The Escort (2015)

Minimal Spoilers

This is precisely what a romantic comedy should be. Instead of worthless manic-pixie dream girl archetypes that make absolutely no sense whatsoever, this film has a realistic and interesting female character who is arguably the most well-developed character in the film.

Independent, hardworking, and she has her life planned. In contrast to the main male lead, who can’t handle life and runs away from his problems. The film subtly brings up how neither of them are really all that different. The male lead having sex with other women through an app and the female lead getting paid for sex are very similar activities, one just gets paid and the other doesn’t. Why should simply getting paid for sex make a difference under the law?

To the credit of the film, they do tackle the issue seriously by having the two protagonists speak of the seriousness and loneliness associated in getting health check-ups for any sexually transmitted infections. The film acknowledges that sex addiction doesn’t actually exist, which modern research now backs up, and that the male lead just wants to run away from responsibilities in life.

A drawback of the film is that there is a bit of self-sabotage with the coherence of why the characters feel motivated to follow their respective fields. The female lead explains why becoming an escort has helped save her from her financial trouble and later the main character rebuffs that very idea. He wants her to “get serious” about why she chose to be an escort because a bad economy after a worldwide stock market crash in 2008 and having huge student loans aren’t real issues. This is a slap in the face to anyone suffering from student loan debt, including myself. I know I shouldn’t have been, but I felt personally insulted by such a statement. It really devalues the message and interest of the film. Another issue, she hired the male lead for protection but then her best friend rebuffs her by saying it was because she felt alone; despite the fact one of her clients did try to rape her. Moreover, the initial contact between the two didn’t seem realistic. Why would the female lead choose some guy that she had a terrible and awkward conversation with at a bar as her bodyguard instead of her best friend’s boyfriend or someone else she is more familiar with and who she knows would be comfortable with her profession?

Overall, I give the film a 9/10. I found it surprisingly enjoyable. I’d dismiss the negative reviews because I think, on average, it deserves at least a 7/10 and isn’t really different from any other romantic comedy.

12 thoughts on “The Escort (2015)

    • Even if that loaded question were true, you would be condemning someone for a thought crime. I have never fantasized about prostitutes, but even if I had, I wouldn’t find anything wrong with it. Nor do I view prostitution among consenting and mentally capable adults to be worthy of derision; although I wouldn’t do it myself.

  1. any condemnation is your own projection. all I asked was how long you have been fantasizing about prostitutes. I did not make any value judgement.

    I wonder why you are so quick to assume that my original comment was negative?

    From your post history here, it just seems that you have an interest in prostitutes/sex workers that is far beyond the normal person’s. Maybe ‘fantasizing’ is the wrong word. Maybe I should have asked the following: how long have you been fascinated by prostitutes?

    • Oops, my bad. I confused you for someone who was harassing me recently via email. Y’know, you should come-up with a username so I won’t get confused. I did an IP check to verify it was you. Good to have you return.

      Regarding your actual question: That is still clearly a leading question and you’re only doing yourself a disservice by making leaps in logic based upon your personal projections of my character. Which are, by the way, entirely wrong because it’s based upon erroneous judgment heuristics and confirmation bias. Your baseless assumption that I have some deep obsession with prostitutes is no different from the flawed reasoning by conservative parental groups that assumed rock music meant children had an obsession with Satan and death or the fallacious reasoning behind rap music being associated with murdering other people.

  2. It is very difficult to have a conversation with a person as defensive as yourself.

    My observation is a simple one: you run a blog which appears to focus on a wide range of topics. There appears to be zero focus to this blog, whatsoever. And yet, you return to the idea of prostitutes, porn starts, etc. over and over. I think the conclusion is pretty straightforward.

    Now, I am not offering a judgement on this, but I was a bit curious when this fascination started. It is clear from this blog that you are interested in video games of the role-playing kind. It is also obvious that you have an interest in both politics and philosophy. This interest is readily apparent from the content.

    I am telling you, as someone that is judging your interest from content, to the extent that you are interested in role playing games, politics, and philosophy, it is apparent that you are also interested in sex workers.

    I was just curious when this curiosity developed.

    • That is a ridiculous oversimplification based upon a whole two articles that I’ve written. One of which is about a film that I wrote a short post about and another a documentary that was interviewed and thoroughly given awareness by Vice media – which is how I learned of it. If I had wanted to make a blog about sex workers then I would have but that was never one of my interests.

      Your explanation has so many flawed lines of reasoning, the main logical fallacy being Begging the Question. You constantly restate your conclusion within a premise and act as if that’s evidence. All that tells me is that you’re incapable of making a reasoned argument and you have this peculiar obsession with finding something – in your moral view – to denigrate me about. Should this continue, I will ban you. You have absolutely nothing of value to offer as a discussion.

  3. if you feel you cannot tolerate the suggestion that you have a fascination with sex workers, then by all means ban me. It is no skin off my back.

    But, ask yourself this: how could a stranger on the internet conclude that you like role playing games? Maybe by the things you post? And is this true?

    If so, then ask yourself why you reject my assessment of your obsession with sex workers?

    For the record, it is from more than just the posts on the two films. Your ‘philosophical’ posts also bring us issues like this routinely.

    Finally, I never EVER denigrated you. I have not once given you my opinion (positive or negative) about sex workers, and people’s uses of them. Any negative thoughts you have about this is purely your projection.

    • I don’t believe that you’re being sincere. I won’t repeat myself a third time on your leaps in logic. The matter of RPGs is an entirely different context, one in which I’ve made my interest explicitly clear by stating a few RPGs as my favorite games. Commenting on a fictional film and a documentary with similar subject matter for you to conclude some obsession on my part is your projection of my behavior, as you’ve routinely asserted by asking why I would have an “obsession” which is predicated upon a false assumption. If you don’t understand the distinction – which I highly doubt – then I can only conclude you’re being willfully ignorant to continue this adamant and poorly formulated accusation.

  4. but you have made your interest in sex workers as explicitly clear as your interest in video games.

    I understand that you cannot see that. But it seems obvious to me.

    I am sorry if you are offended by the suggestion you have an interest in sex workers. There are many works of erudition and many professors that spend their careers focusing on sex workers. This is not to say that they are bad people — they are just fascinated by the economy and social constructs that are erected about this part of the human experience.

    I don’t imagine that any of them would find it upsetting to be accused of being fascinated by sex workers. Why do you react to negatively to the assertion?

    • I am quite confident that I’m far more capable of my own judgments of what my personal interests are more so than you. Your assertions are a pure fictional construct of your own making.

  5. well, you are entitled to your own opinion, of course, as I am entitled to mine.

    I am sorry that you are offended by my questions.

    You might ask yourself why you have such a strong reaction against them?

Leave a Reply to Jove Cancel reply