Celeste and Jesse Forever

Whenever I finish a movie I particularly like, I always google its Rotten Tomatoes Score. I don’t know why. I am not a masochist in any other area of my life, but when it comes to movies I feel compelled to see what other people thought of the ones I really loved. I guess I want to feel like I can share this love (which is probably why I want to make movies in the first place), like I want to know this thing that struck such a chord with me felt similarly to other people. I want to feel understood, and like there’s some common human experience, man…

But I usually just end up righteously frustrated. Because there are a lot of critics out there, and there are also a lot of stupid people, and so logically there are a lot of stupid critics out there.

And I’m not saying that if you don’t agree with me, you are stupid. Not all. Please, disagree with me. Let’s talk about it. I love a good argument. (voted most argumentative in high school, people, and I am proud of it).

No, I mean genuinely stupid people. People who never did well on reading comprehension tests. People who don’t understand how to watch movies. These are the stupid people of which I speak.

As an example, let’s look at some of the aggregated reviews for Celeste and Jesse Forever (70% on Rotten Tomatoes):

“Aside from the premise of two people who can’t seem to separate, the storyline is nearly non-existent. All in all, rather annoying.” – Alex Zane, Sun Online

This person has never been in love. And probably got less than average scores on reading comprehension quizzes in high school.

“The film shows its toothless nature when it refuses to properly eviscerate Emma Roberts’s silly tweenie pop star. But there are worse crimes than being just a little bit too nice. “ – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

This person is just a little bit too much of a dick. No wonder he missed the whole point of this film, he is basically the main character (more on this later).

“The film bears a kinship with the underrated 2006 film The Break-Up; both are, for lack of a better term, post-romantic comedies by exploring the largely virgin territory of what happens long after the meet-cute, when life takes hold and love goes sour” – Jim Schembri, 3AW

This person loves postmodernism, and I’m not even gonna shit on him, because I do too, but come on. This is not another The Break-Up. It’s been a long time since I saw that movie, but I recall lemons being thrown at Vince Vaughn. Also, Vince Vaughn. The Break-Up was about the cheap laughs you can squeeze out of a huge fight, battle of the sexes, all that jazz. Celeste is not even about a relationship, not really. (Also, wth is 3AW?)

Celeste and Jesse Forever was written by Rashida Jones and her writing partner, Will McCormack. Jones also stars in the film, her first leading role, along with Andy Samberg, as the titular Celeste and Jesse. These two met when they were in high school, married in their mid twenties, and we meet them six months into their separation. Even though they’ve technically broken up, he still lives in her guesthouse, and they still hang out every day. Their friends think this is weird. Celeste sees no problem with this arrangement, and Jesse is obviously still in love with her and just waiting for her to come around. This sets the scene for the next heartbreaking two hours. This is the kind of film that you know going into it is going to hurt like hell, but it’s just so damn beautiful and funny and oh okay, let’s do it! – so maybe I am a masochist.

If they still hang out everyday, why did they break up? Celeste is a highly driven owner of her own branding and “trend-predictor” firm, and Jesse doesn’t have a bank account, doesn’t have a job, and doesn’t have any plans to acquire either. Celeste believes that she’s done waiting around for Jesse, that he doesn’t measure up to her success, and that she deserves a “grown-up” for a partner. But he’s still her best friend, so she keeps him around in the backyard.

Celeste, as you can probably tell, is completely insufferable. She knows she’s right about everything, and it’s really goddamn annoying because she usually is. She’s right that Jesse is a loser. She’s right about all the trends she’s always forecasting. She’s right about most things in her life.

But she’s also deeply unhappy. And that is what Celeste and Jesse Forever is about; it’s not about a break-up. It’s not about being cool, eviscerating tweenie stars, or standing up for indie culture. And it’s certainly not about two people who can’t separate. It’s about the line between being right and being happy. The difference between being cool and being authentic. And how many people in this world are so happy to judge (ahem, film critics) that they forget how to stop judging and see the world, people, things, as they really are: deeply flawed, and deeply loveable.

As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now (I told you this film fucking hurts after all), Jesse eventually moves on with his life and Celeste, realizing how much she fucked up, falls apart without him. She has to confront the fact that yes, she was right that Jesse needed to grow up, but wow, being right and losing Jesse fucking sucks. And the film chronicles her journey out of delusion (she is so far up her own ass about being right in the beginning she completely believes she’s over Jesse) into confronting what’s really going on in her life, into acknowledging her shared responsibility for the breakup, and finally into accepting that she doesn’t know everything, doesn’t need to be right all the time, and can really let Jesse go. It really follows her journey into grace.

Along the way, she’s confronted with several obstacles that aren’t Jesse that also lead her toward acceptance – since really, life is not all about romantic relationships, and there’s more to a great personal change than a break-up. There’s the guy she lectures for cutting on the coffee line early in the film (who really is a dick, but really? It’s that big a deal to you?). There’s Paul, the guy that asks her out at Yoga and is totally predictable (but turns out to know a hot underground salsa club, because he’s fucking CHRIS MESSINA). And there’s Riley, the tweenie pop star portrayed by Emma Roberts (and rudely mentioned in the review above), whom Celeste’s company represents, over Celeste’s protests. Celeste doesn’t like Riley because she is “low” culture – she’s basically a stand-in for Ke$ha/Miley Cyrus, and Celeste literally eye-rolls at her. But then they get to know each other, and yeah, Riley is young and stupid and wears atrocious clothing – but she’s also a real person, who was homeschooled, and has a secret boyfriend, and becomes Celeste’s friend. 

Riley’s character represents another facet of this right/happy dialectic: the low/high taste bullshit. Celeste is convinced Riley has no taste, but Riley is just a person. There’s no reason to feel threatened by her or her music, and there’s every reason to examine her as a legitimate part of culture, and a legitimate person, rather than write her off. The only thing harmed in the process of writing-off is the person doing the writing; they are the ones whose world is limited.

Forget about how much I love this concept (because seriously critics, fuck off). This film is beautiful. I cried pretty much the whole way through. It’s not only physically gorgeous, the acting is completely stellar. I wasn’t sure what to think about Andy Samberg in this movie, but he is just amazing, and the chemistry between him and Rashida Jones is totally heart breaking. There’s one scene where, after he’s met someone else and he and Celeste are definitely getting divorced, he comes over to Celeste’s house just to see her. Because they’re best friends. And they miss each other. And she invites him in and they hug and the tension…and then they kiss for a second because they were married for six years, but they both know that can’t happen so they stop. And Jesse says “can we just lay here for a minute?” And they do, they spoon on the couch and the camera lingers on Celeste’s face, enjoying this thing that feels like it should last forever but can’t…

Heartbreaking.

I’m not doing it justice. Go watch it. Did I mention Rashida Jones wrote it?