Ah, l'amour

Recently, I saw two movies about love.  Since both of these movies took place in the present day (mostly), I decided to assume that both of them were trying to be realistic in their portrayal of young people falling in love.  Both showed two attractive young people meeting and then what happened to them years later.  Only one of them featured a virtually unrecognizable Dread Pirate Roberts, but we can't have everything.  These two movies were Blue Valentine and No Strings Attached.  One is a critically acclaimed drama about two people at the beginning and end of their relationship.  The other is a saucy romantic comedy about friends with benefits who just might be developing feelings for each other.  What do they have to say about love in these modern times?  Can we reach a consensus?

How does time flow?  In one of those linear fashions or some kinda crazy hopscotching business?
BV: Hopscotching business.  The movie jumps back and forth between the two leads falling in love and falling apart years later.
NSA: Linear, but beginning when the leads are teenagers before jumping forward a few times, for no particular dramatic purpose. 

Do the young people have family issues?
BV: Yes.  Ryan Gosling has an absentee mother, Michelle Williams has a father who screams at her mother.  Also, her mother suffers a terrible case of evaporating in the block of time between the early scenes and the later ones.
NSA: Yes.  Natalie Portman's father dies early on.  Ashton Kutcher's father is a lecherous faded TV actor dating his son's ex. 

Is there a doctor in the house?
BV: Michelle Williams wants to be a doctor, but becomes a nurse after having a child ruins her life.
NSA: Natalie Portman is apparently in the Grey's Anatomy stage of becoming a doctor.

Sorry, I meant, is there a handsome doctor in the house?
BV: Ben Shenkman is on hand to tempt away the little lady.
NSA: This guy.  Also, Cary Elwes, no matter how old or bearded he gets.  Natalie Portman knows what I'm talking about.

Does anyone throw a punch?
BV: Ryan Gosling, at Ben Shenkman.
NSA: Ashton Kutcher, at his own father.  This was nearly as disturbing. 

Do they get by with a little help from their friends?
BV: No.  These two have zero friends.  Maybe everyone else finds them as unpleasant as they find each other.
NSA: Yes.  Natalie has two ladyfriends, played by the notably more interesting Greta Gerwig and Mindy Kaling, as well as a gay friend.  Ashton has two gentlemen friends, horny sarcastic dude and horny emotional dude.

How's the Oscar pedigree look?
BV: Both stars have been nominated, though Ryan was nominated for Half Nelson, not this one.  Sorry, Ryan.
NSA: Natalie Portman and Kevin Kline both know their way around an Oscars ceremony. 

General economic outlook?
BV: Lower-middle class.  Living in a trailer.
NSA: Upper-middle class, but everybody has roommates. 

Get to the good part.  How's the sex?
BV: Bad.
NSA: Good. 

What's the tagline?
BV: "A love story" (I think this is one of those ironic things)
NSA: "Friendship has its benefits", which is an important message for the lonely malcontents in Blue Valentine

I know these two movies don't really jump to mind as comparable ones, but I do think it was interesting to note what they did have in common, whether that was highly-respected actors or the fact that taglines are always a little painful.  What does it say that two movies with vastly different aims both feature women as high-achieving professionals and men as charming underachievers?  They also both had something to say about the choices and consequences young people face about sex and how worthwhile it is to stick with someone or make a go of it on your own.  One of them might be saying it slightly more painfully than the other, but it is an aspect of romance on which both focus.  Also, there seems to be something irresistible about what happens when people first meet. 

I don't really want to recommend one over the other, since there's probably a time and a place for each.  But I did gather some romantic advice after seeing both: Be rich, have friends, make a good first impression, and don't get married if you don't know each other that well.