Easy (2003)

Easy is 40 Days and 40 Nights meets The Feast of Love. Marguerite Moreau (who looks and sounds like Laura San Giacomo of Just Shoot Me) is a vision and a joy in this movie, carrying it effortlessly, and the entire cast shines with her. Our story opens as her answering machine is disgorging a boatload (to put it nicely) of excuses from men who have dated, apparently had sex with, and then dumped her. She eventually describes herself as a "pathetic jerk magnet" to her pot-smoking accupuncturist. (Let's just call that a truism instead of a stereotype, much less a tautology.) She meets a sensitive poetry professor (Naveen Andrews of Lost) and almost succeeds in a smidgin of better self-control but falls hard for him -- only to bounce away when he briefly resembles a jerk before he falls hard for her (too late). She decides to take a 90-day vow of celibacy, and the love and support from her family and friends are palpable. This movie always feels true as it sensitively explores her character growth while she strives and learns to be true to her ethical as well as her emotional integrity. (I can only attribute the negative reviews on Netflix to romantic cynicism; as Chris Noth said in Sex and the City, Season 1: "Oh, I see. You've never been in love." For the morally sensitive, Easy has several scenes of nudity and extended, tender lovemaking.) Despite the moving targets that true love and commitment have become in this modern age, engendering hiccups that test her commitment, she explores a healthier relationship with Bryan O'Byrne. With plenty of other plot developments and twists, I can't wait to revisit this authentic and delightful story about the search for romance that has character and commitment! 4.5 stars.