Movies for the Dumped

I am perfecting the art of finding the perfect movies to watch when dumped or broken-hearted. It really is an art- one has to carefully balance the amount of joy and escape one can expect to get from a particular movie and/or genre while considering the amount of painful recognition one might see, thus ruining the escape/pleasure and possibly make one feel worse than when the movie began. So far, here's my score card.

Drama- steer clear of this genre altogether, unless you are assured it's some kind of drama/suspense, or so painstakingly well made that the art of the film will distract you from any minor love story contained within its plot. If it is a love story drama or a break-up story drama don't touch it with a ten-foot pole, unless you are the type that enjoys weepy movies when you're feeling down already. I managed to make it through Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener recently. Neither bothered me too much, though that could be in part because 1.) I'm not a gay cowboy facing a breakup, and 2.) CG had a lot of interesting suspense. It was still sad, but in a general, our world priorities are really messed up kind of way and not in the specific he broke my heart kind of way.

Comedy- This genre is a real toss-up. You could find a really good non-romantic comedy that will give you some laughs and keep your mind off of love gone wrong for a few hours, even an evening. Or you could blanch at an unexpected love story or break-up joke that will leave you jarred for that same evening. In the comedy genre at the moment, I am mostly sticking to tv, so I don't have much to recommend. Scrubs was really funny last night....

Action has never really been my thing to begin with. Since I don't usually enjoy action movies, I run the risk of being so bored that I am not distracted at all from my troubles, and that is no good. I suppose a good action movie might do someone some good, though I'm sure it would be hard to find more than a handful.

Horror seems to be the best genre of all to watch. There's usually no love story (and if there is, it's almost always so shallow and badly written that it doesn't remind you of your own bad relationship). The plot is out of the realm of the ordinary, yet predictable enough to be comforting. And fearing the boogey man (or foggy pirates, or posessed girls in a video tape) is more fun than fearing that you've wasted the last ten years of your life and that you were a complete fool.

I will be watching either Dark Water or The Exorcism of Emily Rose tonight.