Wow, some people are so dense! I'm saying that, because some of the interpretations of the drink in the face scene are so completely off the mark that it's like people were watching a completely different movie.
People aren't being dense, and no-ones comments are 'off the mark'. This is a discussion and people are offering opinions, most of which seem perfectly valid to me - including yours.
The reason why Julie threw a drink in Michael's face was obvious. When Julie told Dorothy what she wanted to hear from a man, she wasn't saying, "This is the exact thing a man has to say to get into my pants." What she was saying was, "This is the type of nice, sweet, romantic thing I'd like to hear in general."
I kind of agree. She was saying she was tired of bull, and would almost prefer honesty. She didn't actually say she would then leap in to bed with them.
Michael took what she said the wrong way and thought, "Oh, great! She's given me the perfect pick up line! If I say it, she'll sleep with me, no problem!"
Yes. He thought he could use it.
That's why Julie was offended when he repeated those lines to her. Michael was saying "all the right things", but the way he said it, he came across as one of those sleazy, arrogant pickup artists who was just feeding her any line of bull to sleep with her. Telling her that he'd love to make love to her (when she didn't know him from Adam) was just the icing on the cake.
I'm not convinced Julie even made the connection. Just a sleazy guy coming onto her in a very overt way.
He definitely crossed the line when he said it. You don't tell a stranger that under any circumstances, especially not with that creepy, smug, arrogant smile that Michael was making.
Anecdotally; I've seen both men and women use lines not too different, and the way people respond depends more on what the person using the line looks like, and how they play it off, than anything else (for both genders).
BTW, that whole scene was an example of what Michael meant in the last scene of the movie when he goes, "I was a better man as a woman." When Michael was being Dorothy, he was always sweet, kind and considerate around Julie because he thought that this is how women generally act. When Michael was being himself at the party (as a man), he behaved poorly because he acted the way he thought men are supposed to act. The drink throwing was the first major wake up call, that if he wanted to win Julie's heart, he had to approach her the way Dorothy--a woman--did (by being sensitive and understanding) and not in the way a man stereotypically would.
Throughout the whole time he was being Dorothy he had an agenda; he didn't like Ron, and he was attracted to Julie. The only difference was he couldn't act on it, which meant he had to do the next best thing which was try and be Julie's friend. The time he spent with Julie might have made him care about her more, but really he was never a better man, he was just stuck in an immovable position while waiting to play out his ulterior motive. Plus, the film already showed he was capable of friendship and compassion with women by how he treated Sandy (prior to the unplanned relationship shift). Michael was selfish and somewhat boorish, but being Dorothy wouldn't really change that beyond him wanting a relationship with Julie. He never really seems bad at any time.
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