Review: He's Just Not That Into You

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Justin Long, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Bradley Cooper
dir. Ken Kwapis

I'm not going to say I was dragged to this movie. It was a bargaining chip. I saw this, so my friend would go to see Coraline. Guess which one I preferred? If you guessed this one, you're wrong.

In all honesty, it's not awful. It's predictable, it's manipulative, it's derivative, it is way too long for its own good, but I got exactly what I was expecting. Apparently some of the ladies sitting in the theater got more out of it as they audibly gasped at certain points. Men, we're such jerks. But face it ladies, the female characters we're just as bat-shit crazy as the guys were. If you can't admit that, then don't look around the room to search for the crazy chic, you're it.

Now for the good news, there could have been a good movie there. It's a real shame that nobody saw the potential. This could have worked like gangbusters if they had treated it more like Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (1972). I found out afterward that it was based of of some self help book, itself inspired by a Sex & The City episode. Sounds like the material Woody Allen worked with to adapt into his film, right?

The first few minutes are cute as a little girl learns that men who act like jerks secretly like them. Then a montage of women in different cultures yak back and forth about why the guy hasn't called back. It's a cute bit and has some chuckles. Then throughout the film there are monologues into the camera by random people about relationships. It's a little too When Harry Met Sally (1989), but they are funnier than anything else in the movie. A vignette angle making fun of, while pointing out realities about the ins and outs of relationships might have created a much more enjoyable film.

Of the main stories, there were two moments that stood out. One was fascinating, the other infuriating. The fascinating came when Bradley Cooper's character confesses an affair to Jennifer Connelly's wife character. (I don't even know or care what the names are.) It takes place in a Home Depot and her reaction was something that I have never seen before on screen. It is an interesting moment of self denial, on both character's parts, and makes for something that is a breif moment of reality in a very unrealistic film.

The second comes at the end when a nice idea about how a real relationship doesn't need to fall into the cliche of marrige is obliterated when a proposal comes. It's the biggest moment of bullshit and made me want to spit. Two people had matured to the point of accepting each other and deciding to be with eachother, personal vows versus public, then shot gun it with no real reason other than to manipulate the audience to an "Awe, how sweet!" moment. It was the sugar candy on top of the sugar frosting on the sugar coated cupcake. Even the cupcake sounds easier for me to swallow than most of this movie.

But the biggest crime was the missed opportunity.

3.5 out of 10

*But were afraid to ask