Overuse of terms like "gaslighting" and "love bombing" on DateTok has made them lose meaning. The film I Love You Forever aims to restore those words' weight by portraying a relationship that shifts from romantic grand gestures to constant monitoring, jealousy, and outbursts. The plot follows Mackenzie and news anchor Finn, whose intensity becomes psychological manipulation. The film avoids theatrical outcomes, showing that everyday toxic behavior is inherently melodramatic. Streaming reactions on HBO Max include viewers calling the film "triggering and validating" and comparing it to personal experiences of emotional abuse.
On DateTok, words like "gaslighting" and "love bombing" get tossed around so often they've started to feel like background noise. "We went from a time where this kind of vernacular wasn't used at all to suddenly being used so much that they lost all meaning," writer-director Cazzie David tells Bustle. When everyone is a "narcissist" or "manipulator," it can dilute the words' power to call out real emotional abuse.
I Love You Forever follows a law student named Mackenzie (Sofia Black-D'Elia) and her news anchor boyfriend, Finn (Ray Nicholson). At first, Finn seems ripped from Garry Marshall film: He rents out a restaurant for their first date, then tells Mackenzie he loves her during a live broadcast. But as their relationship progresses, Finn's "intensity" shape-shifts into behaviors like constant monitoring, jealousy, and outbursts.
Ever since the film started streaming on HBO Max, that's exactly what's started happening - in ways that, as one TikToker described it, are both "triggering and validating." In one viral clip, a viewer says, "It is truly psychological torture... It's one of the first times I've seen something that really reminds me of how my ex-husband would treat me."
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