letters to juliet

SPOILER ALERT. i rarely do this, however in order to properly discuss my recent realization that i may be cynical toward romantic movies, i need to give away the end. so if you care about seeing this movie, don't read this right now.

last night i went to see Letters to Juliet. i'm no movie critic, but after watching it i got to thinking about romance and how it is portrayed on screen. the movie was cute. of course you've got the cutsie scenes where you think to yourself "did this really make it in the movie". but over all i thought the story was an interesting idea and something i haven't seen done before.

my problem with this movie came at the very end. girl breaks up with guy she is with because she has changed and wasn't really in love with him. good. girl goes to italy to see what will happen with new guy she met and spent time with there. again, good. when they see each other again, it seems new guy is back together with old girlfriend. a bummer, but still interesting story. we find out new guy isn't really with old girlfriend! yay. girl tells new guy she is in love with him. what?! new guy tells girl he is "madly, deeply, and truly in love with her. WHAT?! (the only saving grace is his beautiful accent as he is saying those words.)

how can you be deeply in love with someone after knowing them for 5 days? this boggles my mind. i honestly can't comprehend that people feel this way. you barely know someone after a few days. it takes me more than 5 days to decide if i want to be friends with someone. (well maybe that's not exactly true, but still) and yes, i've never been in love and i have no idea the process in getting to that place...but it seems a little ridiculous to me.

so the question is, am i now cynical toward romance, or am i just very aware of how hollywood distorts love on the big screen?