Erin Brockovich

Entertainment Value

Rating: B

Good movie, but rather predictable (just like a lot of legal thrillers). It is a true story, so it's not like they could change it up or embellish it too much. There was no fancy lawyer battle in the courtroom. I'm not sure why it was Rated-R, it was plenty similar to John Grisham stories and could have been targeted to a broader audience without any excessive language or sexual content.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 2

The film comes off with a somewhat good message - that hard work pays off. But are we really supposed to applaud Erin for leaving her family for so long in the care of someone else? Sure people leave their kids at day cares plenty of times, but this made it seem as if she were virtually never home. She treated her boyfriend like a nanny, and yet at the end he was grinning ear to ear because of seeing the work he actually helped assist with. Her family should have been made top priority (very similar situation to Freedom Writers, where the teacher ends up getting a divorce because she spends more time with students than at home with her husband).

Runaway Bride

Rating: 4 

This was a fun story.   As far as I know, it seemed to be pretty unique compared to some other romantic comedies ("chick flicks").  Fairly early in the movie it's pretty clear who's going to end up with who in the end, but it's not so predictable each step of the way.  The film also had an all right message that streamed throughout the whole movie.

Ike Graham really finds out who the real Maggie Carpenter is, and helps her realize her true identity.  For so long Maggie had tried to please everyone else and never really ended up in a situation that she felt she could enjoy for the duration of marriage.  Ike helped her find out who she really was and the importance of living one version of yourself.  It's when she really does find out (which eggs she likes) that she can really say that it was her choice to get married to Ike.

Our Stake Young Men's presidency has emphasized the importance of living one version of yourself.  You shouldn't be a different person at church, at school, at work, or anywhere else or with anyone else.  By trying to be so many people or trying to please so many different people, you'll lose your own identity and not be able to stand up for what matters, you will have no standards or identity to fall back on when you find yourself in potentially compromising situations.