the misuse of sex and drink, this was a good use of a couple of hours. Echoes of Jesus’ wisdom and grace as it relates to sex and marriage were surprisingly affirmed. Some may feel it was “preachy” near the end. But maybe it wouldn’t hurt us to hear this decent “sermon” found in such an unlikely place.
Read the rest.

No comments: