This is one of those underrated movie, that I saw in my early 20’s, and thought that this movie is like many other mediocre movies in the world, which you can watch it once, just for fun without any insightful thoughts in it. But after all these years, one day I accidently noticed this movie on Netflix, and I caught up in nostalgia to watch this movie again, to see what can I remember from it. It is interesting that sometimes, when you repeat a movie after a span of 7 or 8 years or more, movie remain same like you saw it before, but your thought process has changed after all these years, and so definitely you will now watch this movie from different perspective. This may lead to a movie more interesting to watch now, compared to last time. Same thing happens to me when I saw this movie 2 days back, and I thought let’s give a shot to this movie and understand what easy life lessons we can get from it. So let’s dive into this..
Kirk Kettner(played by Jay Baruchel) is a simple TSA agent working in a security department in an international airport. He is the youngest of all three brothers in his house, where Kirk didn’t even get the college education, just because his father wanted to spend his money on swimming pool instead. Crazy family, right… So a skinny guy with an ordinary job, Kirk always have low self-esteem about how he looks and what he do. He feels that a guy like him, don’t stand a chance to meet and be with any girl out there. He has three best friends who works in the same airport, and they are somehow trying to figure out as how Kirk should manage to get back to his ex-girlfriend Marnie, who is girlfriend now to Kirk’s elder brother. In reality, Kirk don’t really like her, however he wanted to be with her instead of being alone. Surely the desperation for a female partner is clearly evident with Kirk’s action here. He has strong belief that Marnie is his last resort, and without her, he will be an insecured single guy. Sadly, same things happen at last.
There is always something that we feel we don’t deserve to even encounter every day, but the destiny put that same thing before us often like a coincidence. Same thing happened to Kirk. One day he saw a strange girl named Molly, (who is a successful event planner), arrived in the airport for her destination to New York. Must say her presence makes almost every eyes out there fallen onto her. Ofcourse, one can’t ignore such diva Avatar like her, into an airport (this is just a movie plot). During the security check, personnel working out there(whom is Kirk friends too), even tries to flirt with her during their duty hours, which makes her slightly uncomfortable. Kirk noticed this incident, and he wastes no time as a rescue man and help her pass the security check, bypassing other important procedures for check-in. But all these efforts from Kirk was not to gain her attention. In contrast Kirk is a kind hearted man, always there to help anyone in need. Secondly, Kirk has strong belief that girls like Molly who seems perfect in all terms, will never consider someone like him for a second(high level of low self-esteem). So Kirk didn’t even try at all. But in contrast, Molly did noticed and appreciate Kirk’s help. But somehow she forgets her Iphone on checkpoint after boarding the plane. Luckily Kirk is the one who found her phone, and Molly called on it. After all, she asked him to meet in person on next day in same town, to return back her phone in a musuem event that she has organised. And that’s how the real story starts in between two people, whom anyone else out there will surely judge and comment – Nah!! Kirk (who assumes himself as loser) didn’t deserve Molly on any grounds. But that is the twist to our judgemental thought, that we should understand here.
Gradually both started to seeing each other. First at a hockey game with their friends, Molly then approached first and asked Kirk for a date night. Kirk can’t sleep before that special day he is invited for, thinking what will he really talk to her. Even Kirk’s friends didn’t believe that Molly had asked Kirk for date. Molly’s business partner also asked her, as why this guy now, who is very ordinary in all the terms. Molly was already being in relationship with other guys in the past, it didn’t go long, and her feelings got hurt too in this. But this time she wanted to play safe with a person to whom she can’t get hurt, and that is possible most probably on one condition – he do not want to hurt her at all!! Molly didn’t even judge Kirk from start, where he stands in his professional career or social status, because this time she prefers to go with the inner quality of a person . She knows that Kirk didn’t made any effort to impress her from the first day, unlike others who usually camouflage themselves with other fake personalities to impress anyone, they wishes to be with. Kirk always reflect to what he truly is, nothing to hide. That’s why an attractive and smart girl like Molly chose to be with an ordinary guy like Kirk who is kind hearted, genuine and the one you can trust.
