Rebecca: Mandy Moore

[photo fox]

A topic for the discussion of the character and the actor. 

[BoogieBurns]

I think she is younger than Jack. She could have easily been 28 when she had the kids, which makes her mid 30's in the second episode, and only in her 60's current day. Not sure she could be much younger because of how long they were a couple before the babies. 

[PRgal]

Regarding Rebecca's age:  My mom was 30 (turning 31 that year) when she had me in 1979.  I was her first (and only) child.  She said she was considered "old-ish" at the time - kind of like women having kids at 35 or 36 today (opposed to early 30s today - many of my friends' kids are between 4-7 this year). 

[Cherry Cola]

I just can't get into scenes Mandy is in.  I don't like her acting, and never have. I liked when she voiced Rapunzel, but I don't like to SEE her act.

[memememe76]

I am Mandy's biggest fan for this show. I think the writers do a good jobs of getting that mean girl spirit that exists in Mandy. I can see why people don't love or even like her, but I think she's perfect. 

[HeyThere83]

She has probably the most difficult task on this show. I think she's doing fine.

[talktoomuch]

22 hours ago, memememe76 said:

I am Mandy's biggest fan for this show. I think the writers do a good jobs of getting that mean girl spirit that exists in Mandy. I can see why people don't love or even like her, but I think she's perfect. 

Aw man, @memememe76, now I'm intrigued. Please elaborate on the "mean girl spirit." I think I know what you mean, but I want to be sure. And also why you attribute this to the writers rather than Mandy Moore's acting?

[memememe76]

I think it's just the way Mandy talks. I am sure she is a lovely person, but her manner of speech has a slight condescending undercurrent, as if her views or opinions have never been challenged. She is right and that is that. That is how she talks in virtually everything I have seen from her. 

That is why Mandy does better playing really bitchy characters like the one she played in the Princess Diaries. Mandy certainly has a sunny personality  (her smile is such a great quality) but doesn't have that Girl Next door quality like, say, Bullock. Or that snarky quality that Roberts had in her days and Lawrence possesses now. She fits with this more earnest show. The writers don't give Rebecca the funny joke or impassioned speech. She gets lines which hurt the kids even though Rebecca never intended her words to have that effect.

But it's not just the writers. Mandy does a good job of creating a different chemistry with the various characters. I am fascinated with her work with Young William, for instance. And I buy her marriage to Miguel. I have seen that with my elders who have had a later relationship. May not be the romance of a lifetime, but a comfortable companionship.

[methodwriter85]

I like that show doesn't try to pretend that Mandy Moore is just some regular-looking suburban mom. Shows tend to do that to make the woman seem more "relateable", but in this case, it does exacerbate the problems between Kate and Rebecca when Rebecca is someone that people could mistake as a model.

I've always liked Mandy Moore, and I'm glad that she finally seems to have hit on something really good here. She's had a lot of hit-or-miss moments in her music and acting careers.

[qtpye]

Yeah, it is very difficult to grow up with weight problems.  It must be even more so, when your mother looks like Mandy Moore.

I like her in this role.

I hated it in the second episode when the best friend told Jack "that his wife is out of his league".  You see guys saying that to each other on shows, but it would be a really mean thing to say to someone in real life.  You would just say something like "stop being so self absorbed and count your blessings" type of thing.

[nkotb]

I have to say, this is probably going to come out ruder than I intend, but when I heard the cast for this show, I kinda thought MM was going to be the weak link. I was wrong. She can certainly hold her own against really, truly good talent, like SKB & Milo (they're all good, but those 2 are the standouts that she shares scenes with, in my eyes, anyway). She has definitely come a long way, & I've never been so happy to be so wrong!

[Dejana]

Before Rebecca got pregnant with triplets and became a stay-at-home mom (understandable), she was...a full-time bar singer? If she and Jack were short on money early on, I don't know why she didn't have some sort of job to help out with expenses for the two of them, that wouldn't have interfered too much with her creative pursuits. Unless the music scene in Pittsburgh circa 1980 was so hot that Rebecca would have missed out on all those prime gigs, by working a couple of days a week in retail or being a part-time receptionist or something...

