Confession, it wasn't bad. I actually liked it. For a chick-flick, it had all of the necessary elements: heartbreak, new beginnings, tension between the two love interests, drama, but a happily ever after ending, so to speak.
Unfortunately, it also had pre-marital sex....and extended scenes at that (I know, because I was holding my hands over my daughters' eyes the whole time during both scenes. Irritating.) It wasn't that they showed oh so much in the way of skin, but the fact that from God's perspective, sex before marriage is really not smart. My girls and I briefly discussed this on the way out, as we often do when viewing movies but discussing the benefits and downfalls according to a Biblical perspective.
We talked about how the movie was great, but when they threw in the pre-marital intimacy, they sent the wrong message. They sent the message that sex is beautiful and romantic when you are falling in love, before marriage. However, the irony that I pointed out to my girls is that the female love interest ended up in her poor marriage the first time for having sex when in high school, getting pregnant, and marrying and then divorcing her high school sweetheart. Now, somehow a few years older and "wiser," more skeptical, cautious, and concerned for the well-being of her eight-year-old son, she is taken with Zac's character and makes love with him, even though he just showed up out-of-the-blue a few weeks before, and she previously thought he was "crazy." Wow, not smart! Isn't that kind of romance and non-committed sex what caused the issues that she is spending the whole movie trying to recover from? Honestly, Hollywood, romance and sex are only romantic when you can trust the commitment in marriage, but keep spreading the lie that sex out-side of marriage is romantic, and it is no wonder people get jaded, hop from lover to lover, and divorce rates sky-rocket.....some may think, "how can married love ever compete?!!?"
Well, I am here to tell you that it can far more than compete, married sex, love, and romance can blossom in the commitment of marriage. Ordinary husbands can give Zac Ephron a run for his money, and ordinary wives can look hot in close-ups, too! However, it doesn't come because of bad decisions and sleeping around before marriage....it comes from life-long self-sacrifice, loving another more than yourself, submitting, caring, and sharing the good and the bad. When pregnancies come, they come into an intact home. When troubles come, they come into a union that can stand against the ravages of momentary disaster or bliss and make it through to the other side.
Hollywood, you've got it wrong. Real romance and great sex comes from commitment...till death do us part.
