Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connolly, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper, Justin Long, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly
Plot summary:
Young couples struggle to find love in Boston. It's basically Sex In The City with more characters and not in Manhattan.
My thoughts:
Being the romantic sunuvabich I am, I took my Supermodel Wife out to a romantic movie for Valentine's Day. I suggested this movie since she'd had to cancel previous plans to go see it a few weeks earlier at a girls' night out with some of her friends.
Now let me be clear. I fully expected this movie to live down to my low expectations. I'd seen enough of the trailers to know basically what the subject matter was. And I've seen enough episodes of Grey's Desperate Private Brother's and Practices to know that I'd have to turn my sap filter way up.
Still, with a cast featuring Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston and other reasonably recognizable names, I thought it might not be too craptacular.
Turns out, for once in my life, I thought wrong.With stereotypical, two-dimensional characters and an off-the-shelf, cliché of a plot that had fewer twists and turns than I-70 west of Salina, not even the considerable acting genius of Ben Affleck could save this film.
I realize the movie is based on a best-selling book that I've never read, and I can only assume that the only thing it has in common with the best seller is the title.
Typically, a movie will try to have likable characters, but I couldn't imagine hanging out with any of the caricatures in this film.You couldn't feel sympathy for any of them (with the possible exception of Jennifer Aniston's character). Kevin Connolly's character was a complete tosser. Johansson was a home-wrecking whore. Justin Long's "Alex" was a cynical douche. Bradley Cooper played a philandering dickhead, and Jennifer Connelly was his psycho control freak wife.
The director tried to make up for the junior high level plot and wooden characters by weaving them together in an interconnected storyline, like the one in Love Actually (a movie that I can tolerate, though it's not a favorite).
Billed as a "romantic comedy" I found it to be neither.
My final rating:
I'm just not that into it.
Favorite quote:
not applicable
tagged: movie, review, He's Just Not That Into You, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, pop culture
I am still trying to figure out how a self-help dating book for women (to help them cut loose from toxic men) got turned into a romantic comedy.
ReplyDeleteAhem, it's set in Baltimore, not Boston.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the book is a self-help one. And includes a bunch of little example stories of women of many ages, backgrounds, and beautiousmous levels and their dating adventures, and how they have or haven't worked out. So I can imagine that the only way they could try to make it work and say they based it on the book is to use some/all of the examples in the book (which are written like letters to the writer of the book, if I'm recalling correctly) in a short-story telling type format.
ReplyDeleteI read the book years ago. I can't say that I didn't fling it across the room more than once or twice when I was having a particularly hard time with someone being just not that into me. I have no idea why someone thought it would make a good movie...
The question is, did your wife like it?
ReplyDeleteThe book was ten times as bad. How any of these actors agreed to make this movie is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to make the answering sequel "she's just drunk and likes the free drinks - she's not gonna sleep with you."
Dating advice for the deplorably dumb.