Dorfman in Love (2013)

After all the seriousness of the holidays--the joys, the stress, the overeating, and the disruption in regular routine, I felt that it was time for something on the light side.  Frivolous even.

This movie is available streaming on Netflix, and as low key romantic comedies go, I enjoyed it.  It is not in the top half of that genre, but the thing that I liked especially about it is that the woman in it changes her mind.  She thinks that she desperately wants one thing, and in the end she is able to figure out that what she really wants is another.  The ability to step outside yourself, look at what the choices are that you are making and then recalibrate is something that humans are particularly bad at doing.  If we could all do this a little bit better we might make fewer mistakes (like marrying the wrong person, being miserable, getting divorced, and potentially involving children in the whole ugly mess), which might translate into more happiness.

The crux of the movie is about how there is a very big difference between a crush and being in love with somebody, and ideally you would figure that out in high school and move on.  Sadly,  life is often more complicated than is ideal and that doesn't happen.  I remember one of my fellow interns telling me about how she ended up divorced--"Do you remember the guy you went out with in high school?  Well, I married that guy?"  There are definitely people who have excellent high school relationships that last well into adulthood (my son is one of them), but it is the exception and not the rule.  This movie shows a path towards making positive change.