Despite her struggles with movies, her passion for reading and teaching shines brightly. Her love for novels is contagious, and her enthusiasm for sharing stories makes her stand out. Yet, whenever she attempts to follow a movie’s storyline, she often gets lost, creating moments that are as hilarious as they are endearing. It’s a delightful paradox that showcases her authentic personality—a woman who embraces her quirks and loves wholeheartedly.
From her daily life as a dedicated teacher to her quirky movie mishaps, her story is one of authentic charm. Her journey reminds us that imperfections make us human—and that love, laughter, and understanding can bridge any gap, even in the world of film. So, what happens when her favorite movie plot about a big city lawyer comes to her small town? Stay tuned—her story is as captivating and unpredictable as her love for her family and her books.
I love my wife. She is intelligent, and sweet. Also she is beautiful inside and out. She teaches high school English and Social Studies. She loves novels and usually has several on the go.
However she cannot follow the plot of a movie to save her life. Unless it is about a big city lawyer visiting her home town to shut down the local factory but instead reconnecting with her high school boyfriend who is also the local baker and mayor.
I’ve known this about her for years and I have accepted it. I just like vegging with her so I am happy to see white people rediscovering the magic of Christmas. Or whatever.
When we were dating we watched The Matrix. The questions she asked had me wondering about her. Ditto for anything complex. Even The Usual Suspects where they lay everything out for you she didn’t get the ending.
We had her sister and brother-in-law over for a couples night on Friday. We made supper and the plan was to watch a movie. Hee sister wanted to watch Shutter Island. I will not spoil it but the movie has many twists.
The ending is awesome.
I tried my best to suggest anything else. The new Laura Dern movie where she bangs the kid from Hunger Games. They all ganged up on me and said we were watching Shutter Island.
My wife proceeded to embarrass herself by not understanding the ending and asking questions that were not great.
Her sister and her husband were looking at my wife like she was Simple Jack. I tried my best to cover for her or telling her I would explain it later. She got mad at me for not just answering her questions.
After they left she started in in me. She said that she noticed that we always watched a certain kind of movie and that she thought I enjoyed them. I said I did because we got to spend time together and that mad me happy.
She said that she was not an idiot and that she just didn’t concentrate on movies. She recited the plots of several novels to prove her point. I said that I had never commented on her intelligence and that ahe was smarter than me.
She says that I’m a jerk for not watching movies I enjoy with her.
So I agreed and we watched Memento today. I think her head almost exploded from bot asking questions. I saw her on Wikipedia reading the plot.
AITA for intentionally not watching complicated movies with my wife?
Conclusion
In the end, her love for storytelling, whether through novels or real life, captures the essence of what makes her extraordinary. Her inability to follow a movie plot might be a funny sidenote, but it’s her warmth, brilliance, and genuine nature that truly define her. The movie about the big city lawyer trying to shut down the local factory? It becomes just another quirky chapter in her life—one filled with laughter, surprises, and lots of love.
Her story reminds everyone that perfection isn’t necessary to be amazing. Instead, it’s our quirks and honest flaws that make us who we are, creating beautiful stories worth cherishing. Whether she’s teaching her students or laughing through a movie she doesn’t quite understand, her vibrant spirit shines. This tale of love, laughter, and a little bit of chaos ends with the same heartfelt truth: true love embraces all the quirks that make us uniquely ourselves.
So next time you stumble upon someone who might seem a little offbeat, remember her story. It’s a beautiful reminder that life’s best moments often come from the most unexpected places—and that true love is about accepting each other’s perfect imperfections. Her story is a testament to the fact that no matter how tangled the plot, love and laughter will always find a way to shine through.
Here’s how people reacted:
Having said that, maybe she’s already found the solution to the problem. You both watch the complex movie together, and then she reads the plot summary so she can process the information in a way that makes sense to her. Then she doesn’t have to ask questions, and you can both enjoy movies together.
Depending on how her brain works, she might even enjoy reading the plot summary first, and then watching it with you. She might be able to enjoy the movie even more. It’d be like when you watch a movie about a book you read, but this time everything is accurate because the “book” is the plot summary.
What I really don’t get is this: why is the only alternative to movies with plot twists designed to mess with your head Hallmark movies?
Like, there are plenty of other genres out there. Pick something better than Hallmark but with not so many plot twists. It can’t be that hard. (Or, as someone else suggested, if you HAVE to pick something with a big reveal at the end, let her read the plot summary on IMDB either before or after the movie so she can process it better.)
It comes across like you’re searching hard for some way to put her down. You’re embarrassed by her because she didn’t get the plot twists of Shutter Island? She likes to watch movies, it’s an activity you do with friends, but she’s only capable of movies that are famously stupid?
It’s actually not uncommon to process written language better than spoken. I’m not as severe as your wife, but if I have the option, I always go for subtitles. And yes, sometimes I need to read something for it to sink in. I can’t listen to podcasts, they are like an annoying itch in my head.
