I read about this movie an i weekly magazine under movie review. Basically, the synopsis as summarised by Fandango goes like:
"Smart, beautiful and headstrong, Alexis is the girl of Dustin’s dreams. But after only five weeks of dating, the love-struck Dustin is coming on so strong that Alexis is forced to slow things down – permanently. Devastated and desperate to get her back, Dustin turns to his best friend, Tank, the rebound specialist. A master at seducing – and offending – women, Tank gets hired by freshly dumped guys to take their ex-girlfriends out on the worst date of their lives – an experience so horrible it sends them running gratefully back to their beaus. But when Tank works his magic on Alexis, he ends up meeting the challenge of a lifetime. Alexis is the first girl who knows how to call his bluff, and Tank soon finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dustin and a strange new attraction to his best friend’s girl."
No doubt, Dustin is attracted by the physical appearance of Alexis which have the greatest impact in the beginning of a relationship. This is because the physical appearance is the only thing that we can know from the other person when we first met. Therefore, the relationship between Dustin and Alexis started based on physical appearance but it soon came to an end as the values of the two differs. Dustin was so obsessed with Alexis that he confessed how he loved the way she eats and even ordered steak (he's a vegan)so as to make her love him. Even though it was only five weeks into their relationship, Dustin could not stop himself but to suggest that Alexis and him should live together. All these actions freaked Alexis out as she wants to take things slowly and in addition, a date with Tank "made her realize that she hasn’t really dated that much and she thinks that they should just be friends" (adapted from wikipedia) and as a result, she puts an end to their relationship. This suggests that the two came to a stage in a relationship termed as 'coming apart' where the intense differentiation between them reflects that the relationship has developed too fast and that Alexis is not ready to embark in the new phrase of her life with Dustin.
On the other hand, the relationship between Tank and Alexis occurs rather differently as their feelings for each other developed after they had sex. During their relationship, there was no self disclosure from the side of Tank as Alexis only came to know that Tank goes out with girls as a form of job at her sister's wedding party where a drunkard Dustin made the announcement publicly. The part on self disclosure is important to a relationship because it is a maintenance process where one shares information about him or herself which the other party might not be aware off. As seen in the movie, the consequences of skipping this process in a relationship will result in shock and hurt to the other party and as a result, relational dissolution occurs mainly due to actions that undermine trust. Though Tank did not go out with girls for money when he was with Alexis, the fact that he confessed that was his job had already undermine the trust Alexis had in him, for the fear that the same might apply to her and that their relationship started not because of love but for money.
All in all, this movie actually highlights to us that in order to maintain a relationship, we have to be frank with our partners and let him or her know information about ourselves. Of course the process of getting a relationship started also plays a major role in whether the relationship can proceed on smoothly and that the two parities did not choose the wrong partner.
Pictures were taken from Fandango
