a look into the life of...

i watched a 5 year-old movie today. alfie. when it came out, i thought, 'a movie about an irresistible british guy romping through all the beds in new york. somehow portrayed as a light-hearted movie about what is so wrong with our culture. illustrating how sex affects women and not men at all.'
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then i watched it today. yes, i came in about 45 minutes into it and missed 2 key relationships of the story. but you know what? he was actually the most miserable person in the whole movie. that in conjunction with what we know has happened in jude law's real life since this movie...

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alfie is always looking for the next best thing that will walk into his life. when things seem to be getting too committal - he bolts. when he finally realizes that the one he wants is - wait for it - old susan sarandon, he finds her with another.

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'what does he have that i don't!?!?' alfie screams.

'he's younger.' she replies. this destroys him.

in the end he is alone and unhappy. and i think, 'what a depressing movie.'

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finally someone lets us in on what might actually be going on in the head of the confirmed bachelor. he eventually finds fault in all the women he's been with, yet finds himself alone and unfulfilled.

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i've seen him in this sort of character before. in a.i., he was gigolo joe. in the holiday, he's the swinging bachelor with the secret life of single, widower dad who doesn't bring anyone home to meet his daughters. in real life, his marriage gets broken up by his inability to resist the dowdy nanny. his wife was sienna miller! if she can't keep him, no one can. what is his problem? he's been led to believe that his looks, fame, looks, money, and his looks make it okay to do whatever (or whomever) he wants. he deserves it. why should he be held to the standards of ordinary mortals? he's bigger than that. he's a superstar.
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looks aren't everything. alfie even says this in the movie. if i were married to a guy with movie star good looks, i would be nervous that he knew it, and might feel he could do better than me.

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a man's ego and a woman's insecurity. it's a deadly cocktail that tastes of bitter regret.

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this claritin really clarifies the brain.