Unconditional Love
Awhile back I watched the movie 'Unconditional Love' with Rupert Everett and Kathy Bates and occasionally Dan Akroyd. As far as I know this movie went directly to DVD/Video which is a shame because I liked it quite a bit. What follows is not so much about this movie, but about why I think this movie didn't get studio promotion or reviewed as favorably as it might have. It's not a great movie. But it's a good movie and it's too bad more people haven't seen it.
Reading reviews for 'Unconditional Love' reminds me of the phrase--'you see, but you do not understand.' It's also an interesting study in genre expectations because everyone (including, one presumes, the studio which released it direct-to-dvd) puts it into a category and then criticizes it for not living up to their expectations of the genre they insisted on shoving it into.
Reviews have called 'Unconditional Love' dark comedy, romantic comedy, murder mystery, and thriller. Not dark enough, not funny enough, not mysterious enough, not thrilling enough, they say--and what was up with that funny/dark/scary part that didn't fit what I wanted? But the problem with these criticisms is that 'Unconditional Love' isn't any of those things. It's not dark comedy or romantic comedy or murder mystery or thriller. It may be unclassifiable, but really, it's a coming of age story for adults.
At one point, Rupert Everett's character tells Kathy Bates, 'You're intending to matter. You just had a glimpse of what you probably could have become if you'd only had a little more courage.' And that's what this movie is about--intending to matter. It's not even--really--about mattering. It's about meaning to, about doing things that are worth doing because they're worth doing, not because the world at large will approve or disapprove or care.
It's not even, in the end, about character change because who the characters become is who they always probably were.
Toward the end of the movie, Grace (Kathy Bates) tells her husband (Dan Akroyd), who has left her and then returned to her--telling her he wants things similar, but different--that she wants things different. He tells her he's not sure he can be different. 'Find a way," she says. She doesn't say try or I'm sure you'll do fine. She says, 'Find a way.'
This is a movie about finding a way, about ordinary, forgotten people, about 'losers' who transcend their lives--to care about each other, to make a difference, to change the world. It is romantic, mysterious, and occasionally thrilling. For extra bonus points it has dwarves in red raincoats, serial killers, fireworks, crossbows and Julie Andrews.