A MOVIE THAT TRIES TO DO TOO MUCH
Written: Mar 08 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long
Cons: Underdevelopment of characters-too many subplots
The Bottom Line: Pay half price and wait until the video comes out, because the film tries to do too much
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| mike.holmes's Full Review: He's Just Not That Into You |
When I saw the trailer for "He's Just Not That Into You", it reminded me in one aspect of two movies from the 80's: "Breakfast Club" and "The Big Chill". Why did this new film remind me of the two older films? Because of the huge number of talented actors that appear in all three films. With that comparison in mind, I was anxious to see "He's Just..."
Take a look at the cast in this new film: Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Justin Long, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Connolly and Ginnifer Goodwin. While some of these actors are better known than others, the film contains argueably the biggest array of acting talent of any movie in recent history.
And, that, my friends, is part of the problem with this movie. There are so many actors (and therefore, characters), that many of them barely make a blip on the big screen. The other problem with the film is that it has an identity crises: Is is a comedy? A drama? A feelgood story about relationships? A tutorial about cheating on your spouse? Yes. Yes? The film tries to fit all of these characters into all of these subplots in two hours and nine minutes.
THE PLOT
Hmm, summarizing "the plot" of this film is like trying to summarize the entire NFL football season. But, here is the general idea of the film:
Gigi (we learn very few character's last names in the film-one way to save time, I guess) is the narrator for the film. Portrayed very well by Ginnifer Goodwin ("Big Love", "Walk the Line"), Gigi is an attractive young lady who can't find the right man. She has friends who try to set her up with Mr. Right. But, he's always Mr. Wrong.
Gigi meets Alex (Justin Long-"Live Free Or Die Hard", "Dodgeball") who owns a bar and tries to give her advice on how to find the right man. Her friend, Janine (Jennifer Connelly-"A Beautiful Mind", "House of Sand and Fog") is married to a great guy, Ben (Bradley Cooper-"Yes Man", "Alias"). Janine thinks she is happily married and so she also gives Gigi advice.
Meanwhile, great guy Ben runs into a hot blonde, Anna (Scarlett Johansson-"Lost In Translation") with whom he has an affair. One of Ben's best friends is Neil (Ben Affleck-"Chasing Amy", "Good Will Hunting") who is in love with, but not married to Beth (Jennifer Aniston-"Friends", "Marley & Me").
So, we have friends giving friends advice. We have comedic moments that are quite funny. We have dramatic moments that are fairly well done.
WHY I WAS ULTIMATELY DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS FILM
While there were a few excellent performances, especially by Goodwin and Long), I felt that the film simply tried to accompish too much. The ultimate fault for that is Director Ken Kwapis and screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein. Kwapis has made one decent film, "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", he was also responsible for one of the worst films I've ever seen, "License to Wed". Also, Kwapis has done his best work on television with "The Office" and "Malcolm in the Middle." Kohn and Silverstein wrote "Never Been Kissed" which was decent but hardly overwhelming.
What the director and writers failed to do in this film is to give the actors enough to work with. The characters of Gigi and Alex are fairly well developed because they are given screen time. Barrymore has little more than an expanded cameo. This film might have made a better "short series" on television so that each character could be fleshed out more completely.
I realize that movies can mix comedy and drama but the key to such a mix in the development of the characters. With ten semi-main characters, this development was simply never realized.
There are some funny moments in the film, and, as I wrote, Goodwin and Long do a good job with their roles. Johansson's character as well as Ben's are shallow but I know such people exist. I just think that this would have been a much better film with fewer, better developed characters.
THREE STARS
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: If Your First Choice is Sold Out
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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mike.holmes
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Member: Mike Holmes
Location: Odessa, Texas
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TO HONOR TED KENNEDY, CONGRESS SHOULD PASS A MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE BILL
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