Edited February 9, 2017 by Dejana

[JudyObscure]

On ‎12‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 0:15 AM, methodwriter85 said:

I like that show doesn't try to pretend that Mandy Moore is just some regular-looking suburban mom.

Maybe it's because I never heard of her before this show, but comments like that and the way the show presents her with Miguel's "out of your league," comment and Kate saying people thought her mom was a model, are all curious to me.  To me she's just an ordinary looking woman with a pretty  bad under bite. 

Edited February 9, 2017 by JudyObscure

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, Dejana said:

Before Rebecca got pregnant with triplets and became a stay-at-home mom (understandable), she was...a full-time bar singer? If she and Jack were short on money early on, I don't know why she didn't have some sort of job to help out with expenses for the two of them, that wouldn't have interfered too much with her creative pursuits. Unless the music scene in Pittsburgh circa 1980 was so hot that Rebecca would have missed out on all those prime gigs, by working a couple of days a week in retail or being a part-time receptionist or something...

I said something similar in the Unpopular Opinions thread - Rebecca was 29 when she got pregnant, so even if she went to college, she had 7-8 years post-education to contribute to the household before becoming a full-time mom.

I've always gotten a selfish vibe from her, but last night's episode reinforced for me that she sees herself as a special snowflake that others must cater to. We've seen no evidence of exceptional singing talent or original songwriting, and yet she feels entitled to have a singing *career*. Not just a hobby, a career. As if it's going to be a great loss to the world if she doesn't regularly sing in front of an audience. She didn't blink when Jack gave up his dream of starting his own business so that they could pay for Randall's private school, and yet when it comes to her dream, Jack must pick up the slack at home after 12-hour work days, and he must do so cheerfully without complaining.

[NutMeg]

12 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Maybe it's because I never heard of her before this show, but comments like that and the way the show presents her with Miguel's "out of your league," comment and Kate saying people thought her mom was a model, are all curious to me.  To me she's just an ordinary looking woman with a pretty  bad under bite. 

totally with you, except for the last line :)

[Dejana]

11 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I said something similar in the Unpopular Opinions thread - Rebecca was 29 when she got pregnant, so even if she went to college, she had 7-8 years post-education to contribute to the household before becoming a full-time mom.

I've always gotten a selfish vibe from her, but last night's episode reinforced for me that she sees herself as a special snowflake that others must cater to. We've seen no evidence of exceptional singing talent or original songwriting, and yet she feels entitled to have a singing *career*. Not just a hobby, a career. As if it's going to be a great loss to the world if she doesn't regularly sing in front of an audience. She didn't blink when Jack gave up his dream of starting his own business so that they could pay for Randall's private school, and yet when it comes to her dream, Jack must pick up the slack at home after 12-hour work days, and he must do so cheerfully without complaining.

Randall and maybe Kevin are the only characters whose employment situations hold up to scrutiny (does Kate still have a job in LA? What did Toby ever do for a living? Shouldn't Jack have made enough to afford better than a sixth-floor walkup by 35?), so maybe it's less that Rebecca is a pampered princess than the writers didn't feel like thinking through the mundane details of how jobs and money actually work. Although, she is Kevin's mother so maybe he did inherit some of his love of the limelight and adulation—while being sort of half-assed about pursuing it—from her.

[qtpye]

Quote

Maybe it's because I never heard of her before this show, but comments like that and the way the show presents her with Miguel's "out of your league," comment and Kate saying people thought her mom was a model, are all curious to me.  To me she's just an ordinary looking woman with a pretty  bad under bite. 

 

11 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Before Rebecca got pregnant with triplets and became a stay-at-home mom (understandable), she was...a full-time bar singer? If she and Jack were short on money early on, I don't know why she didn't have some sort of job to help out with expenses for the two of them, that wouldn't have interfered too much with her creative pursuits. Unless the music scene in Pittsburgh circa 1980 was so hot that Rebecca would have missed out on all those prime gigs, by working a couple of days a week in retail or being a part-time receptionist or something...

