I'm Really Not Into It (He's Just Not That Into You (DVD))

Member Name: JayHall1991

Product:	He's Just Not That Into You (DVD)
Date:	04/06/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The women are pretty

Disadvantages: Nearly everything; offensive and stupid

'He's Just Not Into You' is the story of several interlinking relationships which charts the complications of relationship in the digital era. Set against the backdrop of modern-day Baltimore we see a relationship on the edge due to a marriage ultimatum, an adulterous man's attempt to manage his love life with two demanding women, a needy and insecure woman's attempt to work out dating protocol and a woman's hilarious attempt to navigate the Facebook dating world.

The main reason that 'He's Not That Into You' fails to inspire any romantic affection or dramatic interest is that the character's are all varying shades of unlikable; there is absolutely no-body to care about or be interested in. The film attempts to portray them as realistic and interesting but they all fail to be engaging - offering very little in the way of laughs, warmth or charm. The character's, like the film as a whole, are dogged by a strange cynicism and unpleasantness which makes them fall completely flat. For a romantic-comedy to work the audience has to see aspects of themselves in the character's and situations, they have to want there to be a happy ending, but here no-body seems to learn anything or grow or earn their fairytale conclusions. It doesn't appear to have a romantic bone in its body and seems to replace romanticism with unintelligent and unoriginal comments on sexual politics. As an ensemble piece it lacks enough focus to make any of the interlinking stories remotely interesting and shows off some ridiculous bad performance considering the quality of the star filled cast. When Sally told Harry that she loved him she didn't do so whilst preening and babbling but here the audience are supposed to root for people who do; its screenplay is not based in emotion but rather a slap-dash idea that seems to preach hatred between the sexes rather than collaboration.

Whilst watching 'He's Just Not That Into You' I began to find it incredibly, and increasingly, offensive; it's view of men is crude, it happily depicts woman as needy, self absorbed caricatures and it main message is dubious at best. On one hand it seems to suggest that you have to be your own happy ending and on the other it shows couples so desperate to define themselves in terms of another person that they spend 130 excruciating minutes trying to please them. It wants to be a commentary on dating in the modern world yet preaches values that, hopefully, have been put in the past. It is just all extremely outdated and stale; nothing livens it up or offers anything fresh or new to add to the genre. The one character who is actually pretty charming and intelligent is Drew Barrymore's witty Mary, a women struggling to find romance amongst blackberry's, casebook and twitter, is only given around five minutes of screen time! The screenplay, which I read is based on a line of dialogue from a Sex in the City episode, doesn't give us any reason to enjoy the events which unfold. It doesn't establish interesting dynamics or lively situations, it offers damp sitcom style comedy that rarely raises a chuckle and fails to 'go' anywhere. It's languid and boring with characters analysing making uninteresting revelations and has an absurd multiple ending which follows genre convention whilst infuriating and offending.

Nothing interesting happens at all and the screenplay's attempts to interlink the disparate stories means that the film lacks all focus. The audience doesn't care about any of the relationships because they aren't given time to know anything about them. For instance the relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck's characters could be quite unique and compelling. They pose a genuinely interesting question about the need for marriage in the modern day, yet they are hardly ever seen and aren't given the screen-time to give their story weight (incidentally their segment is the most intelligent). The film over complicates things; in trying to get push a relationship into the mix that everyone can relate to the film-makers end up isolating the audience to the point that they can't relate to anything. Admittedly, some cast members do try to counter-act the dodgy script; Jennifer Aniston does her usual but is still pretty loveable and entertaining, Ben Affleck is rarely seen but brings a sort of every-man power to the role which makes him especially sympathetic, Drew Barrymore is typically sweet and funny in what is basically a cameo and Justin Long is oddly likeable. However, many of the performances are misjudged, to say the least; Jennifer Connelly is stiff, unappealing and almost unwatchable as the uptight Janine who believes her husband is having an affair, Bradley Cooper is slimy and horrible as the said husband, Scarlet Johansson offers little besides her obvious sex appeal and Ginnifer Goodwin is a highly unstable and irritating centre to the film.

'He's Just Not That Into You' looks suitably glossy and professional with some sophisticated set pieces and very good camera work, whilst the general colours and visuals are a hundred times more lively and energetic than the other elements of the film. Ken Kwapi's direction is strangely sterile, showing a huge lack of imagination and knowledge of the romantic comedy genre and failing to inject anything exciting or clever. He reinforces the misogynistic nature of the piece with some fairly rancid gender stereotyping of his own and he doesn't manage to instil any pacing into the project. Throughout the film I kept wishing for something remotely enjoyable to cling onto, some idea to peak my interest, some performance to capture my attention or a twist to at least surprise me but it never came. 'He's Not That Into You' gets progressively duller and more unbearable as it goes on giving the audience less and less to hold onto - which is a shame as it could have been a good, but probably not great, examination of relationships and love in a world where peoples ideas and ideals have truly changed. There are some good moments which hint at real potential and if it had had a little more bite or wit it would have probably been an inventive and exciting diversion from the rom-com norm but it just fails to bring the goods.

It seems crazy to me that stars of this calibre were attracted to the dire material; the overall effect of the project is one laziness, out-dated sexual stereotypes and glib bits of dialogue which offer very little insight or wit. I wanted it to be good, after all the idea of interlinking relationships in a cyber-space world is a original one, but it just seems to fail of every conceivable level. Films have to earn the right to a happy ending; and i'm just not into this ones.

Summary: A Horrible attempt at Rom Com film making