If we break the movie into 3 acts, it fails in the last act.

The first two acts are amazing. Very witty, very charming, great acting. The main two actors are awesome and have good chemistry.

The story is not new,. Poor lady falls in love with well to do English gent and lies to be close to him. There is a second plot running concurrently about her job and aspirations to go from rags to wealth.

This is portrayed really really well. You see her digging a deeper and deeper hole with lies and deception, and it builds up to a dramatic boiling point leading to act three.

However, there is no redemption. Because of her creative lying and deception and accompanying stunts she makes it big. She is a mixed bag, and while she does not not hurt others with one exception as she reaches the top. She hurts her love to be. There is one specific scene that makes it really clear that she was using him to get favors such as tickets to cozy up to her boss and strategically position herself. This the point where we are sure she will see the errors of her ways and if she admits all her dishonesty and shows real repentance will win the heart of the guy. Maybe even make amends.

But, no. She uses reverse psychology and when caught confesses with style and is rewarded by those who matter with power for her great acting and deception. Se uses that power to get her job back and be promoted. I just sat there with my jaw hanging.

The guy does not forgive her and she leaves. This makes sense.

Someone in this movie values standards and morality. But no, in another nonsensical twist he shows up six months later and acts like nothing ever happen. They shack up.

This is a very cynical view on life. The movie spouses faking it until you make it. And shows that honesty in winning someone's heart is not important. The end justifies the means. Beyond the dishonesty of the main lady , her place of employment thrives on it, and the client they are after does as well. It is everywhere in this movie.

Pretty Woman made me lose a few tears in the final act... Remember when the hotel worker told the guy in that movie "it is must be very hard to let go of something so precious", as he took back a borrowed necklace but was not talking about the necklace. When the woman/prostitute told him with tears "I want the fairy tale", and left, even though she was being offered money and a deluxe apartment to keep servicing the guy... I have seen that movie 10 times, and will see it again. I will NEVER rewatch this one.

I didn't hate the movie. Camila Mendes (Ana) and Archie Renaux (William) work well together as a couple. Lena Olin (Catherine) is great as the quirky as well as Marisa Tomei (Claire) as the mean boss who worked hard to get where she is. That's the problem with whole movie though. Whereas Claire has worked to get her position Ana just casually lies to William that she is the youngest Director of a prestigious auction house. She uses her friendship with William and Catherine to impress Claire by obtaining tickets to a play and getting reservations to an exclusive restaurant. After Catherine decides to cancel the auction, William shows up to surprise Ana for lunch and tell her he got the job he was hoping to get in New York. Ana tells him that their relationship has been a big mistake and brushes off the news of his job. William rightfully dumps her, twice. Afterwards Catherine says she'll agree to hold the auction but only if Ana is in charge of it. The auction is a success, Ana apparently is paid a large sum of money and opens up her own gallery in New York. William shows up at the gallery and they just get back together. Ana gets everything she has dreamed of because shed lied about who she is. There is no downside to it. There is no penance. William just forgives her but there is no explanation as to why. The writers could have been more creative with the ending, perhaps not rewarding Ana with so much and having William and Ana discuss starting the relationship over without any lies.

Why do these movies always have to be based on some big lie that's going to ruin everything in the end? I literally hate that so much.

Also, was it just me or did Will's mother seem more in love with Ana than William himself? Their relationship really wasn't particularly romantic or loving, and he genuinely didn't seem to care about her that much... I'm really not sure why or how he got over his justified anger and annoyance over her using him, since there wasn't that much depth between them to fall back on. I just feel like it should have stayed as a holiday fling, and that him coming back to her 6 months later was pretty random and unrealistic.

Lastly, I'm not sure why I was supposed to be rooting for Ana to get a job promotion... She didn't do anything special that would make her stand out from the rest and her big fat lie honestly should have gotten her fired. She didn't really deserve all the luck that she got handed to her in the end.

Her boss Claire, on the other hand, was pretty awesome and iconic. She was probably my favourite character in the whole movie, and I really don't know why she took such a liking to Ana.