suddenly schmaltzy

I saw this spectacularly sappy movie called "Shall We Dance". The only reason I even saw it was because they had an Oprah special on it and you know, I trust Oprah! The only halfway decent line in the movie is... okay you need to know a little about it?!? Susan Sarandon thinks Richard Gere, her husband, is cheating on her. So she hires a detective to keep an eye on him. She meets the detective for dinner one day, nothing sexual, just to get a status report. They fight their own feelings for each other, just implied by Susan's rather heavy breathing around him or his nervous glances. But then she's always the good or the jilted or the dying wife. Remember Step Mom? Anyway, this story has an ending that is too happy even for the greatest optimist to handle. So somewhere after 70 tiresome minutes..

Susan Sarandon: All these promises that we make and then we break , why is it, do you think, that people get married?
Detective: Passion?
Susan Sarandon: No
Detective: What?
Susan Sarandon: Because we need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean. But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything- the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things.... All of it. All the time. Everyday. You're saying, "Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it." Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness."

And suddenly, it all seems worth it. :)

Oh, the movie has Jennifer Lopez too.

And suddenly it doesn't. :(