Emily In Paris

Emily In Paris (2020)

IMDB: 7.4

Cast: Lily Collins (as Emily Cooper), Lucas Bravo (as Gabriel), Ashley Park (as Mindy Chen), Camille Razat (as Camille)

Emily Cooper, an American from Chicago goes to Paris to work for a French marketing firm when her boss cancels her own trip and sends Emily instead. It is centred around the struggles and the joys of being an American ex-pat in Paris. Emily's workplace, daily life, romantic struggles increase immensely when she's dropped into the firm all of a sudden, and it seems to increase the struggles of the ones around her as well. It's a light-hearted rom-com for anyone who wants to escape their own reality.

Personal Thoughts: Escaping from reality comes with its price and Emily In Paris reflects this in the most comedic/American way possible. If you've seen Sex and the City, you would know what I'm talking about. The creator of the show Darren Star also created Sex and the City, which is something that instantly wants to make you watch it as it indicates it will be a light-hearted show with a mostly relatable main character.

The critics have pointed out that there were a few inaccuracies in the way life in Paris was portrayed and maybe this bothers the Frech more than the other viewers as they are known to be realists, however, that might also be one of the things that were exaggerated in the show. The negative opinions usually centre around the fact that Emily isn't as charming as some might think since she doesn't know French and living in France, and perhaps isn't making the most effort to learn.

However, I personally don't think that's very important in terms of a romantic comedy. I am an ex-pat living in Budapest at the moment and I've lived in Rotterdam before. I've tried learning the local languages but it is proving to be more struggling than I thought. Emily didn't know beforehand that she would be spending the year in Paris, which explains why she doesn't know French. I don't think there's much point in being harsh on the character and the show in total. She continuously apologises to people for not being able to speak French, which is very realistic from an expat's point of view. Learning a language takes time, you have to invest all your hours into it to be good at it.

Despite being very clishé in general, it was made that way on purpose. It is (at times) mocking the clishés while letting people enjoy them. There is something we love to hate about clishés and Emily In Paris nails it. For me, it was a bit too much and the American attitude can get a bit too tiring to watch but still, I must've liked the show because I've finished it in one day.

The sense of humour wasn't always the best for me but most romantic comedies nail the romantic part more than the comedy part. Some things I enjoyed were Emily's outfits, the charming cast, and lastly, the fact that it was a mixture of American romantic comedies and at times French realism. The American part is definitely more noticeable but the complications in Emily's relationships felt a little too real to be considered a complete American romantic comedy.

Overall, I enjoyed watching Emily In Paris. It's s pretty fast watch especially if you don't have much to do because of the pandemic and all. The only things I didn't enjoy so much were Emily's reactions sometimes, like her being too over the top sometimes, and the clishés of cultures being too much sometimes. It doesn't show you anything you haven't seen on TV before, like how Sex and the City didn't show anything new, but it makes you watch. It's easy to relate to Emily especially if you're an ex-pat. She's just a girl who arrived in Paris with no friends and co-workers are giving her a hard time and I find that pretty relatable. In addition to that, we root for Emily when it comes to her love life. I really liked watching this show, and judging by the replies I got to my Instagram story which was a scene fro Emily In Paris, a lot of people did.

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The Social Network

The Social Network (2010)

IMDB: 7.7

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg (as Mark Zuckerberg), Justin Timberlake ( as Sean Parker), Andrew Garfield (as Eduardo 'Wardo' Saverin), Armie Hammer (as Tyler Winklevoss)

The movie is about how Mark Zuckerberg, who is a freshman at Harvard creates Facebook. The quote "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies" explains it all really.

    Personal Thoughts: This movie gives enough material to speculate for anyone who loves or hates Mark Zuckerberg. There was a lot of drama happening throughout the movie but apart from that, the movie hypes you up a bit when you see a dorky, bitter freshman create something that has a huge success. The movie starts by showing Mark and his girlfriend breaking up, which doesn't really initiate the creation of Facebook, but I feel like it speeds it up as Mark is feeling shitty about being broken up with and wants to prove to his ex that he can succeed. He's a bit too stuck on her and I don't even have to talk about the misogynistic things he writes on his little blog 'Zuckonit' and the website he creates to rate girls as hot or not. 

    On a side note, Jesse Eisenberg talking gives major INTJ energy which I think was good for the character even though I don't know if Mark Zuckerberg is like that in real life. He's literally a squirrel on caffeine whenever he opens his mouth. I felt like all the blood flows towards my brain when I'm concentrating on him talking, like how your blood flows towards your stomach when you're digesting. (I'm like 78% sure that's a true fact but don't look it up). The movie definitely doesn't put Mark Zuckerberg in a good light as it gives off the feeling that the writer of the movie was the friend who Mark Zuckerberg f*cked over judging by the amount of bitterness. That could literally be anyone though, he apparently f*cked over a lot of people when he created Facebook.

    I liked the Winklevosses (Winklevii), and I liked the amount of random cool lines Armie Hammer has. I also quite enjoyed the scene where the Winklevosses were trying to convince the dean that Mark Zuckerberg was acting against the rules of the university:

    Cameron Winklevoss: Mr Zuckerberg hasn't been responding to any of our emails or phone calls for the last two weeks. He doesn't answer when we knock on his door at Kirkland and the closest I've come to dealing with him face-to-face is when I saw him on the quad and chased him through Harvard Square.

    Larry Summers: You chased him?

    Cameron Winklevoss: I saw him and I know he saw me. I went after him and then he disappeared.

    Lastly, I will talk about Andrew Garfield's performance, which was quite good I think. His character was genuine and the scene he had with Justin Timberlake (Sean) towards the end of the movie was *chef's kiss* just right. I liked how passionately he smashed Mark's computer. My favourite quote from Andrew Garfield's character is probably "I like standing next to you Sean. It makes me look so tough". It was such an iconic scene that made me like his character even more.
    Overall, I don't know if the movie reflects reality completely since my flatmate said to me the other day that Mark Zuckerberg said in a podcast that it was almost all wrong. Either way, it shows the errors in the way Facebook was created. It might've as well be called 'How to Not Run a Business'. It had a fast-moving tempo as Facebook immediately had a huge amount of recognition. It is kinda entertaining to see how people view college as well, it makes me feel like I've missed out on a couple little things when I started uni if I'm being honest. There's literally no drama going on in my university so I can't relate to our boy Zuck in that sense. I would recommend this movie to whoever's feeling like they want to be inspired and uninspired at the same time.

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