What happens when you take a ridiculously popular self-help book and turn it into a movie? You get 2009’s rom-com He’s Just Not That Into You. Directed by Ken Kwapis (Sesame Street presents Follow That Bird), the film version of the book written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo features a whole slew of celebrities in relationships going through typical relationship issues together.
He’s Just Not That Into You is a stargazer’s dream and any flick with this amount of star power is going to generate some buzz. As Jesus said, however, man must not live by buzz alone and this hulking vehicle of celebrity glitz just doesn’t get the job done. There’s some depth and a handful of good scenes, but the performances seem phoned-in and the picture lacks overall flow and timing.
The ensemble cast tackles the romantic misadventures of nine (or so) people in their twenties and thirties. And it’s set in Baltimore, so you know it’s got to be good! The stories, for the most part, revolve around situations of unrequited love or romantic confusion. A strange but oddly cute girl named Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) is somewhat of a central character, with her problem being that she constantly is confused by men.
Gigi is a needy sort of girl and she soon locks her vision on Alex (Justin Long), a guy who must have read the book this movie is based on because he comes up with all sorts of Dr. Phil-esque straightforward relationship advice for the poor soul. Of course, Gigi falls for him. Then there’s Jennifer Aniston’s Beth and Ben Affleck’s Neil. This couple lives together, but Neil doesn’t “believe” in marriage. This creates friction.
Scarlett Johansson is the curvy Anna, a yoga instructor and aspiring singer who meets the married Ben (Bradley Cooper) and becomes instantly smitten. She isn’t too concerned about his wife (Jennifer Connelly) either. The film follows the aforementioned relationships and near-relationships through a bunch of ups and downs and in-betweens. Throughout it all, it seems that Kwapis is trying his best to juggle the storylines but his talent as a director just isn’t up to par and it feels sloppy.
Where He’s Just Not That Into You attempts to earn its bread and butter is with the “advice” side of things and with the deeper exploration of human relationships. We’re informed of situations where “he” may not be all that into “you” with the use of on-screen font and the movie starts to feel like a celebrity-endorsed infomercial for the book. The end credits feature documentary-style footage of the various “subjects” giving us updates on how their lives are “now,” too, thus completing the circle of blah.
As mentioned, however, there are a few redeeming qualities here. The film does try to dig a little deeper behind relationships and attempts to offer the insight of the book. This gives it a few more brownie points than a bland romantic comedy like The Ugly Truth because Kwapis actually spends some time exploring why these people would want to be together and, conversely, why they wouldn’t.
The performances are also actually pretty good across the board, too, which is surprising for a movie featuring this amount of star power. In many of these sorts of pictures, the performances don’t gel very well and the thing feels like a contest for attention. He’s Just Not That Into You lets each performer play his or her role quite well, opening the door for the audience to connect with the character and not the actor.
In the end, though, there’s just not enough to this movie to recommend it. The repulsive reality is that I just wasn’t all that into He’s Just Not That Into You and, even with the rather tantalizing appearance of the one and only ScarJo in various stages of undress, this Kwapis picture doesn’t cut it as a quality romance or as a quality comedy.
3.7/10
Trailer:
