Cruel Intentions and Joe

I met Joe my junior year. We got along very well from the start and we became good friends. Since neither one of us drank (at least at the time), we would hang out while everyone else was out partying. We started a ritual where every Sunday night we would watch a movie together.

Joe was appalled that I had never seen Star Wars, so over the course of a month we watched the entire trilogy. He laughed his ass off as I screamed with fright at the end of the Blair Witch Project. He practically blew a wad when I brought him Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace when it was released on video. And that is basically how it went, we watched a lot of movies together and introduced each other to new things.

Joe was, and probably still is, a man's man. The typical sports loving lecher. But he has a way of surprising people. One Sunday night I brought Cruel Intentions, which I think is a good movie. As a typical romantic girl, I love the story line of this movie. Based on Les Liasons Dangereuses by de Laclos, this is the only movie version that I have seen that looks at Valmont as someone who truly struggles with love and emotion. Although, it is not necessarily true to the novel, I like the interesting point of view taken. But I digress...

So Joe and I are watching the movie and having a good time. We get to the end of the movie, Ronald is fighting with Valmont in Central Park. Annette tries to break it up and gets pushed into oncoming traffic. Valmont jumps up and pushes her out of the way sacrificing himself. As soon as Valmont gets hit by the taxi, Joe sits straight up in bed and screams "NOOOOO!!!!!". I was taken completely by surprise. Joe was so upset that Valmont would get killed off that for the rest of the movie he just kept saying "no" over and over again.

I really enjoyed seeing that part of Joe. He really opened up and showed me a side of him that I don't think many people see, his vulnerability. He was really worried that no matter how much he made amends for the mistakes in his life, that he wouldn't have true love. I hope he has found what he was looking for.