Picture a romantic comedy so bizarre, so convoluted, that after watching it, you are dumbfounded as to where the past 94 minutes of your life disappeared.
I’m describing the 2010 film Waiting for Forever.
Granted, this film is categorized under the “indie” rom-com, meaning they can be as pretentious and whimsical as they like without worrying about facing too much backlash. Knowing this characterization, I did give the film a bit of lee-way in terms of artistry and interesting characters.
Rachel Bilson plays Emma, a struggling actress, who reconnects with an old childhood friend, Billy, played by Tom Sturridge. Billy is an imaginative, child-like man with fantastical ideas and a tendency to wear striped pajamas and a fedora wherever he goes. Hence the “indie” aspects of this movie. He is unconditionally in love with Emma, and she has no idea. Classic rom-com set-up.
Don’t get me wrong; I love a cheesy romantic comedy. I thrive off of finding love in New York City, couples meeting eyes and falling in love instantly, or loosely adapted Shakespearean classics revamped into the modern world.
However, Waiting for Forever failed to exceed my expectations. Billy, though with a sweet persona and a good heart, watches over Emma in an Orwellian 1984 sort of way. Big Brother Billy is always watching. Weird, right? To top it all off, this movie attempts to incorporate too many factors into one short film; romance, drama, murder, crime, humor…this can be woven artfully, or the outcome can be disastrous.
Another complaint was that the main couple, the amorous Emma and Billy, had a whopping total of two scenes together over the course of the entire movie. It was hard to convince the viewer of some sort of deeply rooted connection between the two when they hardly interacted.
The movie was both overwhelming in the needless plot lines and underwhelming in terms of the actual romance. I do applaud the acting of Tom Sturridge for portraying the eccentric Billy in a somewhat endearing way despite his stalkerish tendencies, and the originality of the story. It is safe to say that I have never seem a rom-com like this before!
All in all, I do not recommend Waiting for Forever, unless you do indeed wish to wait for forever until the movie is over.
