This film seems to be trying to express some of the fears that men might have in relationships. I think the closest I can think of is "The First Wives Club" but from a male perspective. I kept thinking "How did they let this film get made?". Interesting. The film itself was not great, but the angle -- I am trying to think of another man vs woman film where the woman is the bad guy (and therefore loses). It's easy to think of films with psycho women in them (Single White Female, Hand That Rocks the Cradle) but even in Fatal Attraction the psyho-woman is against another woman (Michael Douglas' character's wife), not a man. These reviews seemed to only think of War of The Roses when they saw the film --- which misses the point entirely of course because that was a fair fight. This is a very one sided film. Only the male fear is shown. Here's what some of the reviewers are saying (the parts with relevance to the sex of the characters).
First a synopsis:
"Love Stinks' protagonist is Seth Winnick a successful TV sit com writer. Seth is intended to be a likable guy, but French's portrayal is often so grating that it's easy to forget we're supposed to be rooting for this loser. At the wedding of his best friend, Larry, Seth encounters the girl of his dreams, blond bombshell Chelsea Turner.
The chemistry is there, so they both dump their dates, then head off for a game of miniature golf, a fast-food lunch, and a night of unbridled sex. Soon, Chelsea has moved in with Seth and is hinting strongly that she wants to get married. When Seth won't pop the question, Chelsea turns into the proverbial bitch from hell, doing everything in her power to make life miserable for her lover, including slapping him with a palimony suit and taking out a restraining order against him. But Seth doesn't intend to stand by and let his life be ruined by one manipulative, vindictive woman."
http://www.lovestinksthemovie.com/
Unlike in First Wives Club the revenge comes from simply getting rid of the woman in the end [oh gee, did i just give away the ending?] after suffereing through her abuse. It should also be noted that there were really _no_ empathic female characters in this movie. The best friends wife is essentially pictured as something of a bitch too.
Reviews:
"An ill-disguised hunk of misogyny, Love Stinks is a painfully unfunny movie that leaves one with the unholy feeling of watching someone's revenge fantasies being realized. ... In Franklin's version of a love affair from hell, the guy is a hapless victim while the gal is the problem. We all know there are wackos out there, and that sometimes good people mistakenly get involved with them. But that doesn't excuse Franklin's one-sided attack on Chelsea, nor the film's turnabout ending, which surely can't make anybody but the most unabashed woman-hater feel good. .... One of the least mature releases of the year, Love Stinks deserves a quick exile to video, where it can be enjoyed by losers who blame females for their misery."
Tom Keogh
"Gynophobic Fantasy. ... For a while, I was expecting the movie to switch around from Seth's viewpoint, so that we could see the affair from Chelsea's perspective. But no: this one sticks to its girlfriend-from-hell premise all the way."
Robert Horton
"What would have been interesting would have been to switch the two leads with Wilson as the TV writer and French as the needy and increasingly lunatic boyfriend."
Mike Kerrigan
"misogynist comedy .... But holy mother of the bride, what bile was ''Full House'' creator Jeff Franklin drinking when he came up with this curdled revenge fantasy? One minute Chelsea is the sexually adventurous girl of Seth's dreams, the next she's such an irredeemable harpy targeted for humiliation that one doesn't need to be Gloria Steinem to wonder about Lover Boy's own culpability and bad-relationship karma in this sick dynamic --and Franklin's motive for encouraging laughs at such a cheap price."
Lisa Schwarzbaum
" ...not knowing she's a husband-hunting harlot who will go to extreme lengths to land her man. Not that Seth is any better of a human specimen; he shies away from her attempts at marital commitment .... misguided misogyny [...] ultimately makes Love Stinks live up to its title."
Syracuse New Times.
"Just what everybody needs in their hectic, stressful lives -- an hour and a half of bitterness and vitriol. That's what they're dishing up in "Love Stinks," a so-called "un-romantic comedy" that sets relationships between men and women back 100 years. ... The obvious message is that Seth wouldn't have put up with Chelsea's nonsense for one minute if she didn't look like a Victoria's Secret model."
Karen Hershenson
"The wonderful thing about Love Stinks is that you don't need to be sensitive to misogyny to despise it. Sure, it's a great vehicle for women-hating, but ...."
Brian Webster
"It's a "guy" movie, but it follows some of the rules of chick flicks. What it does with them, though, is push them through a bitter, black filter. The result is either an incomprehensible mess, or revenge for First Wives' Club, depending on your point of view. I am ashamed to admit that I thought this movie was funny. Immediately after it was over, my wife said she thought it deserved the lowest rating possible, and I overheard another woman on the phone tell a friend that it was "not very good." On the other hand, several men in the theater hooted at all the right moments, and I found myself laughing along with them. ..... Love Stinks fills a niche that is so far pretty empty. It's an inverted chick-flick. It's a romantic comedy for cynical men. That probably makes
it dumber and meaner than a lot of other movies. If you go, don't laugh. And if you laugh, don't say I sent you."
