An ensemble cast engages in the protracted questioning or their relationship status in He’s Just Not That Into You. There are so many characters here, all of whom share a Bacon number which is supposed to make how they relate appear cute. It’s not difficult to follow what is happening, only because everything is blatantly obvious.
I have got to speak up for the false advertising. Drew Barrymore is making the rounds on the talk shows in an effort to promote this film. She has no more than five minutes of screen time, yet the promotional campaign has you thinking she’s the lead. There isn’t a central character, but the closest to it is Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin). She’s a bad dater, in need of assistance, and fairly likable. She spends all of her free time contemplating whether or not to call guys after each date. Eventually she is informed by Alex (Justin Long) of the dirty tricks men have been using on her. This wouldn’t be a bad plot, but the story quickly becomes overpopulated with characters forcing subplots. We have a married couple questioning their marriage (Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Connelly). We have a couple that isn’t quite married (Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck). Then there are stragglers, rogues who move in and out of the lives of the aforementioned. I suppose the biggest offender of these is Anna (Scarlett Johansson). These are not love triangles, but love hexagons. No one can seem to make up his or her mind and before all is done everyone has dated the entire city. A tighter, better written film, would have focused on Gigi and Alex because everyone else is overacting, boring, or uninteresting.
The world of the film is pure fantasy masquerading in the grounds of realism. Only in the movies can everyone work in an ad agency, or rather not work. I particularly like director Ken Kwapis’s plan to label Johansson as a singer, but not irritate us with her vocals. Characters even have the ability to disappear as soon as they are out of view. If you don’t believe me, wait till you see Connelly visit Cooper at his office. To its credit, there aren’t any true plot holes. I think this is because of a lack of a driven story. It’s just relationships. For a movie to be successful when propelled by characters instead of plot, it needs some that we can actually care about. Sure I sort of liked Alex and Gigi, but they would exit for minutes on end and leave me with a woman hysterical over smoking.
Are these still called romantic comedies? Noting credentials, I suppose the Mac guy is known for being funny. So if the movie focused on one couple or triangle, there could have been something. To introduce characters throughout the movie flies in the face of structure. Why care about Jennifer Aniston’s dad? What is the relevance of Barrymore and her off camera dates, when the only thing it leads to is her finding a guy that we grew to despise?
It’s so by he numbers, the artistic equivalent of a straight-to-video Disney sequel. At no point was I in awe of a new filmmaking technique, clever line, twist, or music. There are some odd mock interviews sequences. This is enhanced as the movie ends with a pseudo-documentary credits recap where some cameraman has entered the homes of the characters and asks them how they are doing now. I ask, what is the relevance of a crew talking to these particular people? Why should they care when we don’t? **
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