He’s Just Not That Into You
As rom-coms go, I couldn’t really get into “He’s Just Not That Into You,” inspired by the best-seller by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, which supposedly gives women a handbook of sorts to show them the signs to look for to find out, well, you know. A co-worker of mine who’s read it let me in on some of the things it has in there, and I’ll admit, some of the things she mentioned about it was cute.
But while the characters in this film- played by a who’s who of stars and supporting players- are palpable to get into as they go through their trials and tribulations about love, any dating insights the film contains are shallow and, to a certain degree, borderline insulting to men and women alike. A lot of the situations are simplified into black-and-white issues when the reality can be far more complex. Of course, to get in deep into these issues takes more time than a typical film has time for. But in terms of romantic comedy filmmaking, this is a film that plays by the rules. I much prefer the exceptions, which manage to dig deeper by focusing in on characters instead of situations, and finding what makes them tick. I’ve mentioned many of these exceptions (which are by and large exceptional on their own terms) before: “Jerry Maguire,” “Say Anything…,” “Keeping the Faith,” “Swingers,” “The Holiday,” “About a Boy,” “The 40 Year-Old Virgin,” “Love Actually,” “Chasing Amy,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Music and Lyrics,” “Wall-E,” “High Fidelity,” and many others.
The ideas of exceptions and rules are at the center of “He’s Just Not That Into You,” written with a keen ear for what will appeal to the masses by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein and directed with pedestrian thinking by Ken Kwapis. I mentioned Richard Curtis’ “Love Actually” above. That seems to be the blueprint this film’s writers and director looked at in telling the multiple stories in this film. But whereas that was a pure ensemble, this film centers in on Gigi (played by Ginnifer Goodwin in a delightful performance), who has a hard time getting the signals right. It’s her voice we hear at the beginning when we see a young girl get her mind warped by her mother when mom tells her that when a guy’s being mean to you, that means he likes you.
Not quite girls. Such thinking is dangerous to both of ours’ health, and will only lead to ruin in the long run. But while tracking down Conor (Kevin Connolly)- who has romantic complications of his own with sort-of “friend with benefits” Anna (Scarlett Johansson)- Gigi runs into Conor’s roommate Alex (Justin Long, superb in the most rounded male character in the film), who let’s her in on the truth that, well, you know… (you do know, right?), even though her friend Janine (Jennifer Connelly) convinces her otherwise. But Janine’s having her own troubles, as her husband Ben (Bradley Cooper) has had a wavering eye of late when a chance encounter with Anna leaves him wondering what he wants even as the couple’s home gets finished up. Still, Janine and Gigi’s troubles don’t seem necessarily as bad as Beth (Jennifer Aniston) has it with her long-term boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck, engaging in the film’s second-best male turn), who doesn’t want to get married. Not because he doesn’t love her, but because he doesn’t see the point. But it’s not long before Beth thinks otherwise, and the pair split up. And then there’s the matter of Mary (Drew Barrymore), an ad women for a magazine who’s finding life rough for a single girl while exploring the possibilities of online dating.
Barrymore- who makes the most of an underwritten role- has the most inspired bit of insight the film can muster when she goes on a tirade about how frustrating it is in our current techo-centric world to have to go through seven types of messaging to find out that a guy just isn’t into you. But beyond that, it’s rom-com business as usual for this film, which is a shame because it wastes so many good performances (from the aforementioned Long and Affleck to their female counterparts Goodwin and Aniston) on formula writing and happy endings where, in the real world, there might not be any.
You know how I mentioned that thinking that a guy likes you when he’s mean to you could be dangerous for both of ours’ health? I think movies like this- which deal with cliches and surface views- are a close second in that department.
