Let me start this by saying that I'm not traditionally a fan of Romantic Comedies, Rom-Coms, or chick flicks. There are some that I've liked, but if I had to make a generalization about Romantic Comedies and Me, it would be that I hate them. Ok, hate is a strong word. But if I had to choose a category of movie that I would least like to watch, it would be French New Wave (yes, I know, film major blasphemy), followed closely by Romantic Comedies.
Julia, however, loves them. With that as the major deciding factor, combined with the facts that this movie appeared to mimic the only recent romantic comedy I actually enjoyed (Love Actually), it was Valentine's Day, and it was rainy-ish, we headed over to the theater-formerly-known-as-the-Kabuki (ok, its still called the Kabuki but it bares little resemblance to the original theater since Sundance took it over).
As I mentioned, there were things about this movie that made me think it might be similar to Love Actually, which I liked. The structure of Love Actually, with its ensemble cast and interlocking narrativevs worked really well for me- especially because it supported the theme that we are all connected by love. Cheesy? Certainly. But in Love Actually it was done well. Plus, everyone had British accents, which certainly didn't hurt the movie.
He's Just Not That Into You (HJNTIY) struck me as a feeble attempt to bottle the same kind of emotion. Except they kind of missed the memo about the interlocking narratives working well because they shared an overarching and universal theme. The result was a bunch of vignettes featuring characters that I didn't really care about, connected less through universal shared experiences than through chance and happenstance. The filmmakers tried to tie things together with semi-random "true life" pieces where they "interviewed" people on the street about various semi-love related topics. Sort of When Harry Met Sally but less charming and even more random.
There were a couple laughs- the only one I remember is at the very beginning of the movie when a little boy shoves a little girl on the playground and tells her she smells like poo. THAT was funny.
Monday, February 16, 2009
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Ah, what a classic pickup move. Still works for me to this day. Good job manning up and taking Julia to a romantic comedy. Say hi for me.
ReplyDeleteit's funny that you hate romantic comedies because i remember you as always doing over-the-top romantic-comedy type things for valentine's days of yore. i don't even remember what they were now. but i remember them as awesome and cheesy. still, romantic comedies suck (with maybe two exceptions), and you don't (at least, not metaphorically), so maybe it makes sense after all.
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