The funny thing about the singing, is I have always found Mandy Moore to be a mediocre singer at best.  I thought she was an extremely pretty teenage pop princess, who was known for her looks and sweetness, rather then her talent.  I was a teenager at the time and I wanted to look like her, rather then Britney Spears, who I thought was a little trashy with the fake boobs.

I think she had grown into an attractive woman, but I think Jack is good looking as well (despite his olive oil hair) and do not find them unbelievable as a couple.  When we hear, characters tell (usually a guy) that they married out of their league, I guess we are to assume Jack married up....because I really do not see that.

By entertainment standards Mandy Moore is just another blandly attractive actress.  By regular people standards, I can see why it would be sometimes hard for Kate to have a mom that looks like that, even though Kate is also pretty.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, qtpye said:

By entertainment standards Mandy Moore is just another blandly attractive actress. 

Yes.  And people on tv all have such perfect teeth now that sometimes Moore's perfectly fine but imperfect chompers kind of divert my attention from the scene.  I did think she looked prettier in these scenes with the straighter, longer hair than with the more 70s-ish hair or (of course) the old lady bob. 

[ShadowFacts]

The old lady bob, hehe.  I think she is very bland, no matter the hairstyle or age.  When she is in long scenes, I get antsy.  I don't thinks she's terrible, but I would enjoy someone else with more quirkiness or self-deprecation, or something, and an unknown would be fine.  I wish the casting had gone in that direction. 

[methodwriter85]

On 2/9/2017 at 4:36 PM, ShadowFacts said:

The old lady bob, hehe.  I think she is very bland, no matter the hairstyle or age.  When she is in long scenes, I get antsy.  I don't thinks she's terrible, but I would enjoy someone else with more quirkiness or self-deprecation, or something, and an unknown would be fine.  I wish the casting had gone in that direction. 

See, I kind of think that works. Rebecca was a pretty, young, blank slate that Jack could basically mold into his idea of the perfect wife and mother.

[Crs97]

On 2/9/2017 at 10:02 AM, qtpye said:

When we hear, characters tell (usually a guy) that they married out of their league, I guess we are to assume Jack married up....because I really do not see that.

I think that is a very typical comment that doesn't really mean much beyond complimenting the spouse.  Barack Obama said that Joe Biden and he married up;  I don't take as anything more than they love and respect their wives.

[qtpye]

8 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I think that is a very typical comment that doesn't really mean much beyond complimenting the spouse.  Barack Obama said that Joe Biden and he married up;  I don't take as anything more than they love and respect their wives.

That is a half joking comment and Mrs. Biden is a very accomplished and impressive woman.  Miguel was not joking, he was serious.  Also, I have never seen anyone say this to woman.  You never heard anyone tell Carrie on Sex in the City that she married "up", though financially she definitely did.  Marrying Big made her a one percenter.

[Crs97]

Michelle and Jill are both very accomplished, as are their husbands. No one married "up" in those relationships.

I like Miguel because he does seem to love Rebecca unconditionally, even when they were just friends.  God knows she needs someone in her life who feels that way about her.  I think Jack, for all his big speeches and grand gestures, makes her feel small.

If you go back and listen to Rebecca's speeches to the liquor store owner and to Ben with his "if he really loves you" comment, she thinks she married up.

[PepSinger]

I love Rebecca, and I love Mandy Moore. I have always thought that Mandy was a good actor. I loved her in Saved!, A Walk to Remember, Chasing Liberty, and Grey's Anatomy. It's interesting that she started off in singing because while I love her voice, I think she's a slightly better actor than singer. I'm glad she finally has a hit TV show. Also, she's always struck me as extremely kind. 

[Ryan Chamberlain]

It's weird because something about Mandy when she's made up to look old reminds me of current day Diane Keaton. Seriously.

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, Ryan Chamberlain said:

It's weird because something about Mandy when she's made up to look old reminds me of current day Diane Keaton. Seriously.