Everything is going perfect between them, that we usually expect from any couple. Molly even visited Kirk’s family, which went well, but same thing didn’t happen with Kirk visiting Molly’s parents, which upsets Molly. Later, Kirk honesty explained his reasons behind his actions that night, which was quite naïve and finally apologise for that. Undoubtedly, any girl can’t get mad to a guy, who is ready to admits his mistake (even if she is guilty) and say sorry, with no conditions attached. Molly is no different girl here, and eventually they got back together.
Ironically, Kirk is with a girl whom any guy would ideally dreamed of. Still Kirk has the sense of insecurity and inferiority complex for himself while dating Molly, but why? Because he cares about the society, who always judge their relationship. Molly is professionally more successful than Kirk, even in social standards too. Molly understand that Kirk somehow get uncomfortable in between all those people whom he doesn’t match professionally, and so always try to stand by his side. Kirk even met Molly’s ex-boyfriend who is a pilot, and seeing Molly’s past choice makes Kirk feel’s very low for himself as her current choice for a man. But somehow Kirk manage to pretend like everything is fine with him while meeting her peers. When Molly introduced Kirk to her parents second time, she lied to his profession in Kirk’s presence that he is in aviation as pilot, so that somehow he doesn’t feel embarrassed talking about his real job as a security guy in an airport for now. But somehow, that lie pinched Kirk’s ego, and he started to believe that even Molly feels that his profession is not up to social standards to reveal to her closed ones.
One night, when they were about to make thier perfect night together, but Molly noticed Kirk wasn’t excited for this. Instead of creating exotic moments for themselves, both chose to have casual conversation. Soon, their about to have good moment turns into startling revelations where Kirk began to reveal his fears or insecurities while dating her. He compared himself with Molly by rating her 10/10 while giving himself 5/10, why ? Through his words, he is unattractive, out of shape, uncoordinated, not a college graduate, drives a small Neon car to name a few. Molly is patiently listening to his feelings spilled from the beans today. Then there comes a time when he swiftly began to sound like blaming Molly for all his issues that he is facing now, only after she came into Kirk’s life. Molly empathise with Kirk’s issues, but seeing all these conversation going against her feels like it is high time to explain the real cause of his concerns, and she did it. Kirk has issues with low self esteem who always compare himself to anyone came into room, he is a smart and talented guy but afraid to do anything to what he really want. And last but not the least, he was hoping some kind of defect in her, so that he could feel normal while dating her. All these heated arguments, somehow true to the person whom addressed, left both ones in distress. Because of these tensions, they got separated again. But this time, both are in state of pain.
It’s up to you to see whether they got separated in the end, or made an effort to understand each other’s issues well to get back together again. It is a common practice for us to compare own persona with surrounding people whether he/she is a friend, family relatives, coworker or other employee working in same organization or your neighbours. Comparison can be anything whether it is based on looks, personality, colour, caste, status, money, jobs, assets or life choices. We either become judgmental or envious while seeing someone’s success or life choices, but barely admired anyone, which is ultimately not good to live with. Especially sensitive people become quite harsh on themselves, because they compare their lifestyle with others, who seems more happier or rich or more successful, and feels worthless seeing glamarous posts on Instagram or showoffs in social gatherings. That often generates a sense of inferiority complex, leading to interaction being limited to quite few close one. Always treat yourself like someone you love or admire. Otherwise, learn the secrets behind someone’s success in a particular field, if you aspire to achieve the same success in future. That’s how a person can grow in life, if he/she is not judgemental, let ego set aside and instead focus on learning useful skills or tips from anyone who seems living a good life, whether he is a friend or foe. However, it requires courage to trust and love our own persona, be ready to face challenge and undertake any risk involved, for greater good. We all come through different life scenario and experiences, that ultimately shapes our personality based on our attitude towards the people. So it is better to embrace your past and look for brighter side in the future. Like Apple founder Steve Jobs used to say “Connect the dots“. I have got a beautiful quote from ex- monk Jay Shetty, which will summarise this blog with a positive note:
Don’t trade who you are, for who you think the world needs because the world needs you to be you at the end.
Adios Amigos
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