This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Mystery Love Stories
Plot Overview
Thirty-eight-year-old New York ad exec
Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) receives his final divorce decree dated
14 October 2008, circa Columbus Day when Chris discovered the New
World. When Will picks up his 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin)
at school, he finds the place has erupted into bedlam. They've just
been introduced to sex education, a new world ushering in an
age of exploration. And just as the mariner made his famous discovery
by accident—while looking for a direct trade route to the
Indies—so rumor has it one of Maya's schoolmates
was—horrors!—conceived accidentally. Maya wants reassurance
she was brought into this world deliberately. To that end she asks
her dad about her mom: “Did you have any girlfriends before
you met her?” He tells her, “I had two serious
girlfriends … and then some other smattering of other
women.” Maya presses him for the skinny on all three of them,
which he gives her changing their names to keep her guessing which
one he ultimately married becoming her mother. This convoluted
flashback comprises the bulk of the film.
Ideology
Woven alongside this mystery is the rather straightforward love life of Will's African-American roommate Russell McCormick (Derek Luke) who had the hots for a white girl Kelly (“I love this girl”) in the office with whom he had a one night stand that never ended. She had a fetish for any guy who liked her. There is no mystery there, but African slaves had a different introduction to the New World than did European settlers, and said veiled history reflects on this couple.
For those not settled in the sands of
time, I offer this remedial history lesson, with apologies to those
who don't need it. The biblical story is widely known of Adam &
Eve's temptation and fall in the Garden of Eden, how the woman ate
the forbidden fruit and gave it to her husband to eat (Gen. 3:6), God responding by increasing
the severity of the woman's childbirth pains (Gen. 3:16) and making man's toil onerous
(Gen. 3:17-19.) What is less well
known—except in places like the Bible Belt—is a redo of
sorts to ameliorate man's difficult labor. Noah's father Lamech had
(Gen. 5:29) “called his name
Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil
of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.”
They still had to follow the earlier template to get a reprieve. Instead
of the forbidden tree to be respected by the first couple, there was
old man Noah whose work break was to be respected by his three sons.
(Gen. 6:10) “And Noah begat
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” They formed themselves
into two pairs: the eldest Japheth & Shem, and the youngest Ham
paired with his own son Canaan making the numbers even. Noah fortified
himself with wine before invoking blessings on them, as later
would Isaac with savory venison before blessing Esau. The (red) yakut
wine of Turkey is a blend of four grapes—actually two pairs—so
the numbers correspond. In the Genesis account of the Flood, is a mystery
woman, the mother of Ham. (Gen. 9:18-19)
“And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark,
were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are
the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.”
Let's look again at Noah's story (Jasher 5:14-17):
(Jasher 5:14-17) And the Lord said unto Noah, Take unto thee a wife, and beget children, for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation. And thou shalt raise up seed, and thy children with thee, in the midst of the earth; and Noah went and took a wife, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old. And Noah was four hundred and ninety-eight years old, when he took Naamah for a wife. And Naamah conceived and bare a son, and he called his name Japheth, saying, God has enlarged me in the earth; and she conceived again and bare a son, and he called his name Shem, saying, God has made me a remnant, to raise up seed in the midst of the earth.
Shem and Japheth were full brothers, Ham was born at a later date (the youngest, see Gen. 9:24) perhaps from a different mother. Noah's wife was older than he was. Perhaps at 580+ years she was no longer able to bear children after the first two. She didn't have any more after the flood, even though it was a time to repopulate the earth. Maybe she stopped bearing before the flood. Ham could then have been stepbrother of the other two.
Researcher Mark DeWayne Combs posits that, “Although Jasher specifically references the births of Japheth and Shem, there is no such reference to the birth of Ham. … that Ham may have been much younger than his brothers and that he may have had a different mother” (389). Combs also observes, “Fathering a child, particularly a son, through a handmaiden or servant girl would not have been an uncommon or forbidden practice in that time period” (165). Historian Kenneth M. Stampp remarks that “Apologists for slavery traced the history of servitude back to the dawn of civilization and showed that it had always existed in some form until their own day” (14).
Come the deluge and the ark's passengers could well be a model for, (James 5:13) “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.” There was undoubtedly a lot of distress on their voyage occasioning a lot of prayer, and their eventual landfall would have been accompanied by much celebration. As ordained minister Tom Dooley points out, “Such a long period of ark living must have been quite tiresome. No doubt Noah's family was thankful for their safety and provisions; however, one could imagine them becoming restless, ready to get their feet on dry land again” (59.)
