This movie begins with the typical sitcom couple: the smart, high-achieving wife Miranda and the immature, buffoonish husband Daniel. But it's worth watching over the other sitcoms because we get to see Miranda initiate a divorce and start leveling up in life. And Daniel is forced to undergo his own personal growth while acknowledging his culpability in the divorce.

I really related to Miranda's character: the high-power career woman who also wants to be a good mom. When she was young and dating Daniel, she mistakenly believed "opposites attract". She rejected the "stuffy" and "routine" men who she felt were too much like herself. And chose Daniel because he was "fun", "spontaneous", and "different from the other men".

So many women look for partners to make up for their perceived shortcomings. I've seen financially unstable women seeking out affluent men, and insecure women seeking out popular men. A really common mistake in classifying a guy as high value. This is just expecting men to compensate for perceived inadequacies, which usually ends with men weaponizing these desirable traits. Unequally affluent men tend to use finances as a means of control and to enforce dependency. Popular men tend to use insecure girls as side pieces. Daniel lets his spontaneity run wild, so Miranda is forced to take care of a man-child who competes with her for their kids' affection.

Whatever you want in life, it is much better to cultivate it for yourself so you can control the balance you need to be happy. And then you can find the right guy who's at your level, instead of letting some maniac on the other extreme overpower your life. We get to see that with post-divorce Miranda who gets to honor her need for order and predictability, and she starts looking for people who support her in that. 

I do have an issue with her not vetting her rebound Stuart before letting him get close to her and her kids. He has a lot of superficial HV traits: financially stable, generous with gifts, affectionate, responsible. But there were also subtle things I'd consider yellow flags. Like how he pushed for a social get-together in the middle of a professional consultation as her client. This was when he already knew she was married, but before knowing she was getting divorced. He also told his country club friend that he's with Miranda is because he's "40 and needs to settle down". I wonder if he's mostly interested in Miranda because she and her kids are a picture-perfect family package that can give him all the social and professional benefits of being a family man.

But overall, the movie did a great job of sympathizing with a woman's struggles in divorce and validating her need to be satisfied in a relationship. That she shouldn't be expected to continue suffering and sacrificing for the sake of her kids and husband, for some mistake she made as a young woman who thought she was in love. And that divorced women can restart their lives for the better. Daniel ended the movie with a touching speech about how divorced families can be just as valid and loving as conventional families, with one or both of the parents involved. In a world that often vilifies women for initiating divorce and blames them for ruining their kids' or husbands' lives, this is a much-needed message and makes it a good FDS movie. I may also follow up this post with a focus on Daniel's character.