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Film / Addicted to Love

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Addicted to Love is a 1997 Romantic Comedy directed by Griffin Dunne. It takes its title from a Robert Palmer song of the same name.

Sam (Matthew Broderick) is an astronomer who was dumped by his fiancée, Linda (Kelly Preston). After being read a "Dear John" Letter by Linda’s father, he tracks her down, finds her, and builds a device to spy on her and her new boyfriend, a charming Frenchman, Anton (Tchéky Karyo). He is later joined by Anton’s ex-fiancée, Maggie (Meg Ryan), who adds audio to his silent projections by bugging the apartment.

Though they don’t immediately get along well, Sam and Maggie team up to break up the couple, so that Sam can get Linda back and Maggie can get her revenge. As their plans unfold, however, Sam and Maggie find themselves slowly falling for each other.


This film provides examples of:

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Anton is charming, and knows he is so. It’s what he uses to steal Linda, charm an investor to pay for his loan, and before all that, use Maggie to get to America.
  • Artistic License – Space: In the opening scene of the film, Sam predicts a supernova to the day. Not only that, but the star he predicts is α Orionis, AKA Betegeuse, the bright red star in the constellation Orion and one of the most observed stars. The explosion of a supernova itself takes only one to two minutes over the life course of a star that size of millions of years. And he manages to see all this at high noon with an optical telescope, when the signals would have been detected by radio telescopes much sooner. His boss also says that Betelgeuse is going to supernova in a hundred million years, when it is known to be evolving quickly and going to explode in less than a hundred thousand.
  • Awkward Kiss: Sam and Maggie have one when her nana (who thinks Sam is Anton) asks for a photograph of them kissing. Nana screws up the first shot, so they had to kiss again.
  • Bigger Is Better in Bed: After Sam finds out Anton is a Sex God, Maggie seems to try to comfort him by saying that Franchmen usually have a Teeny Weenie. But then she clarifies that's not the case with Anton and that he has one like "Godzilla's Tail". Although this could be just Maggie playing on Sam’s insecurity so she could get an ally in her revenge plan.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Sam and Linda. They break up, though.
  • Consummate Liar: Anton. Maggie learns this the hard way.
  • Creepy Good: Sam uses the resources at his job to spy on his girlfriend and children. Even before finishing the "Dear John" Letter he rushes to New York to track her down
    • Spying on her for days mapping out her patterns to figure out what she’s thinking
  • "Dear John" Letter: What motivates Sam to track down Linda. After she leaves Anton, Frenchy gets one as well. The letters were read by Linda’s father.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Maggie is cold towards Sam, but as they get to know each other better, she gets along with him. They eventually fall in love.
  • Determinator: Maggie, Sam, and Anton.
    • Anton, after his breakup with Linda and his collapsing finances, is willing to work his way back up as a model. He finally breaks down, though, when Maggie damages his looks.
    • Sam finds Linda and goes on a stake out waiting for a break up.
    • Maggie. She’s out for blood. She is willing to go through great lengths to get her Revenge on Anton.
  • Dirty Coward: Instead of just breaking up with Sam herself or even just sending him a "Dear John" Letter Linda has her father read it.
    • When Linda broke up with Anton she made her father fly to New York to break up with him for her.
  • Disproportionate Retribution:
    • What Maggie and Sam do to Anton. Sure, he used her to get a visa so he can go to America, but she wants to get back at him so badly that while she's still contemplating on whether or not she would kill him, she wouldn’t mind if he dies in the process.
    Maggie: I don't want him back, I just want him vaporized.
    • Maggie and Sam not only want to break the couple up; they also steal money from Anton and sabotage his restaurant. After destroying his restaurant, Maggie takes another step further and triggers Anton’s allergy to stop him from having his modeling job back, destroying even Anton’s highly driven spirit.
    • Later on, Sam calls out Maggie on this. Even though Anton stole his girlfriend, even Sam begins regretting it after he, in part, caused so much more misery on Anton's life. Ruined love life? Check. Ruined finances? Check. Ruined reputation? Check. Ruined looks? Double check. Give the man a break!
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Sam is absolutely blown away when he sees Maggie in a nightgown.
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Anton slept with his investor but the movie never says when so it’s most likely after he lost his restaurant and discovered that he was broke. Even if it isn’t he still whored himself out to get his investor to back his new restaurant which is incredibly unprofessional on her part and was only done because of the manipulation of Sam and Maggie.
  • Emasculated Cuckold: Sam is very distraught to find out Sam not only cheated on him but that the guy she's now with is much manlier and better in bed than he was. Maggie takes advantage of him feeling this way to encourage him to take part in her revenge plan.
  • Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Part of Anton's appeal to women is the simple fact he's French. He claims to Sam that it's basically a superpower in America.
    Anton: I could read the phonebook and women would be as wet as morning daisies.
  • Freudian Threat: Maggie threatens Sam's penis if he has any funny ideas about the fact she Sleeps in the Nude.
    Maggie: I sleep naked. It's the only way I'm comfortable, so don't think of it as a come-on, because if you so much as breathe in my direction I will nail your willy to that beam.
  • Happy Ending: This movie is quite predictable, but even Anton and Linda have one, with Sam helping repair the damage he caused with Maggie. Sam and Maggie share a passionate kiss at the end.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Maggie picks Anton’s pocket for his ATM card and uses the money to fund her revenge plan, buy herself expensive things, and in the process, put Anton in debt.
  • Hypocrite: When they first met Sam calls Maggie out for breaking into Anton’s building even though he’s been spying on them for days. He felt it was perfectly justifiable to watch the two but claimed listening in on them is wrong.
  • The Immodest Orgasm: Maggie sets up a listening device aimed at Anton's home, and she and Sam hear Anton and Linda having sex, with Sam becoming very distressed at Linda's exaggerated sexual sounds.
