Back in maybe December or so, Jenny and I were freshly newlywed and ready to take on the world. As the officiant at our wedding put it, we could dream big dreams.

So, shortly after we were wed, we starting renting more movies from the local Redbox.

Redboxxing is an activity we do often and usually accompany with food. As I always say, a movie is as only good as the food you eat it with. That is precisely why I didn’t like The Godfather. Asparagus does not go well with Coppola films. In fact, I’d argue it doesn’t even go well while starving to death. At least with that you get some great abs before dying.

One of the first movies we watched together when Jenny arrived in the United States was The Lobster. It’s an independent film (which means Michael Bay is allergic to it and that’s really good) starring Colin Farrell and Rachael Weisz. The premise is that everyone has to get married by a certain age or else they are turned into an animal of their choosing. They don’t explain how this is done, but that’s not the point.

As far as movies go, this was one of the weirder we’ve seen. We love weird movies. Why do you think we have a YouTube Channel?

It’s not the idea of turning into an animal that makes us reference this movie literally every day. The other main part of the film is how they determine who should marry who.

Each person must find another with one distinguishing characteristic that matches their own. For example, one girl in the movie gets frequent nosebleeds. She’s looking for a guy who gets them as well. Another person, appropriately played by John C. Reilly, has a stutter/lispy thing going on. He’s looking for a mate with the same speech impediment.

The people in this society are not limited to only one characteristic. As we see, just one major commonality can link two people together.

Jenny and I often question what our “the Lobster” as we call it would be.

Both of us have achy left legs. We think this would probably be what allows us to love each other. It makes total sense since we’re not even the same race, have many different interests, and don’t look anything alike.

Aside from our introverted attitudes about life and passion for writing, Jenny and I are two very different people. Could we find a way to be together in a society like the one in The Lobster?

The movie is a great one to watch with a partner. It raises the question about how much you really do have in common and whether or not those commonalities are what make you love each other. At least, this is how I took it. There’s also a lot of black humor and Colin Farrell shirtless in it.

For Jenny and I, two people raised very differently on opposite sides of the world, I like to think we’d thrive in a world like the one in The Lobster. Those in the film view love as a shallow emotion and not a mixture of many different talents, passions, and moralities. True love is knowing those things you don’t have in common are just as important.