In any case, Joanne is aghast that her fiance of about five minutes is already on the make, and at their engagement party, no less. I can't see why she would be surprised by this, since Maureen has cheated on everyone she's been with including Joanne, and their relationship began by Maureen cheating on Mark. You'd think a lawyer would know the importance of precedents... oh yeah, I almost forgot: every person in this movie is an idiot.
Joanne storms up to Maureen and demands that she behave herself... it's a little late for that, isn't it? Maureen sings "Take Me Or Leave Me," yet another song of moral inversion. In it, what I suggested sarcastically- that Maureen is irresistible to everyone- she states seriously. That's right, it's not her fault that she's a trollop: she's just been a sexual magnet to every man and woman in New York since she hit puberty. What else could she do but spread herself around as much as possible? It's a public service, really. She demands that Joanne accept her as she is: an amoral, unfaithful sex fiend. At the end of the scene, the two break up, unable to resolve their differences... Joanne thinks their relationship should be a private dinner for two, while Maureen thinks it should be a help yourself, all-you-can-eat buffet. It hardly needs to be said, but the movie sides with Maureen: Joanne is uptight and judgmental. Also, lest someone entertain a stray thought which is critical of Maureen, the camera swiftly pans to her mother, who is suggesting to a bemused Mark that perhaps now he and Maureen can get back together. We're invited to sneer at her parents who, though supportive of her decisions, obviously engage in wrong think: secretly they believe their daughter would be better off with a man... I guess Mark technically qualifies. But this is the real sin here, and not that Maureen is a dissolute floozy.
Although Roger denies it, he's obviously miffed that Mimi had dinner with Benny, her former boyfriend. Whoa, whoa, mister. Didn't we just go through this with Maureen and Joanne? I think it's been made pretty clear that it's not your place to judge, even if Mimi had decided to sleep with every man- and woman- between Tampa Bay, Florida and Thorne Bay, Alaska. Remember "love is love"... or maybe that doesn't count if the guy in question is a dirty capitalist. After all, you have to draw the line somewhere. Roger and Mimi don't break up, but Mimi is so upset by their tiff that she goes out, finds her dealer, and gets back on the drugs. This leads me to think she was just waiting for an excuse, however minor, to do so. We're treated to a montage of her buying, injecting, and Mark alternately trying to stop her and care for her. Eventually, when he finds her with her drug dealer yet again, he walks away. Well, I think we can all see who is responsible for her downward spiral; why couldn't Roger just accept her the way she was? It's not as though she has any personal agency, after all.
Looking back over the last two paragraphs, I can see that I probably sound completely unsympathetic about Mimi's addiction and Angel's death. Well, yes and no; I admit that I wasn't particularly moved by the demise of Angel and by Mimi's suffering. The fact is, I find both of them unlikable on a personal level, so have no emotional attachment to their characters. On an impersonal level, I think it's tragic when people die at a young age, especially from causes which are completely preventable. Also, I know that addiction is a terrible thing, though I'm not a fan of calling it a disease because this insinuates that it is something that just happens involuntarily. It divorces the addicts from any personal responsibility and this can only hamper them from pulling themselves out of their addictions.
Alright- that's all I can take for today. Next on the agenda will be Angel's funeral; it will come as no shock by this time that these self-absorbed twits manage to make it into a grievance-mongering farce.