Real Life Not Like a Romantic Comedy
We hope you're satisfied, Nora Ephron: Because of romantic comedies, people have unrealistic and unhealthy expectations of their own love lives, according to a new study. Films like Sleepless in Seattle and Serendipity promote the idea of a perfect love that's fated to happen, in contrast to real life, where apparently the universe doesn't conspire to bring two wholesome and lovelorn individuals together after a variety of amusing mishaps culminating in a run through the rain/car chase to the airport. "If you think that's how things are," says Dr. Bjarne Holmes, who led the study, "you are setting yourself up to be disappointed." Although not quite as disappointed, perhaps, as the teenage Twilight fans destined never to find a boyfriend who can fly and live forever.