I love to be on the edge of my seat while watching a movie — figuratively speaking, of course. If the seat reclines, I’m reclining, but I do sometimes love a bit of suspense and uncertainty in a film. Other times, I like knowing what I’m getting myself into when the movie starts. In those cases, it’s probably more about what the movie makes me feel than it is about wondering whether or not things are going to turn out ok. That brings us to Reminders of Him, a movie I hadn’t planned to see until I saw the trailer.
Though I knew it was a book-to-screen adaptation, it wasn’t one of the handful of Colleen Hoover books I’d read before, but the trailer caught my interest, plus I liked Maika Monroe in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and Lauren Graham is great in everything. I’d seen some negative chatter about the film (it currently holds a 56% Rotten score on RT), but I didn’t let it affect my decision to see it. I’m glad, too, because I thought it was great (and considering Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score for the movie is currently at 89%, I guess I’m not alone). What’s throwing me off is that some of the criticism I’ve seen about the film is that it’s “predictable.” The more I think about that, the more I wonder why that’s meant to be a bad thing for a movie like this.
This article contains general plot spoilers from Reminders of Him.
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Let’s Start With My Expectations For The Movie
Going into the movie, not having read the book, I knew as much about the plot as the trailer revealed: That there was a car accident involving Kenna (Maika Monroe) and her boyfriend that resulted in the boyfriend dying, and her going to jail as a result. She returns years later to try to meet her daughter, who’s in the care of her grieving grandparents, who blame Kenna for their son’s death. Amidst all of that, there’s a romance building between Kenna and Ledger (Tyriq Withers), the best friend of the man who died. If you haven’t seen Reminders of Him, that’s pretty much the plot of the actual movie. It’s emotional and sad and sweet and charming and — spoiler alert — things do work out OK in the end. Or, OK, enough for people whose lives were forever changed by the loss of a loved one.
It was clear from the trailer that this was a story of people crawling out from under an unthinkable loss and trying to find a future for themselves. It was also clear from the trailer that two people were going to fall in love amidst a very complicated and emotional situation. Was it predictable? Sure. But it also made me feel a range of emotions throughout.
Predictable Was Just Fine For Me Here
If I’m watching a thriller, I don’t want to guess the killer in the first twenty minutes. The same goes for horror and even action movies, more or less. The good ones do sometimes throw a curveball into the plot, and that’s great. If I’m going into a rom-com or a romantic drama — or heck, even a lot of sports movies — I’m often ok with seeing what’s coming early on if what plays out is emotional and satisfying.
In Reminders of Him, the bad thing happens at the start of the story. I knew that going in, and I wanted to see how the characters got through it. I wanted it all to work out because the more I got to know the characters, the more I wanted to see them find happiness in the aftermath of their grief. I didn’t need twists and turns. Some movies are absolutely about the destination, in which case, please don’t tell me where we’re going until it’s time for me to know. Other movies are about the emotional journey and maybe even an opportunity for catharsis. In the case of Reminders of Him, thanks in large part to the performances across the cast and Vanessa Caswill’s direction, it hit the mark for me. It was happy and sad and romantic, and most of all, it reminded me of the light at the end of the tunnel. I need stories that do that once in a while.
To be clear, I’m not trying to call anyone out for not liking the movie. I understand that this film isn’t going to be for everyone — the same can be said for romantic dramas in general. I’ve already agreed the movie is predictable, but plenty of movies are, and I don’t think that’s always a bad thing. Maybe it comes down to whether or not you wanted to be surprised by what happened in the story. In my case, Reminders of Him delivered on all of my expectations from the trailer, so I enjoyed the ups and downs — even if I saw them coming — and all of the feelings that came with them.
