You know what the old-timers say: Marry in haste, repent at leisure. This short film is the celluloid embodiment of the sampler that hung in your grandmother's living room.
Half the focus of this short is on Peg, the impetuous, thin-skinned young lady with an overwhelming desire to marry Joe, the football player she's known a whole semester. Peg suffers from a raging case of "only child syndrome", demanding the world see things her way or she's going to get ugly. I suspect she would have done better if she'd had siblings, but considering her parents' advanced age, she was probably a late arrival to the family and the doctor advised against having more. She's spoiled but conflicted over it; while she wants what she wants when she wants it, she also lashes out at her father for thinking he can buy his way out of any situation. It's possible that Peg and the girl whose father bought her a house in the movie "Psycho" grew up in the same neighborhood.
Red flags abound in the Peg-Joe relationship: Peg tells Joe the story of how she defied her parents when they wouldn't let her go to a dance. If he was even half-listening, he'd know this is a girl who doesn't like to hear "no" from anyone, and that's going to include him too. Likewise, Joe shows no interest in meeting Peg's parents, despite the fact that they're in town because of him and they're going to be his in-laws. Running off to marry a girl after blowing off her folks is going to make for some icy silences around the dinner table next Thanksgiving.
On the other side of the coin, we have Liz and Andy, the couple who are taking it slow, getting to know each other (and presumably their future in-laws as well). They talk, they argue, they play tennis, they keep a respectable distance between them when they dance, Liz hectors Andy about his homework, all the hallmarks of a good relationship. The movie comes down pretty solidly on their side.
While there is something to be said for starting warm and growing hot as opposed to starting hot and growing cold, this movie really sets up a straw man target in Peg and Joe. It seems the desire to jump the gun on marriage comes from basic selfishness and hormones rather than love, whereas the measured approach of maturity will keep you from making the wrong decision. I say maturity because, as other reviewers have pointed out, the actress playing Liz is way too old to be portraying a college student. Unless, of course, she has gone back to school after getting a divorce and Andy is going to be her second marriage. Maybe she learned the lesson of this short the hard way. Maybe she's living in the dorms as the house mother. Maybe I'm over-thinking this.
Anyway, everyone jumps on the matrimony pony in their own way. Whether you move fast or slow, do it with your eyes wide open and don't worry too much about what Liz, Andy, Peg, and Joe have to tell you. Unless you're watching the MST3k version. You can learn a lot from that one.
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