Read this review
This guy actually "got it".
"This nasty little comedy, put together mostly by people out of the world of TV sitcoms, is about as politically incorrect -- and often as vulgar -- as a film can get. It has a tough, arrogant edge and a strictly male, misogynistic view of relationships, sex and marriage, but I admire the way the film never once backs off or hedges. It says exactly what it thinks on various subjects dealing with romance, and the viewer can take it or leave it. It fairly bristles with attitude. You come away with the distinct impression that someone involved in this production is working out personal problems on a very public scale. The film plays like one man's group therapy session, with punch lines tossed in."
Joe Baltake
"Love Stinks is a forthrightly misogynistic movie, but the anti-female attitude is fairly jovial, about on the same level as Comedy Central's "The Man Show." Thematically, the movie most resembles "The War of the Roses," but Franklin lacks either the chutzpah or the chops to bring off a gender-war satire as caustic and clever as that one."
Rod Dreher
"An "unromantic comedy" of deep marital paranoia, Love Stinks may spell relief for men whose bowels shake at the sight of baby booties, wedding rings, and SUVs. For the rest of us, it's just another frivolous product of whiny male anxiety that's as funny as a sitcom but longer and more expensive. ... "I'm never getting married," one gleeful, satisfied customer said upon exiting the theatre. Now I can't speak for all the ladies, but honey, that's all right with me."
Sarah Hepola
"Director Jeff Franklin's script doesn't just characterize women as gold diggers, but elevates them into man-hungry sociopaths starving for the bank account and a husband. There's gangsta rap with funnier insights into the opposite sex and guests on "Jenny Jones" who get more entertaining revenge - and a makeover just for showing up."
Wesley Morris
"Hollywood, always with its finger on the pulse of society and mindful of the bottom line ($$$), exploits misogyny (hatred of women) and misogamy (hatred of marriage) with Love Stinks, a low-rent film that takes the funny but mean-spirited theme of There’s Something About Mary about two notches lower. .... I can only think of one audience group that will like this stuff: single or divorced males between the ages of 18 to 40. That is, if you can pull them away from watching the tractor pull events on ESPN at the local sports bar."
Gary Brown
Men seemed to be getting it in some numbers. And the reviewers cries of sexism over this but not First Wives Club (or the positive adulation of Thelma and Lousie from feminists) shows clear bias. However the question remains as to whether the film was really sexist or not. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!
I see the film as a challenge to my own bias. Wouldn't I slam a film that was this unredeemingly about men? Some reviewers seemed to try and see the film as two-sided (possibly helping to get the low review ratings) and really missed the point. It was entirely guy-centric. There's a scene that is stock to many romantic films. The "men are such clutz" scene where the girlfriend-from-hell tells the other female character she's going to marry the hero. Reply is something like, "Oh great! Does Seth know this yet?" "Are you kidding? Men never know." In any other film this would have been a gentle little piece of man-hating, but in this film it was definitely a piece of bitch-bashing. Interesting turn around.
So should I pan this film in the same way as I would Thelma and Louise or the First Wives Club? There are some reasons not to. First of all there's no real violence by the man against the woman. [She tries to kill him but its done in a jokey way] and violence and hatred seem a definite part of the "chick flicks". It's enough that our hero manages to escape from the hell-woman's clutches in the end. His victory is more ethical becaiuse he doesn't stoop to hatred and violence. Oddly you might even say that was another criticism of women, or rather the image projected for them. Like with the greetings cards i suppose there's no market for a really nasty angle from men to women as there is the other way around. Is this the real misogyny? Or is it just reflecting life's truths as with Halmark's cards. 100 years of feminist hatred uncritically accepted seems to have made real ethical differences in the sexes where I assume none had existed before.
So I'm not so sure that the mere lack of violence makes "Love Stinks" more acceptable than First Wives Club. It is also somewhat less vitriolic, but I think the film would have been better with *some* positive female character. Making the other girl (wife of the hero's best friend) another bitch who talks in terms of "catching the man" and basicaly supports the devil-woman's approach even after she gets psychotic, was unrealistic and -- well -- misogynistic. Not ALL women are like that. Sure make the film about a female stereotype but don't stereotype all women. This gives the film a bleak feel which does correspond to the chick flick's man-hating. The main difference is that in the chick-flicks the revenge is completely over the top, a vegnefull hate-filled romp unbridled by any morality, whereas in Love Stinks the hero never loses track of simply extracting himself from her clutches. There's no element of revenge in other words. he takes her crap but *mostly* doesn't hit back. The pay-back is in the final victory.
So overall, and with considerable reservations I'd say it was a good first step. I can't think of ANY other film like it. Still I think the theme could be done much better.