UNFORGETTABLE
Unforgettable summed up, co-parenting gone wrong! I couldn’t catch my breath, every step throughout the movie I was literally screaming, NO! Yes, I’m one of those people in the movie theater that's vocal and this movie had me jumping out of my seat and wishing that the crazy would stop. Rumor has it that this movie is the Fatal Attraction of our time, that movie scared the bejesus out of me then and Unforgettable had me praying that I wouldn’t have a heart attack. Unforgettable gives you that dark feeling in the bottom of your stomach, you know the one when you’re swimming and you want to put your feet down on something solid but the water is deeper than you think and at that very moment you know you're doomed.
When I was originally asked to preview Unforgettable, the tagline peeked my curiosity, “When love ends, madness begins.” It had me thinking, is this true. Here I am talking about co-parenting in peace, love your child more than you hate your ex. However, in order to co-parent you have to effectively and systematically check yourself every time you encounter your ex, you’re responsible for your actions and most importantly you have to be over your ex-partner. It never dawned on me that when someone has gone thru a divorce no matter how amicable, that one person might still be harboring feelings for the other? When you mix in children, the situation can get sticky real fast. Especially if your ex-has found a new partner, this might unhinge a person.
I had a chance to talk to the cast members and director about Unforgettable and let me tell you it was amazing! Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Ladd and Director Denise Di Novi’s (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Focus) answered all of our questions and more. Unforgettable was shot in 30 days! This psychopathic, nerve crushing, sitting on the edge of your seat thriller was shot in 30 days, that blew my mind. One of the main factors that made the dynamics between Tessa (Katherine Heigl) and Julia (Rosario Dawson) authentic was that the majority of the crew were woman. When you get a group of women together you can move mountains, bounce ideas off of one another, speak freely, explore situations that might arise and how a woman would realistically react. There was one scene in particular where Tessa ask Julia to lunch and as you’re sitting and watching this scene unfold, you’re internally screaming, “NO JULIA don’t go to lunch, it's a trap.” But the beauty is that it’s asked peacefully, they sit down and have a few drinks like old friends and then the crazy escalates real quick but subtly. Cheryl Ladd plays Lovie, Tessas’ mom. We all agreed that having Lovie as a mom, Tessa never had a chance of not cracking. Don’t get me wrong, Lovie loved Tessa, in her own unhealthy twisted way, even Cheryl Ladd agreed, the love was there but it wasn’t healthy.
I could sit here and dissect every relationship in this movie, from Lovie with Tessa, the mother-daughter relationship, Tessa with her own daughter and how that changes once Julia comes into the picture. Julia and Tessa, when one woman feels like she's being replaced and the other just wants a peaceful coexistence, and let us not forget our eye candy of a dad Geoff Stults who has a relationship with all of these characters and he has to keep a peaceful balance or it all falls apart. Instead, I’m going to leave a quote for each character that depicts them from my point of view.
Julia:” It's interesting how we often can't see the ways in which we are being strong - you can't be aware of what you're doing that's tough and brave at the time that you're doing it because if you knew that it was brave, then you'd be scared.” ~ Lena Dunham
Tessa: “I thought that if I owned nothing, had nothing, was nothing, I would have nothing left to lose, and I wouldn't be scared anymore. Because my whole life I’ve been so damn scared. Scared to live because I was scared to die. But at the same I was so scared of living, so I wanted to die. Or maybe so scared of dying that I refused to live. You don't have to be afraid to fall, when you're already on the ground. You don't have to be scared to lose someone, when there's no one around to lose.” ~ Charlotte Eriksson
Lovie: “So many of us have settled for what is, rather than what could be.” ~ Michael Hyatt
One of the lessons I took away, there are many things that we can't understand. The past, the bad things that happened makes us afraid of what the future holds. It's okay to be afraid, we have to keep hoping and believing, to keep trying our best to be good and do good, even when we're unsure and wavering.
Thank you, Warner Brothers for inviting me to the pre-screening and press junket. Thank you, WB for allowing me to explore all aspects of this deliciously scandalous movie with Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Ladd and Director Denise Di Novi’s. This is something I will never forget, I'm eternally grateful. Most of all thank you to the talent that brought to life this amazing script, it was glorious in all it’s ugly and frightful moments.
I do have one recommendation when seeing this movie, see it with your girlfriends. You’ll be talking about this movie for a long time, you’ll recall scenes and it will blow your mind. This is absolutely a girls night out movie. Question for all the moms out there? If you’re wearing an initial necklace, whose initial is it?
Unforgettable Coming to Theaters April 21
Synopsis ~ Barely coping with the end of her marriage, Tessa Connover learns that her ex-husband David is now happily engaged to Julia. Trying to settle into her new life, Julia believes she has finally met the man of her dreams, the man who can help her forget her troubled past. Soon, Tessa's jealousy starts to consume her, and she will stop at nothing to turn Julia's paradise into the ultimate nightmare.