Diane Keaton played Mandy's mother in Because I Said So. Maybe Mandy is deliberately modeling present-day Rebecca after Diane Keaton.

[Pallas]

You mean the silver frameless glasses, the short bob with bangs and highlights, the faint air of hesitation or the watching her feet when she walks outdoors? 

[OtterMommy]

There's a lot of discussion on the Moodshadow thread about whether viewer's impression of Mandy Moore influences how they see Rebecca.  I do think there is something to that--as there would be for any actor.  Then the question came up about whether or not MM is essentially playing herself.

I don't know Mandy Moore and I don't know much about her personal life to make that determination.  What I can say is that I've seen her in a few things--Tangled (er, heard her...), that movie with Diane Keaton, Grey's Anatomy, and TIU.  I realize that her CV is much longer than that, but based on those roles, I will say that I do feel that she is playing the same character.  Whether or not that one character is similar to who she is as a person isn't important--I just find it frustrating that I don't see any real change from character to character.  I don't know, maybe if I watched more of her work I'd feel different.  But, honestly, I'm not motivated to do that (and not really inclined to do so if I feel I must....)

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

Then the question came up about whether or not MM is essentially playing herself.

I think that's a valid question but just for the record, if you meant my post saying "how hard is it to play yourself", I was referring specifically to her role as herself on Entourage.  She was playing Mandy Moore, ex teen pop singer, in a multi-episode arc where she was dating the main character, an actor named Vince (played by Adrien Grenier).  

[OtterMommy]

Just now, Winston9-DT3 said:

I think that's a valid question but just for the record, if you meant my post saying "how hard is it to play yourself", I was referring specifically to her role as herself on Entourage.  She was playing Mandy Moore, ex teen pop singer, in a multi-episode arc where she was dating the main character, an actor named Vince (played by Adrien Grenier).  

I know..I just quoted you over there as a way to move the convo over here (sorry for the confusion).  I'm sure that for a decent actor, it isn't hard at all to play youself (however, for some athletes, singers, etc, who can't act their way out of a paper bag, I think it is a disaster when they try to play themselves).

As for MM, I don't know.  My guess is that her persona isn't that different from the sort of general character I see in her roles (again, not having seen her play herself) and I don't think there is anything wrong with playing someone who is similar to yourself.  I just would like to feel that she can play something else as well--and I haven't seen that.  I mean, Rebecca should grow as a character--"should" might be stretching it, as present-day Rebecca isn't different from flashback Rebecca--and, if I get into a show, I'd like to have the confidence that she'll be able to play the role when Rebecca faces something challenging or life-changing (and, right now, I don't have that confidence).

[laurakaye]

Moving to Rebecca thread......:)

Full disclosure - I loved this song back in the day.  Mandy came up with Christina Aguilara, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson.  I thought as far as actual singing talent, Mandy was second only to Christina.  I think maybe she got lost in the shuffle because she was a good girl trying to act bad and wasn't nearly as convincing as the others.  But no doubt, girl can sing.

Edited March 19, 2017 by laurakaye

[sasha206]

9 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

Moving to Rebecca thread......:)

Full disclosure - I loved this song back in the day.  Mandy came up with Christina Aguilara, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson.  I thought as far as actual singing talent, Mandy was second only to Christina.  I think maybe she got lost in the shuffle because she was a good girl trying to act bad and wasn't nearly as convincing as the others.  But no doubt, girl can sing.

OMG, Jack was right.  Her dancing is unsexy.  Disturbingly unsexy.  Actually what is more disturbing is that she looks 12 trying to look sexy.

Edited March 19, 2017 by sasha206

[JudyObscure]

1 hour ago, OtterMommy said:

There's a lot of discussion on the Moodshadow thread about whether viewer's impression of Mandy Moore influences how they see Rebecca.  I do think there is something to that--as there would be for any actor.

