He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

Plot: The film revolves around nine people with four separate story lines. At the center of it all, a woman named Gigi, constantly misinterprets the behaviors of her possible romantic partners. Eventually, she meets a guy named Alex who tells her the strategies men use to avoid women. While that's going on, her friend and co-worker, Janine tries to work things out with her marriage with her husband, Ben. But while he somewhat wants to work things out too, he also befriends a yoga instructor named Anna with whom he starts a flirtatious friendship. Meanwhile, Gigi's other co-worker, Beth wants to get married after living with her boyfriend for seven years. But he doesn't believe in marriage, so she breaks up with him. And a real estate agent named Conor is romantically interested in Anna, while also having these conversations via phone with Anna's friend Mary.

So this movie was recommended to me by my friend Lindsay - the same one who recommended The Notebook. She loves this movie, because she finds it to be right on the money when it comes to the concept about whether or not guys are into a woman. And in some respects, I agree. I will grant that there's some strategies for guys that are told in the film that you might already know about and therefore may come off as Rom-Com cheese. But they still bring out some good points - some of which I for one might want to keep in mind for if and when I'm out in the dating world myself. Though learning these things is mostly only the focus during the scenes with Beth and Alex. The rest of the film goes over the happenings of these other relationships. And for the most part, they balance most of them out pretty well. Unlike a romantic comedy like Love Actually, there's some small connections to these stories through the characters and their relationships with each other. Beth and Janine are Gigi's friends and co-workers, Gigi befriended Alex, Alex knows Conor, Conor is interested in Anna while having these conversations with Mary, and so on and so forth. However, the reason I say only most of these stories are balanced pretty well, is because some are looked at more then others. Which doesn't stop it from being entertaining, but there are some plot lines you may completely forget about until they are brought up again a long way further into the movie later. But that doesn't necessarily hurt the movie, it just might confuse you during the first viewing. Even the best of films that handle various story lines like Love Actually or Cloud Atlas, will have some story lines and/or scenes that you might feel are not be needed. But I still enjoy them. Heck, if anything, I wanted to see a little more of the stuff that had the least attention. I particularly wanted to see more of Drew Barrymore's character, Mary. She was a cute character, and had this really deep monologue about how guys now have several different technologies to reject a women. It was a good point, and she performed it really well and I just wanted to see more than was barely seen of her after that. In fact, the whole cast makes some really good performances. Gennifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, they're just enjoyable to watch. Though I really have to say, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston as a couple in a movie...never thought I'd see that. I mean they pull it off well but... it's the guy who was Daredevil, directed and starred in Argo and is the new Batman, getting together with Rachel from F.r.i.e.n.d.s. Tell me that very idea doesn't sound a little weird. But I digress. Some of the jokes I thought were a little funny. Without giving away too much information, there's this scene with a dog at a wedding that was cute.

And that's my review for He's Just Not That Into You. It's a nice film with an enjoyable cast, fun performances, and a generally balanced, narrative. It does have some cheesy romcom, moments, but even with that said, how you feel about the film will likely come down to what your thougbhts about what they're saying. Lindsay thinks this movie is right on, and so loves it, I think it has some good points, so I like it. And if you don't find anything and think it's bad, well Lindsay for one would tell you "You're entitled to your wrong opinion." ...That's her statement, not mine. I wouldn't say something like that. ...Please don't stop following me.

Rating: 70%