The Vow, My Review (Spoiler Alerts)

I went and saw the movie, The Vow. It was an interesting movie, good acting and a good story, but something did not seem to be completely honest about the movie. At the end of the movie it was stated that true events inspired the movie. Well, after reading about the actual events, it seems to me that, although true events inspired the movie, the movie failed to be true to the true events. This movie is another attempt by Hollywood to rewrite life so as to include all things important to Hollywood, but none of what is important to real people in real life. Let me chronicle a few examples.

In the real story Kim and Krickitt Carpenter are two regular people who do not live anywhere near each other. In Hollywood’s version, Paige and Leo, live in the same area. In real life there was a third party in the automobile and there was not “sexual” overtones involved, not so with Hollywood.

In the real story we are not privy to the politics of Krickitt, but in the movie we are shown how much better a person Paige is because she has moved away from her controlling, rich, upper class, “better than thou” Republican roots to become a more progressive and all accepting, vegetarian, Obama voting, Democrat. Although, in Hollywood’s version, after her head injury she reverted back to her snobby self and then had to be reindoctrinated back to her better people loving, socialist Democrat self.

In the Hollywood story we are not told until later that the reason Paige left her family was because of an illicit affair between her father and one of her high school friends. This was not the case in the real story. In the Hollywood version Leo has never met her parents. In the real story Kim asks Krickett’s father for her hand in marriage.

In the real story Kim and Krickett are strengthened and kept together through their mutual faith and prayer as Christians. Also in the real story, there is never the idea to divorce. Not so in the Hollywood version which makes moving in together okay and which makes divorce an acceptable alternative.

In the Hollywood version Paige is being torn by her estranged family and “old” friends, while in the real story there was support from her family that loved her.

Interestingly enough, and I think Hollywood missed this, but the real life Kim Carpenter works in a profession that served the community, as a coach. In the movie it’s as if they both work in self-serving professions (personal opinion). Also, Hollywood did insert the fact that the reason Paige’s parents did not divorce was because the mother believed in forgiveness and in not wanting to break the family apart.

Although I enjoyed the movie, and although it was not enough to make my wife cry (which means it is a really good movie), Hollywood insisted on doing it “their way.” I believe the movie would have been a better movie if Hollywood would have honored the most important part of the story, the Christian faith of the couple which, in the end, is what kept the couple together, not some wavering human emotion of sentimentalism.