Watched The Shipping News over the weekend. It was actually recommended to me by my head-shrink who saw a similarity between the somnambultistic Kevin Spacey character and my currentsomnambulistic state. And while it is a beautiful movie and makes me want to go hang out in some beautiful, remote village (prefer Ireland, though to Canada- no offense to whatever Canucks maybe reading this), I'm not quite sure what message I was supposed to get out of it.

As usual, the whole theme of the movie is that a guy finds redemption through love. Which, first of all, isn't exactly the kind of message you like to hear when you're single (does anyone in a movie who is in a bad way ever find redemption when they're single? Other than through a kindly but wise African-American character usually played by Morgan Freeman or Will Smith?). Also, it's easy to find redemption through love when the person you fall in love with is Julianna Moore.

It reminded me, in a way, of one of my least favorite movies of all time, As Good as It Gets, another movie in which people find redemption through love. I hated it and when I saw it but when my mother dismissed my disgust at the movie with the usual line "oh, you just aren't a romantic." No mom, that's not it. While I do believe that it is possible that a cranky, asocial, manic-obsessive freak would actually find love, I just don't believe it would be with someone who looks like Helen Hunt.