21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage (2013) User Reviews

Decent Romance/comedy film

[Azurrio · 7/10 · 28 August 2013]

First Finnish movie I saw i a quite a while and I haven't had very high hopes for Finnish films lately.

The plot itself is a bit confusing due to strange editing I believe. THe story itself feels like it has some holes too or at least the main plot could be more clearer, now it seems to get lost in the middle of all the other stuff that has been packed in to this movie unnecessarily. Acting is fine and music too, no complaints in that regard.

All in all, a decent romance/comedy that enjoy without feeling that you have wasted your time.

The little wit it has is ruined by awful acting.

[rynzgoqwiaot · 3/10 · 13 August 2013]

This is my first written review but I thought I have a go as no one else have so far. Anyhow, I'm going to keep it short as there isn't really much to say.

There really isn't any proper story to speak of just cliché sitcom type jokes edited together in some sort of chronological order. A few of the jokes however, had the potential of being pretty funny but is totally ruined by crappy acting and poor timing.

It doesn't help either that the two main female characters have the same body language and sparkling charm as a alcoholic middle aged polish cleaning lady with anger management issues. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or done as part of a broad joke. Either way it doesn't work.

I gave it three stars only because there is actually 3-4 jokes that most probably looked really good on paper.

Romantic awkwardness

[Quarantaine · 9/10 · 27 November 2014]

These chick-flicks and their seemingly endless amounts of point of views around identifiable relationship complications... What we see here is a Finnish attempt on the most popular way to make RomComs lately. How on earth did that go so well? Whether you enjoy the genre or not, you have to give props to the writer for digging deep into her theme and for the endless love she has for her characters. I especially think that the minor characters come across as surprisingly recognizable. But, okay, the Finns do that, perhaps better than anybody. You encounter this phenomenon on their TV, as well.

Armi Toivanen, portraying the main character role. What an aura she has that makes the camera absolutely love her up close. Based on this performance I wish to see her in one of those all time favs that you always want to return to and re-watch.

The story takes a look at the awkward "comes with the bargain"-sides in romantic relationships. Writer, director Johanna Vuoksenmaa hits the nail right on the head time after time with her clever angles and she never needs to cut corners by using a mean approach. One thing that many might have an issue with, but I find quite intriguing, is the choice to underwrite the main character role. Me agreeing with this explains my high score. A secondary plot line gets a lot of space, without quite matching the strengths of the main dish. Neeh.