I absolutely loved this movie! Pulls me in, every time I watch it! I found myself thinking, how these characters are very much like the people I see around me everyday. Complicated, interesting, emotionally twisted, flawed human beings, just looking to be loved and accepted.
Some people, like the character that (Jason Ritter) plays, are an open page when it comes to giving their heart away. Eager to take risks at love, even if that means opening your heart to a load of pain. Like an addict, knowing full well the consequences that will have to be paid seeking out this alluring drug, nevertheless, they are driven to seek it out, like a moth to the flame...
Ritters character, has an innocent charm about him. A boyish lovable quality, that is undeniable. You can clearly see the flaws in him, but strangely, you look away, taking a risk on him, in the chance that he will redeem himself once again. He is relentless in his efforts to win the heart and attention of this emotionally damaged, and yet highly intelligent woman. How many people do we know like this is our own lives??? These irresistible charmers that seem to win their way into our hearts against our own better judgment?
Palka's character, clearly a highly intelligent woman, who can verbally bash a man into a bloody pulp, has been verbally and sexually abused by her father, since she was a little girl. We later see her emotionally unravel, as Ritters character, bravely tries to pull her out from her isolated world, breaking the routine of her dysfunctional patterns.
I am constantly reminded as I watch this film, how real these characters are! They are not unlike so many of the dysfunctional people around us. Misfit, loners, abused and wounded by the predators of this world, left to cope with the damage they leave behind. It takes tremendous courage to open your self up to love and healing, after such abuse and betrayal of trust has been broken. These two characters portray that there is hope in the healing power of love!
