He's Just Not That Into You: Another Stereotypical Chick-Flick
Written: Feb 07 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Some funny parts, Jennifer Aniston, cute theme
Cons: Bad execution of theme, way too many storylines, choppy editing
The Bottom Line: I would not recommend He's Just Not That Into You because it tried to accomplish so much but fell short.
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| jetbluefan1's Full Review: He's Just Not That Into You |
What do you get when you take a host of famous actors - Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Justin Long - and throw them into onto a set with a fully prepped camera crew? A mediocre, somewhat comedic chick-flick with stereotypical characters, choppy scenes, lack of music, lack of true character development, with some cutesy-tutsey themes sprinkled in.
Gigi (Goodwin) is just like many other women out there. Young and smart, she is in search of love - but she has absolutely no idea what she's doing. She can't read signals, she stalks any guy who will even ask for her number, and she is pretty much a lost cause. Enter: Alex (Long), a bar owner, who mentors Gigi and teaches her how to recognize a man's tactics and antics. Unsurprisingly, he's a victim of his very own "manly" strategies, and he falls head over heels crazy for Gigi.
Not to be outdone are Beth and Neil (Affleck), who have been dating for seven years, break up because they don't want to get married, then get back together and get married. Surprise, surprise! But I must admit - Beth (Aniston) is rather well developed and is probably the character that I felt connected most with the audience. While I generally find Aniston to be dry in her past acting roles, she did a remarkably half decent job in this film.
Let's not forget Mary (Barrymore), yet another lonely soul looking for love. And let's also remember Anna (Johansson), the yoga instructor who falls in love with the very much married Ben (Cooper), who has an affair with Anna. Oh, and let's not forget his wife, Janine (Connelly), who is uptight and a downright you-know-what. Oh, and while we're loading characters left and right, let's not forget Connor (Connolly), who is the catalyst in Gigi's deep-end diving in the first place.
Do you get what I'm doing by squeezing all of these people into just three paragraphs? I'm representing the movie: several different storylines, all occurring simultaneously - and most were underdeveloped, mundane, and nearly identical as the other. And with such a great cast, you would think that all of the stories would be interesting, funny, and touch your heart. While there were a couple of slightly comedic parts, I found most scenes to be dry, cut too short or extended too long, and the lack of music made certain scenes (mostly make-out and sex scenes) downright awkward or distasteful.
The majority of the audience was females, with a few males (boyfriends, husbands) dragged along for the ride. Most of the female viewing clientele made "awww" sounds during the few scenes in which a male character showed some sort of compassion to the woman character. I simply scoffed - I was the Grinch at Lowes. I found the lines cheesy, insincere, and awfully shallow. While good for a couple of laughs, He's Just Not That Into is nothing short of subpar.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Girl Movie Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere Film Completeness: Rough cut, missing major effects, music, etc. Worst Part of this Film: Everything
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