Review of He's Just Not That Into You (2009) by Sandra V — 17 Feb 2014

A rom-com that apparently sets out to prove that all romantic relationships between men and women can be judged by the one line says it all title, but still goes into many of the same love story situations as the fairy tale schmaltz it is supposed to eviscerate. Some of the insights into certain situations do ring true, like poor Ginnifer Goodwin's character who seems to make all the classic mistakes that desperate single girls do, and Jennifer Aniston's character who wonders if Ben Affleck is just not that into her because he doesn't want to get married.

Despite the author claiming that his theory is infallible, both these women get their man even though they are doing everything wrong according to the book the film is based on. So I'm not quite sure if the filmmakers want us to be hopeless optimists like the book advises against, because the film doesn't quite illustrate the point that its source novel keeps harping on.

But the film is a well made rom-com with a very good cast, particularly Long, Goodwin and the surprisingly touching romance between Aniston and Affleck. And it's also quite funny in places and acerbic and painfully honest in others, the situation between Cooper, Johansson and Connelly springing to mind. Enjoyable if you're not expecting it to follow the book's "fool-proof" formula, because it mostly ends up, like most other rom-coms, confirming the romantic ideal we all wish was true.