Lucy needed a hobby + a gossip friend + a therapist; I think more than whom she ended up with, I have issues that she kept undervaluing herself until the end.
And I was and will be team Harry. No matter how much anyone tells me, I have lived long enough in capitalism to know that love dies a pathetic death in poverty.
And Harry is not perfect at all, I do not have a rosy tint shades on. As it was evident from his first scene, how Harry spoke with the guests showed that this guy is smooth in life without being affected. He knew he was at the top of the food chain.
But Lucy actually never gave him or herself a chance to be emotionally closer either. Her walls were always up because she undervalued herself so much. That wall she built around herself based on the economic difference between her and Harry was full of low self-esteem. She never allowed herself to even plant seeds of love! She truly treated the relationship like a fantasy.
And it became a little too convenient plot point to show Harry was afraid to love because he was insecure and trapped in the whole being an ideal cishet man. When the one who is pitted against Harry is so bland in his own basic cishet man mould.
But Lucy, my Girl, why is your self-esteem so low?
Where are your friends?
What are your hobbies?
I get it you were working your arse off at your job, but are you telling me a girl like her has no friend in the city? Maybe not the city, but not even she would call and speak about her romance? Most women, cough, cough, unlike the other half of the species, have friends.
Who was she talking to when her job or life, or boyfriends gave her stress, and no ex-boyfriend was lurking around?
Where was the support system?
For someone who likes money and comfort, what did she splurge on?
I am sorry that part of the writing was the most unrealistic and poorly put.
Everything materialistic about Lucy boiled down to her job as a matchmaker, making it happen for others; the clients, who I would say were much more materialistic and superficial than she ever is! She only showed that one little awestruck by the wealth aspect and in love with money was when she went to Harry's apartment. But who wouldn't? That's NY!
Most importantly, all three of them are materialistic: John fighting over a charger and telling he still lives with roommates doesn't make him less materialistic than Lucy fighting over a 25-dollar parking fee, or Harry mentioning a 12-million-dollar penthouse to woo Lucy more.
And the trailer told us it is about modern dating, so I was expecting the ending to fit many modern women's fatigue with the struggle-love narrative. This fatigue with struggle-love has been the key factor that fuels the mindset behind the sprinkle-sprinkle, soft-life, to full-fledged extreme decisions like pulling out of the dating pool altogether, or to do a 180• to jump into the extreme end of gender role performance and land into the tradwife pipeline.
We have had this narrative told us that love simply is for centuries. But modern dating and romance are hard because money plays a big role. Especially when you are an international viewer from Asia, where arranged marriages are norms and love seems like a luxury, these kinds of messaging work. But I still feel baffled by the same old massaging of love is all you need repackaged in such a lovely, serious film, without dissecting the nuances or addressing the anguish of why modern women are chasing these checklists in the first place.
And that one scene with the car park argument was enough for us to know they are not a good match. All the past scenes or references of John and Lucy we got were them cribbing about money.
Where was the bread crumbing to show us that John is treating Lucy as a human who didn't need him to be rich in her life to be happy and be loved? Because he was trapped in the 'provider-man' mentality, and it was not explored.
Five years is an investment, and it failed the first time. What makes anyone think it will work this time just based on few hopeful words without any proof?
Especially after that weird toasting-rant Lucy and John did about marriage failing and people divorcing while they witnessed the wedding in the barn they snuck into, that ending of them rekindling is phoney. The story's messaging and what it wanted to showcase were shaky!
If “hope” is the message, it is poorly executed, because the victim of hope for romance is Sophia L! Whose arc was resolved without introspection. She is a superficial person who got hurt chasing the superficial aspirations of romance. And then she again came back for matchmaking services just because Lucy came to help her in time of distress?
And in the age of K-drama, C-drama, and other International Romance drama industry where women have been given the fantasy that “a rich guy can love you despite your humble background,” we are getting a constant message from Lucy that she is not an equal to Harry!
Girl, you make 80k a year, you have an apartment, are amazing!