When (Jasher 6:40-41) “they all went out from the ark, they went and returned every one to his way and to his place, and Noah and his sons dwelt in the land.” They'd been cooped up together long enough, so now they spread out somewhat according to some preestablished pecking order. God (Jasher 6:42) “said unto them, Be fruitful and fill all the earth; become strong.” To become strong meant, among other things, taking their needed meds when sick, along the lines of, (James 5:14) “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Children are always getting sick. Here it seemed to be Canaan's turn whose elders would have been his father Ham and grandfather Noah. Oil in Bible times was a medication, (Luke 10:34) “bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,” as was, (1Tim. 5:23) “a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” Grapes grow in the summer, but once they're fermented, the wine can be stored throughout the year. Noah got into the store while setting an example for a work break, establishing period(s) of escape from hard work per Lamech's saying. By chance or design it interfered—it had to inconvenience someone—with Ham's youngest son Canaan's need, and Ham could well have been the low-status brother from another mother.
Instead of the wily serpent we had Noah's wife as an on-the-spot influencer, who since she isn't mentioned, did well incurring no rebuke. She would have made herself scarce giving Noah some space to relax when he started drinking, (1Tim. 2:9-10) “that women adorn themselves … (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” Being a virtuous woman (Prov. 31:27) “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” She would not have let grass grow under her feet but would have gone straight to visit Ham to make adjustments regarding their diminished store of medicinal alcohol, like the homespun heroine in an Andrew Taylor novel:
Mrs Arabella was a woman of decision. Having made up her mind to do something, she did not postpone it and did not permit half-measures. The inoculation of the household was arranged the following day and put into practice on the day after. (175)
Ham showed up shortly thereafter to check out the cause. He fell to temptation by mocking his dad to his two brothers, but they would have none of it. This is parallel to Eve earlier failing first then offering the fruit to Adam who accepted it, but here the older brothers did not go along with Ham, so we'd expect them to receive a blessing rather than a curse such as it was. The distribution of labor had to be readjusted to account for the new workers' holiday(s), and Ham for his insolence left himself and his family line open to taking up the slack. Depicted below is that scene rendered in a Civil War vintage woodcut, made after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794–1872) from his archive, published in 1877.
The alternate image text by licensor iStock.com/Getty Images explains what happened here to Noah and his fermented grapes: “When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so they did not see their father's nakedness (Genesis 9:21-23).” They covered the old man to prevent him from catching a chill in the mountains as it was no longer summer.
Ham had put himself in jeopardy according to, (Prov. 30:17) “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” Especially pertinent in this case is Noah's control over the animals including the raven (Gen. 8:7) and he is not unique, at least not in literature. Novelist Ted Bell writes of a chief inspector who “had been beaten to within an inch of his life and nearly pecked to death by countless killer ravens. All the while locked inside the cage of a Victorian aviary” (357.) There is even biblical precedent for it when some kids mocked a man of God for not having a covering of hair on his head and they got mauled by beasts. (2Kings 2:23-24) “And … as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”
There's a parity of eye loss and servitude
given in (Exodus 21:26) “And if
a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it
perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.” Ham and
his line—represented by Canaan in his lineage—could be
given servitude rather than mutilation. This would be in keeping with
the sentiment of Job in, (Job 31:7-8)
“If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked
after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; Then
let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted
out.” In that woodcut-derived picture above we see Ham after
disregarding his mom's caution, checking up on his dad, getting carried
away by an eyeful of the dishabille inebriate, and gesturing with
his hands to his brothers. If he were to “sow, and another
eat” and his “offspring be rooted out,” that
would mean becoming a slave and his offspring being carried away
in slavery. Okay.
The Bible's account leans towards the latter. (Gen. 9:24-27) “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son [Ham] had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” When Noah woke up, he blessed as a pair the lines of his two respectful sons and cursed Ham's line—pairing Ham with his youngest son Canaan as was Noah's wont to go by twos—giving them servitude to his other two sons'. (Jasher 73:35) “For the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah, and his children and all his seed, as slaves to the children of Shem and to the children of Japheth, and unto their seed after them for slaves, forever.”
