| By Fred Topel
In Theaters Now
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The Last Kiss proved that adultery doesn’t have to be the end of a great movie marriage. Such is usually the case in the glorious fantasy world of cinema. Here are 10 movies that prove it’s okay to cheat on your spouse, and if you’re the spouse, you’d better forgive your adorable scamp of a partner.
10. Nothing to Lose – This affair provoked comic desperation when Tim Robbins went on a crime spree with Martin Lawrence. Even though it ended up as a big misunderstanding, it was a great impetus for hilarity.
9. Brief Encounter – This was before my time but I understand it’s a story of two married people who fall in love but decide not to abandon their marriages. Sounds juicy, but in 1945 I’m sure we didn’t see any action.
8. The Getaway – She had to do it to break her husband out of prison. How do you argue against that? You’d be having an affair of your own in an uncomfortable place if you didn’t accept your wife’s affair, so deal with it.
7. Fatal Attraction - This is surely the affair everyone remembers (why does that phrase sound so familiar?) She turned psycho and really, the guy got what he deserved for screwing around.
6. Sleepless in Seattle – She wanted to cheat on her fiancé the whole movie. Isn’t it romantic to fall in love with a voice on the radio when you’re engaged to a devoted man who’s taken good care of you despite his runny nose?
5. Unfaithful - This was one hot affair. Diane Lane and exotic foreigner Olivier Martinez get it on in all sort of public places and in several different positions. Something else happened in this movie too but I can’t stop thinking of Diane Lane.
4. True Lies – We really didn’t want Jamie Lee to screw around on Arnold, but Bill Paxton was so funny as the slimy used car salesman it was nothing but fun. The payoff was the ultimate even though feminists didn’t like it. I know I didn’t lose any respect for Jamie Lee for doing that dance.
3. Face/Off – This was adultery by accident. She didn’t know that her son’s killer was wearing her husband’s face. What a profound moral and philosophical issue this was.
2. American Beauty – This adultery was almost perfectly justified. We really wanted him to cheat on his horrible, already cheating wife, and Mena was such a perfect little seductress. But he did the right thing in the end… and lived happily ever after.
1. The Bridges of Madison County – This is the ultimate adultery movie that actually makes you root for the affair over the marriage. Clint and Meryl are so perfect together and she’s sacrificed so much, she deserves this happiness. When he hangs the necklace on the rearview mirror, I can’t act manly. |
