Naked drags you to confront your fears

Marlon Wayans, Regina Hall, Loretta Devine, Scott Foley, and Dennis Haysbert are part of the cast of Naked.

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Summary

An unexplained cosmic assistance drags Rob Anderson (Marlon Wayans) back to an elevator repeatedly to relive the same events leading up to his wedding to his longtime girlfriend, Megan Swope (Regina Hall). He is forced to make necessary decisions as he tries his best to navigate the situation of his location and nakedness on his way to marry the love of his life.

Takeaway

After they say they haven't spent that much time together, Megan says the best part is that they have the rest of their lives to do that before Rob asks, 'but what happens if I gain 50 pounds, my hairline starts receding? I stop making you smile?' Megan responds saying, 'now, I can deal with the bald head and some love handles but you're gonna have to put the work in to make me smile'. After her response, he said 'That's the easy part' and she said 'it is'.

Rob struggles with acceptance from Mr. Swope (Dennis Haysbert) but Mr. Swope tells him, 'Robert, marriage is not a part-time thing. I built a multi-national company from the ground up, and the toughest job I ever had was being a husband. I'm talking long hours, overtime and we didn't take summers off. When I gave this ring to Megan's mother, I promised to give her everything I had. That I'd never stop proving myself to her, and that I'd never, ever stop loving her. This ring symbolizes that promise. It's very simple, son. You gotta put in the work'.

Rob gets support from Officer McBride (Neil Brown Jr.)and Officer Bentley (Dave Sheridan)who say, ' Our partnership's like a marriage. When shit gets thick, I know he's got my six'. They talk about devotion and sacrifice as they mention a bullet has been taken for the other and say that they wouldn't abandon each other because they are each other's 'ride or die bitch'.

Side-note

In one of his do-overs, Rob goes to his mother, Carol (Loretta Devine) at a pub to seek advice and immediately she says, 'Oh, I was worried that this might happen'. He asks what she's referring to and she says, 'well, it's no secret that I was not the best mother in the world.' He said, 'look,ma, you did the best you could' and she said, 'well, i thought i did but i guess i didn't.' She ends up saying, 'my point is, my best would've been if I had met a man that I loved and he loved me and we started a family that you could be proud of.' He asks why she didn't then and she said, 'You know, Rob, I just couldn't get out of my own damn way, but it ain't too late for you. You don't have to repeat my mistakes. You just got to lose the nonsense and get out of your own damn way!'. He thanks her and takes her advice. He made a choice to break the generational fear.

Faves

Megan (Regina Hall).

…

His mother said, 'Oh, now, that's nice. You're getting married, working for the man, like a productive member of society', when responding to Megan who said Rob got a job offer to be a full-time teacher instead of a substitute at Larkin Prep. Rob says he's uninterested in taking the promotion because the hours are from 8 to 3, and he would have to stay behind to grade papers. Mr. Swope sarcastically responds to him saying, 'sounds like backbreaking work'. Mr. Swope is not a fan of him because to him, Rob doesn't seem to have a set path which scares him for his daughter. He felt that Rob would drag her down being involved with him, much less married to him which brought about his invitation of her ex, Cody (Scott Foley).

Rob is aware of some people's thoughts of him and Megan as he told the officers who questioned him, 'Yeah, okay, listen guys. I may be marrying up, okay? But I have my moments'.

After Rob presumes he's not liked because he is not a 'fancy businessman' like him or Cody, Mr. Swope reveals his fears to Rob saying, ' I don't dislike you for who you are, Rob. It's that you have no goals, no ambition, no career'. 

Carol is a single mother and she was a back-up singer. She had many wild escapades and sacrificed many moments with him as he stated early on saying, 'Yeah, I think she missed my birthday that year. First of many' when Benjamin asked if he knew his mum sang back-up for The Gap Band on the Humpin' Tour.

When he goes to break up with Megan during one of his do-overs, she said ' I feel like such a fool…Oh, God, I had faith in you, Rob. I sat here, patiently waiting, waiting for you to come around! I defended you to everyone who said that you would never grow up and that you would never get it together! Don't you understand? I should have known. I should have known when you missed our flight to buy a lotto ticket. In marriage, you have to be in it to win it, Rob. You were never in it, ever!' He says he really does love her and she said, 'just not enough to pull through when it counts the most' before she told him to leave. 

Before they got on the plane, he had asked what took them so long to do this, she said, 'uh, probably because it took you seven years to ask. You know, a part of me thought you'd never propose'. He responds to her using Justin Bieber song titles, 'never say never' and 'sorry'. He was not a procrastinator, he just didn't take things as seriously as he should. This is evident in the scene with Benjamin (J. T. Jackson). He tells Rob he still has a lot on his plate and they should consider staying in to get them done but, Rob says, 'Is the wedding tonight? [no] One drink won't kill us' before his karmic cycle begins.

There's no explanation as to why it happened and for as often as it did. He did realize that it was linked to the Church he was to wed at as he said, 'because I think the church bells are sending me back in time'. At the end of it all, the how and why are not important because he finally took a chance on himself for himself and his wife, Megan.

Also, it's funny how insane the airport scene would have been to the others if she was not his girlfriend as the crowd murmured at their interaction.

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