I think it’s misleading to tell people that men don’t think about this sort of relationship issue where they want to find the right person because I’ve met many men who are career motivated but also are committed to finding the right woman. Hell, I am currently a man seeking the right woman while also sticking to my guns as a writer, so it’s disparaging for the directors to proclaim women the all feeling all loving animal looking for the right mate while the men are mainly just selfish individuals focused on their jobs. More so, it’s pretty obvious most of the film is scripted, especially in the interviews where the women always seem to have the right anecdote and the correct story that can lead in to an escapade. Beyond that the directors want to blame everyone but themselves.
They want to say that society is to blame for instilling ideas that they have to find the right mate and pro-create. Disney is at fault. Their mothers are at fault. But them? No, they’re just patsies who were fooled. And yet they continue falling in to the same pit fall over and over, seeking relationships and moaning over being single. How do these women live as singles? That’s the question that should be asked. And most importantly why is it tough for them? What do they put out there? Are they putting something out there or is it all once again about the evil male animal? Boo, men! Boo testicles for their depravity! And where does bisexuality and or homosexuality come in to play with this journey for the right partner?
Did they feel fulfilled or are they still obliged to find a man? Does this new rise in singles have something to do with evolution or enlightenment? These issues are rarely explored, instead the documentary is turned in to a bona fide Garry Marshall film where it’s about a woman seeking the right man while she has pow wows with her friends, all of whom are single. So it’s okay to be single, but it’s sad to be alone, however you can look for a mate even if you don’t want to, but feel free to? How is that a clear set message for the viewer? Is Kerry David and Michelle Cove’s documentary about seeking that happy ending with the right partner staged? Probably. Most likely there are scenes injected in to their project just to garner some sort of comedic reaction, but in the end, “Seeking Happily Ever After” is a feminist exploration in to the world that was told there will be a happy ending with a prince sometime in their future, and it never came.
We’ve all been brought up to think that there is that one person out there and then when we don’t find that person, it makes us question our self-worth. One thing “Seeking Happily Ever After” does succeed in is examining this ideal that you are not complete unless you have a mate. And whether you are a man or a woman, “Seeking Happily Ever After” may just connect with the audience who is alone and single and still find themselves looking for the proper mate because they feel they have to be. And directors David and Cove really do manage to find out why we have to pair up and why it isn’t always a great thing, especially in a world that tells us you have to have children.
“Seeking Happily Ever After” has some insight to spark for the audience, and while it’s mainly geared toward women, single men also owe it to themselves to look in to the female mind set and see if they can connect with other singles out there. In spite of minor exceptions, it really is an unfocused documentary that could have strived to at least streamline ideas and zero in on an actual point for the audience to take away from when the credits have rolled. I think there are pearls of insight and wisdom to be found in “Seeking Happily Ever After” but it suffers greatly from tunnel vision, being incapable of finding an actual point to the events that unfold on screen, and blaming most of the issues on everyone and everything but the women spotlighted in the documentary. While I won’t proclaim it a go to source for the look in to the female psyche, it’s worth a watch if only to gather thoughts on the modern woman and their views on independence.