Movie Review - What Do You Want Me To Say?

Two women, one series of wider cultural tropes and stereotypes…

When I first saw this film’s box cover and when I first read this synopsis:

Bill loves Amy and Amy loves Bill, but Bill can’t stop cheating on Amy. She makes him promise never to do it again, but even he admits that this might be impossible. Still, a couple of months go by and he holds true to his promise. Things are looking up.

Then Bill meets Cerina, a beautiful, albeit awkward, young model who comes on to him during a photo shoot. He rebuffs her at first, but finds himself unable to say no to her.

…I was 100% expecting to hate B. Skow for Girlfriends Films’ What Do You Want Me To Say? (2013). The fact that the title is too long and kinda awkward just made it worse.

But I should always remember that you can’t judge a film by its box cover because What Do You Want Me To Say? is not what you’d expect. At least, it’s not what I was expecting.

What I thought I was going to see was another tried-and-trite story of a plain girl vs a sultry seductive girl – another rendition of the virgin/whore dichotomy. But what I actually saw was a *perfect* couple dealing with 1) a relationship foundation built on bad karma and 2) many of the same, all be they stereotypical, gender-situated relationship issues that we all might possibly experience, including jealousy and insecurity.

Ultimately, What Do You Want Me To Say? provides a compelling argument for employing unconventional strategies when tackling “conventional” problems. There’s a real “think your way out of the normative trap” message here, which I appreciated.

And I loved the trick! (I totally fell for the trick – good sneaky job, filmmakers) More specifically, I loved the lesson embedded in the trick. It’s definitely worth learning; but if you want it, you’re gonna have to watch the film for yourself. I refuse to just give it away.

Written by David Stanley and directed by B. Skow, buy your copy of What Do You Want Me To Say? and/or watch it now here.

Extras: three bonus scenes from other B. Skow for Girlfriends Films titles add to the value of this DVD.