    Sam: Oh my god! He's killing her!
    Maggie: Oh he's killing her alright, and she’s loving every minute of it!
    Sam: No! She's not like that. She likes to make love quiet and slow and gentle.
    Maggie: Are you kidding? That girl of yours is a carnival ride!
  • It's All About Me: Sam would rather Linda stay with him then go on this once in a life time opportunity where she would only be gone for two months.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Anton. Despite being a douche who’s not above stealing another man’s girlfriend, cheating on his girlfriend, and using his charms on women to advance himself, he admires and hires Sam (thinking that doing so would help Sam make it in life) because he saw determination and ambition in Sam.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: It’s satisfying watching Anton beat the crap out of Sam.
  • Lipstick Mark: One step in the big plan involves putting lipstick on a monkey, having said monkey jump and kiss Anton so that Linda would become suspicious. While it doesn't cause a breakup immediately, it clearly puts a strain on their relationship.
  • Love Epiphany: Anton asks Sam how long he's known his girl. Sam answers a few weeks, but corrects himself immediately by saying he’s known her (Linda) since they were kids. When Anton points out his inconsistencies, he realizes that he's in love with Maggie.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When Anton found out what Sam did to him despite having two broken arms and no ribs he proceeded to beat the crap out of him. Luckily Anton proved to be a far better person then Sam
  • Refuge in Audacity: Linda believed Anton’s money story to explain the lipstick on him because it was too crazy to be a lie.
  • Romantic Comedy: A rather dark one - to the point that some people would call this a Black Comedy. Most of the laughs from this film comes at the expense of Anton.
  • Sex for Solace: Sam and Maggie. After all, they’ve both been dumped, and clearly, it still hurts.
  • Sex God: For all his flaws, Anton can really send Linda over the edge, which makes Sam insanely jealous.
    Maggie: [after hearing Linda and Anton having sex] That's the longest orgasm I've ever heard.
  • Sexual Karma: Played With. Sam is meant to be the movie's protagonist but is shown to be incredibly boring in bed while Anton the Designated Villain is great, and Sam only decided to actively attempts to break them up after finding out that Anton was better in bed them him.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Maggie. She comes off tomboyish, especially when compared to Linda, but when she fixes herself up, Sam is really blown away.
  • Sleeps in the Nude: Maggie claims she sleeps in the nude for comfort though we never actually see her doing it. She makes it clear to Sam that she's not trying to seduce or tease him by telling him this, though it obviously still causes some Unresolved Sexual Tension.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: Anytime Sam and Maggie are doing something psychotic the music is up beat and bubbly
  • Springtime for Hitler: All Sam and Maggie did to Anton just ended up bringing him and Linda closer together to the point where they ended up getting engaged.
    • Averted when admitted that he slept with his investor
  • Stalker with a Crush: After being dumped, Sam turns into this, building a device that allows him to spy on Linda’s activity with Anton. He even charts it. Later on, when the big plan works, Sam and Linda are spending time together again, Maggie can be seen watching them and she's clearly not happy seeing them kiss.
  • Tantrum Throwing: After being dumped by Linda, Anton invites Sam to his place where they have a drink. While this is happening, Maggie, who’s watching them, can be heard screaming and throwing objects around, breaking things. It gets worse when Sam compliment’s Anton’s cooking.
  • Titled After the Song: From a hit by Robert Palmer.
  • Too Much Information: A couple of times.
    • When Sam wants to hear from Maggie’s bugging equipment, he hears Linda and Anton having sex – and Linda’s enjoying it.
    • Maggie tells Sam the story of how her father saved the life of a dog by picking out maggots out of its anus.
  • The Unfair Sex: Linda is still treated as sweet and innocent even after she cheated on Sam and doesn’t even bother to tell him herself instead sends her father to read a "Dear John" Letter. In fact this seems to be the basic underlining plot of the movie. If your girlfriend cheats on you and then does whatever its all on your girlfriend why do you hate the other guy. Sam treats Linda as this angelic being so Anton must have corrupted her. The movie never shows him as in the wrong.
  • Unkempt Beauty: Maggie is played by Meg Ryan, after all.
  • Villainy-Free Villain: The movie seems to go out of its way to show that Anton is a really nice guy. When a monkey lands on him he takes it in stride, doesn’t mind when kids randomly shoot him with water guys and even plays with them, shown to be a Benevolent Boss. Heck even after Sam sucker punched him he hires him.
    • They even go so far as to show all of his staff loving him
  • What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Maggie asks this question to Sam. Bonus points that at that time, he holds a lens in front of her, giving her alien eyes.
    • Maggie puts down Sam’s typical answer of love as an ineffable feeling by giving a story of her own.
      Maggie: When l was a kid, my father had this dog. It started to get weak and sickly so he took it to the vet. The doctor examines it and says a maggot must've laid eggs in the dog's butt. He says there's not much they can do. The baby maggots have crawled up and started to grow and eventually they're going to eat the dog alive from the inside out. He says it should be put to sleep because it's an old dog anyway, but Father won't do it. He takes it home. He puts it on the bed. He starts to reach up into the dog picking out the maggots with his fingers, one by one. It takes him all night, but he gets every last one. That dog outlived my father. That's love, Sam.
  • Woman Scorned: Maggie wants revenge on Anton for dating her just so he could get to America, then dumping her like she was nothing. And she's very spiteful about it.
  • Women Are Wiser: Played With; Maggie is a lot more practical and driven in achieving her goals, since Sam's grand plan is basically "wait for Anton and Linda to suddenly break up out of nowhere". However, since Maggie's grand plan is basically "systematically destroy Anton's entire life out of complete spite", it's hard to say she's wiser in the sense of being morally superior, as the trope is often used.

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