Post by BIGFANBOY on Feb 5, 2009 23:07:49 GMT -5
HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU
Review by Gary Dean Murray
He's Just Not That into You is a self-help book about relationships. At its heart is the concept that there are rules about men and women and that women emphasize the exception and not the rule. Women do not understand what is being said by men in relationships. All of this is based on an idea floated in the HBO TV series Sex in the City, recently made into a successful film. Well, since you have a best selling book and a similar successful motion picture, it would make sense to combine them into it's own movie.
And that is the recipe for the film.
The story is of about a dozen young professionals living in Baltimore. The center tent pole of the entire story is Gigi (Gennifer Goodwin) a charming young woman who misinterprets all the signals men send to her. She is on a date with real estate agent Conner (Kevin Connelly) who isn't that interested in her. His flame is fanned by Anna (Scarlett Johansson), a singer who catches the eye of the married Ben (Bradley Cooper). Ben's wife is Janine (Jennifer Connelly) who works with Gigi. When Gigi decides to go to a bar to try and re-hook with Conner, she meets Alex (Justin Long) a young bar manager who tries to set her straight on the path of 'he's just not that into you'. Alex and Conner are friends. Conner was also the person who sold Janine and Ben their downtown house, currently being furbished. The stress of the re-do is weighing down on Janine and Ben. The third person at Gigi's office is Beth (Jennifer Aniston) She and Neil (Ben Affleck) are a couple that have been together for seven years. She wants to marry him and he doesn't want to be married at all. Also Ben and Neil are friends. And where does Drew Barrymore's character of Mary fit into all of this? She sells the ads to Conner that are put into the alternative weekly he does business with.
Confused? You won't be after this episode of Soap... or this episode of He's Just Not That into You.
This little play does run along like a soap opera but without the plot pacing. The entire exercise runs as entirely too much coincidence and too little random happenings. It seems that the writers wanted to make an epic on dating and romance at the expense of developing the people.
But some of the performances are top drawer. The biggest find in this ensemble is Gennifer Goodwin. The star of the TV show Big Love shows that she is more than ready for the big screen with a bubbly girl-next-door attitude and perfect smile. She is the heartbreaking optimist in our little drama. In a film of cliche, her "Gigi" would be the best friend who doesn't get the best guy. I have always thought that Jennifer Connelly is a perfect actress. As the young put upon wife, she is the soul of marriage gone wrong. Every heartbreak experienced is in her eyes. It is too bad that more of her character arc wasn't in the film. And that is the biggest problem with the film. There are too many characters and too many character arcs where each one cannot be explored in under two hours. It almost feels as though we are getting a Cliff Notes version of the lives of the characters and not an exploration of how the relationships between the sexes actually work.
Some of the biggest laughs are not even delivered by the cast. At different points of the film, people are interviewed as if this were a documentary and the seemingly off the cuff remarks get a lion's share of guffaws from the audience. For a comedy, there are long stretches without laughs. And for a relationship film, there are elements missing.
The biggest fault in the film is with the males. Most of the characters seems past being stereotypical. The males are either homophobic or commitment-phobic. All are cut from the broadest of cloth and done with the littlest of flair. The stunning exception to this observation is Justin Long as the non-gay guy pal who tries to set Gigi straight in the ways of dating. His character, until toward the end is a breath of fresh air in a whirlwind of cliche ridden angst.
He's Just Not That into You is a Valentine's bonbon for two groups, single women and gay men. The single women who will see this movie and not understand the message, and the gay men will be thankful that they are not a part of the entire mess of different sex dating. Both will not be disappointed. But like Valentine's Day candy, it's a sugar rush without any lasting affection.
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