Yes, thank you for saying that last part.  Some people seemed insulted, as though I thought they were incapable of  critical thinking beyond their teen selves.  Not at all.  I just know that if I've liked an actress for years and watched her in many sympathetic roles, then it would be hard for me to dislike her unless she was playing a real monster.  Maybe I'm the only one with that problem. 

[OtterMommy]

3 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Yes, thank you for saying that last part.  Some people seemed insulted, as though I thought they were incapable of  critical thinking beyond their teen selves.  Not at all.  I just know that if I've liked an actress for years and watched her in many sympathetic roles, then it would be hard for me to dislike her unless she was playing a real monster.  Maybe I'm the only one with that problem. 

You aren't the only one....I can't speak for everyone, but I'm in the same boat for other actors and actresses.

If I liked actor A in one role where they were a wonderful person and they performed that role well, I would follow them to another show/project.  If in that second project they played a less than likable character, or if they didn't play that role especially well, I'd probably have a more favorable view of that character than I would if a completely different actor played it.

So, yeah, I'm not always completely objective...and that's okay.  I'm really not bothered by people sympathizing with Rebecca because they like Mandy Moore (or, conversely, not liking Rebecca because they hated Tangled, or something like that).  I'm not saying that everyone is watching her performance through a lens like that (I don't think I am--I have no real strong feelings about MM), but it is perfectly natural for someone to do so--again, for any actor.

[chocolatine]

The styling in that Candy video is so terrible - over-plucked brows and amateur bleach job. Mandy certainly looks much better when she leaves her hair and brows alone.

My problem with her acting in this show, and maybe the writers are partially to blame, is that she talks like the millennial that she is, but her character was born in 1950. That, plus the poor "aging" styling of 45-year-old Rebecca, always take me out of the scene.

[sasha206]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

The styling in that Candy video is so terrible - over-plucked brows and amateur bleach job. Mandy certainly looks much better when she leaves her hair and brows alone.

My problem with her acting in this show, and maybe the writers are partially to blame, is that she talks like the millennial that she is, but her character was born in 1950. That, plus the poor "aging" styling of 45-year-old Rebecca, always take me out of the scene.

And because she's so skinny her face looks SO long!

Their styling is so off most of the time.  I have a hard time thinking they aren't in the 70s in the flashback scenes.  Maybe it's because Jack's greasy fucking hair and mustache reminds me of cheeseball leisure suit 70s.

And her styling is also off as you note.  

[SlackerInc]

I have a different perspective on MM than others so far.  I have known for years that she was a teen pop singer and subsequently an actor.  But before this series, I never heard her sing, nor saw her act.  Is that weird?

Anyway, I find Rebecca an interesting, nuanced character, well written and acted.  Not a villain, but with more faults than typical non-villanous mother characters on TV.

I would add that it makes no sense to say "Rebecca is actually good, but I blame the writers for making her look bad." She is not a historical figure but a fictional creation.  Therefore she is what she is written to be.

[sasha206]

12 minutes ago, SlackerInc said:

I have a different perspective on MM than others so far.  I have known for years that she was a teen pop singer and subsequently an actor.  But before this series, I never heard her sing, nor saw her act.  Is that weird?

Anyway, I find Rebecca an interesting, nuanced character, well written and acted.  Not a villain, but with more faults than typical non-villanous mother characters on TV.

I would add that it makes no sense to say "Rebecca is actually good, but I blame the writers for making her look bad." She is not a historical figure but a fictional creation.  Therefore she is what she is written to be.

I also don't think Rebecca is a villain either.  I have pretty much hated Jack's character since episode 2.  Rebecca is written as an actual human.  Jack seems to be written as a bad romance novel character to make us women folk drool.  At least for me, I find the over the top love speeches idiot and a turnoff!

[SlackerInc]

I don't hate Jack either, although I do abhor his drunk driving.

