First, I want to address the woman in the movie with the mental ill brother who calls her at all hours. In reality when one is in a psych unit you don’t have access to the phone at all hours of the day & it’s extremely limited. She feeds into her brother’s delusions which is something I don’t like in the movie. Psych patients also don’t get scarves in the hospital, for obvious reasons I will not go into here. She also loses out on the love of her life because she won’t prioritize her own happiness.

The cheating husband is another stereotype, too easily tempted at his work place by what’s around him. Something I find sad in the movie but relevant, there’s a reason January has the highest divorce rate in Norway. He spends alot of money on his mistress & then gives his wife a cd for Christmas. Really fdup priorities. His wife played by one of my favorite actors puts him in place in the most mature way possible.

The kid with the heart of gold that wants to tell his crush that he likes her shows us that love is still not complicated, cheated on or married to someone else. Love is simple even with obstacles in the way. The couple that gets together at the end for the right reasons Colin Firth who proposes when he maturely recognizes that he has met the love of his life, writing his book.