Ham's youngest son Canaan is the particularly noted recipient of the punishment. Later when the Israelis invaded the promised land, the Canaanites were due for destruction, but the Gibeonite branch (the Hivites of Joshua 11:19 & Gen. 10:15-17) did a deal with Joshua who was the Jewish leader. They'd heard what happened to other Canaanite tribes, so they sent ambassadors dressed as if they'd come from a long journey (Joshua 9:3-6) and persuaded Joshua to make a league with this “distant” tribe. When it was discovered they'd tricked Joshua into sparing them, (Joshua 9:24-27) he made them bondmen, which was more to their liking. If this trick is indicative of the character of the original Canaan, he might well have been malingering to get out of his chores, which would also help explain Noah's hesitation to coddle him with wine. And when it came time to deal with the sin, it affected the whole line of Ham.
More germane to modern times is perhaps the lineage of Cush, Ham's oldest son (Gen. 10:6,) Cush meaning black in Hebrew, having settled in Africa, some of his to become in later years African-American slaves. Researcher Bodie Hodge confirms that, “As a general trend, Ham is the father of many peoples in Africa” (122). Dr. Ide adds, “Ham sired four sons: Cush (translates as ‘black’) … and Canaan the youngest” (62).
In DM Will (White) and Russ (Black) work together in the Clinton campaign who hasn't a racist bone in his body. They are also friends and roommates experiencing equality and/or parity across the board. They go on to form a consultancy partnership and eventually fall in with a high profile candidate. Then a tough decision is forced on Will when he lets his journalist girlfriend publish some past shenanigans of his candidate ruining the man's political career and putting the consultancy out of work. Will used to a blessed universe takes it in stride, but Russ used to opposition takes it personally. The latter guy has (unexplored) baggage.
Maya takes notes on her three possible
mothers from her dad's stories but can't figure out which one it is.
Through abundant closeups our eye compares features of cute Maya with
her dad of “boyish good looks” and his lily white lovelies,
but any pair could have produced her as near as we can tell. His final
pick at any rate didn't make him happy, whence the divorce. Perhaps
his sex education should have had less sex and more education.
Russ and Kelly were happy together but
they were subject to the “Society's Child” factor. In
an early scene they crowd the glass windows of a phone bank from which
Will is calling his girl. Kelly has her white face pressed up against
the glass so her nostrils and lips spread out in an ugly grimace,
but Russ not touching the glass already has flared nostrils and negroid
lips. The whole movie involves trying to imagine the baby a couple
produces, and these two are cast so there's no way we can imagine
them having a pretty pickaninny. Just saying. Russ will even
remark on the limitations of his political career from having a
“Betty Crocker” on his arm. His sex education could stand
thinking more with his gray matter and less with his sex.
Production Values
“” (2008) was written and directed by Adam Brooks. It stars Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, and Abigail Breslin. Reynolds carries the film playing against type. A verbose Breslin is better seen than heard. The other characters fill out their roles adequately.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for sexual content, including some frank dialogue, language and smoking. The execution is finely tuned. The extended flashback is interrupted from time to time to accommodate the girl's queries, and a split-screen is also used. The cinematography is all business. The score is pretty good. Runtime is 1 hour 52 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The best sex education is got from a
discourse on the monogamous penguin at the zoo. Political insight
involves the limitations of legalized integration. The romances are
engaging and some musical. A happy ending is promised.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769, 1873. Print. Software.
The Book of Jasher. Translated from the Hebrew into English (1840). Photo lithographic reprint of exact edition published by J.H. Parry & Co., Salt Lake City: 1887. Muskogee, OK: Artisan Pub., 1988. Print, Web.
Bell, Ted. Patriot. Copyright © 2015 by Theodore A. Bell. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Print.
Combs, Mark DeWayne. End the Beginning. USA: Splinter in the Mind's Eye Pub., 2014. Print.
Dooley, Tom. The True Story of Noah's Ark. Copyright © 2003 by Tom Dooley. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Pub., 2016. Print.
Hodge, Bodie. Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of Our Ancestors. Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Pub., 2013. Print.
Ide, Arthur Frederick. Noah & the Ark: The Influence of Sex, Homophobia and Heterosexism in the Flood Story and its Writing. Las Colinas: Monument Press, 1992. Print.
Stampp, Kenneth M., Professor of American History at the University
of California (Berkeley).
The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the
Ante-Bellum South. Vintage Books, 1955. Print.
Taylor, Andrew. The Scent of Death. Copyright © Andrew Taylor 2013. London: HarperCollinsPublishers. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org