[chocolatine]

I don't see Rebecca as a villain at all (and it would be a great show if it managed not to paint anyone as a pure villain or pure saint, but as complex human beings that most people are). The thing that infuriates me about her is that she's incredibly passive and has a victim mentality about her life turning out differently than she'd wanted it to. She goes along with everything Jack wants - having/adopting kids, buying a house, becoming a SAHM - and then complains years later that he's been "holding her back". She has zero spunk, initiative, or resourcefulness to do anything creatively fulfilling in her free time when the kids are at school. For her "big dream" she couldn't think of anything more original than to play again with a band she's played with 25+ years earlier, singing cheesy cover songs in seedy bars. And as someone who apparently knows what it's like to *need* to perform, she's completely blasé about her own son's performing career. She's been written as such a wet blanket that I can't root for her.

[Lady Calypso]

9 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I don't see Rebecca as a villain at all (and it would be a great show if it managed not to paint anyone as a pure villain or pure saint, but as complex human beings that most people are). The thing that infuriates me about her is that she's incredibly passive and has a victim mentality about her life turning out differently than she'd wanted it to. She goes along with everything Jack wants - having/adopting kids, buying a house, becoming a SAHM - and then complains years later that he's been "holding her back". She has zero spunk, initiative, or resourcefulness to do anything creatively fulfilling in her free time when the kids are at school. For her "big dream" she couldn't think of anything more original than to play again with a band she's played with 25+ years earlier, singing cheesy cover songs in seedy bars. And as someone who apparently knows what it's like to *need* to perform, she's completely blasé about her own son's performing career. She's been written as such a wet blanket that I can't root for her.

I definitely think the main issue is that we don't actually know Rebecca's motivations to be passive about all these things in her life, beyond her love for Jack. I enjoy that Rebecca is incredibly flawed. It doesn't make her all that likable, especially with the way she treats her children, but it doesn't make her a villainous monster. Personally, all I'm rooting for is for her to get one episode where she doesn't do something wrong. Since we've had plenty of episode where Jack's this saint-like father who can't do any wrong, I'd like for Rebecca to have one episode where Jack is completely wrong and she actually does something right. She is still a good person, even if she does the wrong thing many times. It's what makes her human and it's why Jack is more of an idealized character. I think we've all met a Rebecca or ten in our lives while I think finding a Jack is more difficult, if not impossible (until they give him more flaws, at least). 

And I only started defending Rebecca recently. I've been an avid anti-fan for most episodes until I took a step back and realized how human she was and how refreshing it was to see a character portrayed in the wrong, but still have good intentions at the end of it all.

[Guest]

I don't feel like she's a villain or presented as a flawed human, I feel like she's written poorly.  And since of course she's not a real person, by that I mean, if she was a real person then it'd be normal for her to have friends, hobbies, jobs, be shown doing music-related things with her kids (beyond one baby lullaby), etc.  I feel like rather than flesh out a realistic wife and mother, they've written someone purely to make Jack look like more of a martyr and her kids look more understandable in their issues.  She feels like a prop to me, I guess.  

I'm sure the point is that a mom's identity gets obscured but I feel like they never bothered to give her one, besides the thin characterization of 'wannabe pro singer without kids', really.  Even 2016 Rebecca has been given no real personality and there's not much in-story excuse for that.  

[biakbiak]

The two reasons I knew of Mandy Moore before this is her hysterical turn in Saved and her WTF marriage to Ryan Adams that said I am completely neutral on Rebecca.

[ShadowFacts]

1 hour ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

I'm sure the point is that a mom's identity gets obscured but I feel like they never bothered to give her one, besides the thin characterization of 'wannabe pro singer without kids', really.  Even 2016 Rebecca has been given no real personality and there's not much in-story excuse for that.

I'm just figuring that they will fill in some blanks.  They have to have some fodder for future flashbacks, there is a lot of time between when we just saw them meet and when they have the fateful SuperBowl bathroom encounter and she enters motherhood and apparent subversions of her true desires.  I agree that her current story is very weak, almost non-existent, outside of the part she played in the Randall finding William story.  I think in some earlier episode threads people discussed whether she in present day is just being portrayed as older, a little haggard, or whether she is looking like someone who has been beaten down by life.  She seems to have lost the spark we see in the flashbacks.  I'm guessing that's on purpose, but who knows? 

