Hollywood loves to take on hot-button issues, and infidelity is certainly a popular one. People cheat, a lot. And while we'd like to think that most incidents end with Angela Bassett lighting a car on fire and stomping away like a badass, that's not always the case.
To quote one film that certainly doesn't condemn the practice of having sex on the side, "It's complicated." Sometimes infidelity results in divorce papers and smashed car windows. Sometimes it results in lukewarm breakups because neither party really cares all that much. And sometimes, it results in an apology and an immediate reconciliation. To each their own, etc.
The movies ahead highlight that third option, proving that some people really are more forgiving than we are. Nothing screams "sole custody and every nickel to your name" like having to put up with Glenn Close's shit because your husband got bored one weekend.
Beth & Dan, Fatal Attraction (1987)
Beth (Anne Archer) would be forgiven for dumping her husband (Michael Douglas) after learning that he's been sleeping with an unhinged woman (Glenn Close), who not only offs their daughter's rabbit, but was also on the verge of stabbing Anne to death. In the end, she forgives him and kills the bitch herself.
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May & Newland, The Age of Innocence (1993)
It's only after his wife May's (Winona Ryder) death decades later that Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) discovers she knew all along about his tortured passion for her cousin, Count Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer).
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Abby & Mitch, The Firm (1993)
Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) is livid to discover photos of her husband (Tom Cruise) having sex with a beautiful woman on the beach, but not livid enough to help save his ass by seducing Avery (Gene Hackman). By the film's end, they're happily driving away with their dog.
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Benny & Jack, Circle of Friends(1995)
Benny (Minnie Driver) is devastated when Jack (Chris O'Donnell) tells her that he's engaged to her friend Nan (Saffron Burrows), who is expecting his baby. It turns out that Nan is having her lover's baby and just seduced a drunken Jack to cover the true father's identity. An apologetic Jack proposes marriage to Benny, but she insists that things have changed and they must take things slowly. Then they (presumably) have sex.
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Grace & Eddie, Something to Talk About(1995)
Grace (Julia Roberts) definitely gives the town something to talk about when she learns of her husband Eddie's (Dennis Quaid) philandering. She rages against him in public, flirts with a new guy, stirs up drama in her parents' own flawed marriage, and resists the idea of an easy reconciliation. In the end, though, she lets him spin her around the dance floor and agrees to make things work, at her own pace.
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Carla & Robert, Enemy of the State (1998)
Robert has an affair with ex-girlfriend Rachel (Lisa Bonet) before reconciling with his wife (Regina King). All is going well until the NSA sets him up, making it look like he's reunited with his old flame. Carla reacts by kicking him out, but eventually takes him back a second time once he's cleared.
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Charles & Deanna, Derailed(2005)
Charles (Clive Owen) and Deanna (Melissa George) are having marital problems, prompting him to have an affair with the mysterious Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston). Unfortunately for him, said affair is just a ruse to blackmail him, put his family's life at risk, have his friend killed, and nearly send him to jail. Somehow, Deanna is able to find it within herself to take him back.
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Michael & Jenna, The Last Kiss(2006)
Commitment-phobic Michael (Zach Braff) steps out on his pregnant girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett) with a younger woman (Rachel Bilson). He lies, cheats, and lies again, but Jenna eventually forgives him.
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Miranda & Steve, Sex and the City (2008)
Steve (David Eigenberg) broke everyone's hearts when he confessed to cheating on Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). She leaves him right away, but the two reunite on the Brooklyn Bridge after a months-long separation.
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Jane & Jake, It's Complicated(2009)
Jane (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Baldwin) got divorced because he was sleeping with a much younger woman, whom he later married. That, however, doesn't stop her from having her own affair with her ex, though she eventually wises up.
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Jules & Matt, The Intern(2015)
Not even a pep talk from Robert De Niro could stop Anne Hathaway's girlboss Jules from accepting her cheating husband's (Anders Holm) apology right off the bat.
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