I’m just a bit surprised she’s not more aware of the issue. Maybe she can talk to her GP? Sometimes the upside is mostly some tools and tips on managing her condition to make it easier.
Why not just be done with it and choose Tenet? Some films are hard to pick everything up on first time and Nolan is a master at this. Very unfair thing to do imo. Should’ve picked a good film without an intentionally complicated structure.
1. It doesn’t sound like you ever tried to talk to her about this. Adults communicate. You didn’t.
2. It seems like your plan was to watch a kind of movie that neither of you particularly enjoyed. Thus, neither of you got any enjoyment out of it. This is a terrible plan.
3. Her sister is definitely aware of your wife’s tendency to ask questions during movies. I doubt she was surprised and I’m sure she wasn’t thinking she’s dumb like you assumed she did.
4. This whole things comes off as you believing it’s an intelligence issue instead of anything else. And that’s not a great way to think about your wife.
Ultimately, it’s just kind of condescending. That, plus your failure to actually communicate the problem means she’s totally justified in being angry at you.
You need to apologize for not talking to her like an adult, and ask her what would help her follow the plot of movies better.
Then, hopefully, you two can actually enjoy watching movies together.
But instead you manipulated her into thinking that you only liked simple movies.
Not only that, but you seem more concerned about her coming across as dumb than you are concerned about having to explain the plot.
Bruh, it’s her sister, surely her sister knows that she’s bad at understanding movies.
YTA. You should have communicated like an adult.
> I saw her on Wikipedia reading the plot
this sounds like a really great solution. I’d say ask her if she enjoyed that way of watching with you, but I think it’s too sensitive of a topic to bring up right now.
you kind of suck for being inauthentic towards her. instead of just putting on movies you think are easy to follow you could have asked, hey let’s find something that doesn’t require a lot of concentration to follow, what would you like? things like cooking shows or stand up comedy don’t really require you to pay constant attention either.
I think what makes YTA is that it sounds like when this happens you just look at her like she has five heads. if you know she’s smart but has trouble paying attention, then just explain to her without the weird judgement.
My partner has somewhat of the same issue…
But I’ve no issue explaining things to her.
That’s one of the reasons I have a ‘pause’ button…
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But no, you had to pick a movie about a guy with a short-term memory issue, a film that is being told in reverse.
We would be 15 minutes into the movie and she would say something like “that guy is going to murder his best friend and then kidnap his wife” – and more often than not she was correct
There is no way she cheated as I picked movies on Prime at random – and it pissed me off as I couldn’t focus as I was waiting for her predicted plot twist to occur
Also, you say the others, including her own sister, were looking at her like she was stupid? I’m calling bs. You were embarrassed and you were completely projecting. Like her sister doesn’t know what she’s like or never watched movies with her? She’s known her longer than you. She likely didn’t care at all. Unless she noticed you “trying to protect” your wife. (Spoiler – you weren’t. You were trying to cover your own embarrassment.) That probably weirded her out or at least made her wonder what was going on when she never would have cared otherwise about this.
Why am I so sure this is the case? Because I have found myself in your shoes before. I have acted just like that, thinking I was protecting someone. Nope. I was embarrassed about their behavior, but 1. it was never as bad as I thought it was, and 2. they were not embarrassed or concerned. I had to realize that I was treating them like dumb little children instead of adults, and that literally no one cared about any of this except for my own anxiety. I still sometimes have to tell myself to step back and let people act how they’re gonna act without trying to filter it/cover it up/swoop in and do anything. If it’s an issue, which it almost never is, that is on them. They’re adults. But nearly always it is literally no big deal, at all.
It’s extremely common for people to process written information better than audial information. I’m one of those people. Not as severe as your wife, but I keep a written journal for my job purely because I need to write information down in order to remember it. If it was just told to me in a meeting, it’s gone in like an hour. It sounds like your wife is the same way, since she can read novels but has trouble following a movie. Novels aren’t less complex – in fact, you have to retain information for a lot longer, and often much more information than a movie would ever contain. So if she can follow those, she’s not stupid.
I’ll also check movie reviews for basic plot lines that promise no spoilers if there are major plot twists or of it’s driven largely by dialogue.
If she’s reading multiple novels with no issue I’m willing to bet captions will make a significant difference in both her ability to keep her attention on the film as well as following the plot and other more nuanced going’s on….
while i understand that your wife’s situation is annoying to you, and that you’re doing a “well-intentioned” thing by watching those Hallmark movies with her (but remember what they say about good intentions, right?), your attitude, even in the way you word your post, comes across condescending A.F.
but is she scrolling to the phone or is she actively watching the movie but has her brain turned off?
i cant understand it.
NTA
Definitely YTA for that movie night with her sister and BIL. Idk why you’d have to be worried about being embarrassed in front of family. If anyone is gonna see you in embarrassing positions it’s family. And should you really care what they think if they were thinking badly of your wife? They’d be jerks for thinking like that anyway. I think you should’ve just answered your wife’s questions and made sure she had a good time. Who cares about everyone else