[Guest]

I'm sure it's hard to make us care about these characters and have them feel real from early on but they seem to have done it well for Randall and (if you can bear him) Jack.  

I just watched the 6th ep of the Ryan Murphy OJ series and in that one hour I felt more for Marcia Clark, thanks to the writing and acting, than I've felt for a tv woman in a long, long time.  Someone's going to get the short end of the stick but Rebecca really does feel like the ghost in this cast, to me.  I guess I want to feel more about her since I sympathize most with her position in life and her trials.  In 18 eps, we couldn't have one that made us really love Rebecca?  In HBO's Big Little Lies, most viewers loved Reese Witherspoon's Maddie character by the second hour, despite that she's kind of a bitch.  So it seems very do-able.  

[SlackerInc]

Some people aren't that "lovable", but I don't fault them as long as they're not aggressively tearing down people around them. 

[luna1122]

Yeah, I don't hate Rebecca or even find her unlikable. She's reserved and a little rigid. She's not the fun mom. Jack gets to be the fun dad. He's so (supposedly) likable that people forgive him anything, and make his drunk driving Rebecca's fault. I think Mandy Moore is a perfectly fine actress. I loved her in Saved! and as JD's girlfriend who didn't laugh (my bf and I still say 'that's so funny' sometimes instead of laughing, to, you know, make each other laugh). I loved her unlikely pairing with Ryan Adams and was sorry it didn't last. I think she's fine here, but I don't love her. But I don't really love ANYone on here, yet.

[dcubed]

7 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I definitely think the main issue is that we don't actually know Rebecca's motivations to be passive about all these things in her life, beyond her love for Jack.

I think she's just used to being steamrolled by someone.  First her mom, then Jack.  As a child, she was taught that her opinion doesn't matter, what she wants doesn't matter.  It's carried into adulthood.

She orders lunch?  Mom changes it for her! 

She orders a pop?  Mom orders her a diet pop! 

This apartment won't work?  Jack buys a house! 

Need to mourn a child you carried for 9 months?  No time for that - let's adopt!!!! 

IMO - she's passive because that's how she was taught to be.  To be different is to be ungrateful for all everyone has done for her.  Rebecca tries to keep the peace, stuffing her feelings while the resentment keeps building until she explodes.  You know what probably kept her from exploding at her mother?  The car broke down and they had to celebrate Thanksgiving is a cheap motel. 

Edited March 20, 2017 by dcubed

[Crs97]

I agree, dcubed, and think she bolted from William's apartment so quickly because she mentions a possible meeting and he immediately starts talking sleepovers.  It was the one time she refused to be steamrolled, and she has been paying for that ever since.

[mojito]

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 The thing that infuriates me about her is that she's incredibly passive and has a victim mentality about her life turning out differently than she'd wanted it to. She goes along with everything Jack wants - having/adopting kids, buying a house, becoming a SAHM - and then complains years later that he's been "holding her back". 

I think that Rebecca's a reflection of the time (late 70s and later) if she's a non college-educated, career-oriented woman or a woman not on an upwardly mobile track. She's not much different than women of the fifties and before: saddled with kids while hubby works, no real life of her own. Imagine being her while she watches her peers take corporate jobs and make good money. The mommy track ain't an easy path, and it's tougher when you feel that you should have done better. For her it's worse, because she's a singer, and any endeavor she does to further her singing career does no occur from 8 to 5 (who are the people who work 9 to 5 anyway, bankers?) is viewed as her being selfish. Artistic careers put you out of the 8 to 5 world. 

I never heard of Mandy Moore before this, and all I know about acting is that you have to be pretty awful for me to declare you a bad actor. I know that when a person hates an actor (for some reason, people seem to be more critical of actresses), the first thing they do is declare the person a bad actor. All this said, I judge an actor by his ability to cry. Mandy does not seem to shed tears when she cries. She's not in the same league as the actor who plays Randall as far as that's concerned. But she's fine otherwise, I have no criticisms of her.