The Best Valentine's Day Date Movie...

...is a documentary called Crazy Love, which is the bizarre true story of Burt and Linda Pugach, a Bronx tale of l'amour fou. You've probably heard about them: he's the guy that had some goons throw lye in her eyes, so she couldn't get married to someone else. Because he loved her so! Before that, he also had people beat her up on the street, so she would look for protection in him. The day he met her, he stalked her with dozens of roses, etc. You know the kind.
After the attack, which partially blinded her and left her disfigured and hairless, he spent 14 years in jail, writing love letters to her while she became a hard, lonely cookie. So when he came out of the slammer on good behavior (he originally got 30 years), they reunited and got married, quite unhappily, to judge from the footage, to this very day.
This is a story that spans from the end of the fifties to today, and it is clear that it is very much a product of its time. In those days, even though they worked, women were not supposed to be independent. They were supposed to marry, so someone could take financial care of them. Women were also supposed to save themselves for marriage, if you know what I mean. Nobody wanted damaged goods. As his and her old friends recollect upon the past, you realize that if this same story happened today, she would have felt she had other choices. She would go into match.com and find a new date. She would not be 35 years old and a virgin, even with a marred face, a wig and eternal sunglasses. She would not have felt like she'd been left to wither and die. Society's conventions have changed quite a bit since then.
The movie itself is not great, but the story is fascinating. The cast of characters is quite interesting. I loved hearing all those old New York accents from the Bronx. Even that has been lost in this city.
Now everybody talks like we're from the Midwest or something. Only the older people still have that wonderful New Yawk squawk.
So if your honey is complaining about how you are this, that or the other; if you are having relationship troubles, forget about couples therapy. Go see this movie together. It will make your relationship look the picture of health.