I have read some interesting and conflicting reviews about what people thought the movie meant. The Happy Camp interprets the movie as a triumph of love - if you're meant to be together, you will be together no matter what. The Cynical Camp sees the movie as proof that people will make the same mistakes over and over. As much as I'd like to be in the Happy Camp, I'm afraid that I'm over in the Cynical Camp, mostly because I have seen people choose the wrong partners and relationships - it's a pattern of behavior that they refuse to break (although they are more than willing to complain about how their new boyfriend/girlfriend is such a jerk/bitch/meanie/spineless sap)
the lesson i actually took out of it might be something in between the happy camp and the cynical camp... it seemed to me with their "...okay." "Okay." at the end, they were acknowledging that everything could go terribly wrong all over again, but that the experience was worth taking the risk for. which i really like as a lesson... sure, everything could crumble before you and hearts can get broken, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience love just because you're afraid of what could happen in the future.
i thought of it as an interesting little twist on the "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" adage. it's a lesson joel learned while his memories were being erased as well... in that heartbreaking moment where he asks if he can keep that one perfect memory. even though nothing had changed in his present life and him and clem were still broken up and he was deeply hurt, he still begged to keep that one memory, because ultimately it can be more powerful than all the pain that may have come later.
oooh my title's been promoted from "overlooked little sister!!" yay! hahaha!
and to add to the discussion about opposites attracting... if anyone's taken the meyers-briggs personality test, my psych professor administered it to us in school and told us that according to some studies, if i'm remembering correctly, it seems that personality opposites are very compatible in certain aspects. For example, the E (for extroverted) and I (for introverted) are very compatible because they balance each other out and help each other feel more comfortable in their own skin. I think the only opposite pairing that was quite incompatible was the N (intuitive) vs. the S (sensing), because it has to do with the way you see the world. N is more big picture, thinking of the future and the possibilities, S is you see what's right in front of you, very much existing in the now. It seems like the little things can be opposite and it just adds passion and excitement, but if the big things like the way you see the world are off, and your focuses are completely different, you can run into problems. I just thought that was a really interesting look into how opposites sometimes do and sometimes don't work... i'm sure there's more info on the myers-briggs personality type compatibility, but i'm just running off memory right now.
My boyfriend and I are complete opposites, I'm more shy and quiet, he's outgoing and stubborn, and we're into totally different things, but it's kinda cool cuz we open up new possibilities for each other. I'll learned to appreciate sports, and he's actually starting to find sensitive art films fascinating.