meryl streep is easily one of the most hilarious actors of allllll damn time. like truly i was dying at her the entire time, her and nicole kidman just have this perfect brand of comedy thats like so dry but also weirdly really physical?? idk how to describe it but in their earlier comedy movies they are genuinely so incredible.
also theres something here about women entering the workforce and developing less reliance on men and the strength that they gain from that and i enjoyed that, but then she fucking FORGIVES BOB AT THE END i was like ruth…no please ruth NOOOOO
okay also, im conflicted on the allegations of fatphobia this movie receives. because while its obvious that bob and mary treat ruth like garbage because of how she looks and her weight, theres never really any direct correlation between her losing that weight and suddenly becoming likeable. like she stays at the same weight, and gains power. on top of that, shes shown to be extremely well-liked and kind when she has done absolutely nothing cosmetically to herself in the nursing home. idk i think that it definitely has some societally-expected cruelty towards fat people, but it also never paints her as unlikeable or deserving of cruelty because of her looks or her weight. instead bob and mary are shown as overly cruel because of how they treat her based off of those things. on top of that, bob’s mother is always kind to her (in a way that could arguably be patronizing) but theres this consistent perspective that ruth is never deserving of less or less worthy of love because of her looks or her weight, but instead bob is a piece of shit for placing such extreme emphasis on those things.
obviously the very ending where ruth starts to accept bob back into her life is frustrating, but i almost feel like it works in a way because of how he is changing to be enough for her, rather than her changing for him. idk. i also think that you can pretend the movie ends right before that and the story still totally works.
meryl streep is easily one of the most hilarious actors of allllll damn time. like truly i was dying at her the entire time, her and nicole kidman just have this perfect brand of comedy thats like so dry but also weirdly really physical?? idk how to describe it but in their earlier comedy movies they are genuinely so incredible.
also theres something here about women entering the workforce and developing less reliance on men and the strength that they gain from that and i enjoyed that, but then she fucking FORGIVES BOB AT THE END i was like ruth…no please ruth NOOOOO
okay also, im conflicted on the allegations of fatphobia this movie receives. because while its obvious that bob and mary treat ruth like garbage because of how she looks and her weight, theres never really any direct correlation between her losing that weight and suddenly becoming likeable. like she stays at the same weight, and gains power. on top of that, shes shown to be extremely well-liked and kind when she has done absolutely nothing cosmetically to herself in the nursing home. idk i think that it definitely has some societally-expected cruelty towards fat people, but it also never paints her as unlikeable or deserving of cruelty because of her looks or her weight. instead bob and mary are shown as overly cruel because of how they treat her based off of those things. on top of that, bob’s mother is always kind to her (in a way that could arguably be patronizing) but theres this consistent perspective that ruth is never deserving of less or less worthy of love because of her looks or her weight, but instead bob is a piece of shit for placing such extreme emphasis on those things.
obviously the very ending where ruth starts to accept bob back into her life is frustrating, but i almost feel like it works in a way because of how he is changing to be enough for her, rather than her changing for him. idk. i also think that you can pretend the movie ends right before that and the story still totally works.
