If you ever needed a reminder that you don’t always have to get your sh*t together once you turn 30, Someone Great portrayed it pretty well. The film revolves around Jenny Young (Gina Rodriguez) and how she deals with a breakup before moving to another state to work as a Rolling Stone writer.
The movie happens in the span of one day—less than 24 hours after Jenny got broken up with by her boyfriend of nine years, Nate (LaKeith Stanfield). She then goes on a drinking spree and does recreational drugs with her friends, and later goes to a rave to try and get back with her ex.
If you want our honest opinion: Someone Great is like watching your own best friend spiral down into a trainwreck after a breakup. It’s messy and emotional, but it’s a normal thing to go through when you are hurt. Of course, not everyone figures it out right away—it only took Jenny a drunken day and a tear-jerking scene in the subway to realize that she needed to grow up without Nate.
This got us thinking about what other people have done in order to move on from a breakup. Do they drink and do drugs like Jenny did? Or did they have other outlets?
I asked around and a few gave answers that mirrored what happened in Someone Great. One woman told me she turned to shopping after a breakup, which is what Jenny did before the Neon Classic party. My boyfriend told me he just realized he was “looking at [my then-girlfriend] with rose-colored glasses all this time,” which is what happened to Blair (Brittany Snow) when she broke up with her long-time partner.
There were also those who felt like they hit their own personal rock bottom. Joshua* told me he had isolated himself from people for two years. “I immersed myself in gaming and also tried a multitude of substances,” he said.
Fresh graduate Jamie* talked about how she would drink almost every week and would “entertain a lot of guys, but eventually friendzones most of them.” Another woman, Ria*, who works in an IT company, also mentioned drinking a lot, and even making out with multiple people—men and women—at a house party just to get over her breakup with her first boyfriend.
A 2017 study found that people take an average of 18 months to fully move on. But based on Someone Great and a lot of people’s personal experiences, a lot can happen within those few months. And, if you’re lucky, you’d get over the heartbreak faster than expected—whether it’s because you met someone new or you just realize that you’re okay being single.
For Jamie, it was about studying hard and not letting her breakup get the best of her. “I worked harder to prove that heartbreak won’t let my grades flop,” she said. When we also asked Joshua and Ria how they’re doing since their respective breakups, they both said they’re better than before.
The bottomline is movies like Someone Great don’t always show what people really do after a breakup. It does prove that you’ll do some dumb things along the way, regardless if you’re nearing 30 or not. But it doesn’t mean it’ll be all bad—maybe it just means you’re not meant to grow with your ex, or they’re just plain horrible to you. We’re sure you’ll be successful and meet someone great soon. (See what we did there?)
* Names changed to maintain anonymity
Photos courtesy of Netflix
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