He's Just Not That Into You

Jackie Mason: “It ruled.”

It's obvious this movie was written by two Sex and the City writers. Any fan of the show will recognize the title as a more memorable line from the series delivered so matter-of-factly by Ron Livingston. What this film does that SATC didn't was capture more than just the swiging single girl perspective. The opening string of scenes captures a female woe that is universal to single women everywhere.

I admit I was a bit skeptical that this one line from a tv show could be made into a whole movie plot. It is a little hard to care about all the individual characters at first, but the storylines draw you in because they are all very familiar. Almost every character, every story line, and even every scene strikes home somehow for probably everyone starting right off the bat with the opening scene of the little girl and little boy in the play ground. I found myself reminiscing on my own playground memory and nodding along. And not that men are the bad guys in every scenario. The Scarlett Johansen-Kevin Connolly situation shows that women can be the players, and men the saps who watch the phone or misinterpret signals. Not only can you see yourself in almost every character but you can match each one up with someone you know, or knew. This movie does that good of a job illustrating all aspects of the dating/love/relationship/marriage thing.

It was good to see Justin Long in a grown up role. Ginnifer Goodwin in a starring role. Ben Affleck in a role that suits his acting style best: small but meaningful. Jennifer Anniston in the "always a bridesmaid" type of role she plays best. Although I think my favorite character was the older woman sipping a brandy and talking about husband 1, 2, and 3 in one of the the SATC-the-early-years, mock-umentary type scenes. Hilarious! Ditto on the two ladies sitting on the bench talking about men and their ironic break up lines.

− October 16, 2009 • more by Jackie • log in or create an account to reply