By M
This movie is shockingly bad: I literally had to have a drink after watching it. Of course, this was obvious from the very beginning so it is to be wondered why on earth I watched it. I really needed to hear that “He’s just not that into you”, so I was looking for a tough, heart-breaking-here-is-real-life romance à la Blue Valentine. IMDb’s paths are inscrutable, so I ended up watching this.
Anyways, in terms of following contemporary actors, I guess the movie needs to be seen (I specifically mean when commenting movies is something you do for a living, not my case): there is Scarlett Johansson, saving the movie (she fails, but she acts). It’s also worth mentioning that Bradley Cooper gives you another confusing piece to nourish the debate: “why does everyone seem to think Bradley Cooper can play? (The Hangover excluded)”. Those who spent last decade delusional on Jennifer Connelly should definitely watch this movie, just to confirm that keeping the same face and repeating lines is not acting.
Besides that… I mean, I am particularly interested in the differences in the execution of well-defined genres, not to mention subgenres, so the existence of this movie is certainly a source of delight for me. The genre is obviously romantic comedy, but it belongs to that unbearable subgenre of interlinked mini-stories which purpose is to illustrate that despite the differences there are fundamental truths to humanity. This romantic comedy combines that subtype with another one, where you have a main character commenting on the world and life changing experiences (don’t look too far, it’s just a voice off), to help you take away a powerful lesson. Oh lord.
The movie is structured through inter-titles that conjugate all the instances of someone “not being that into you”. Examples: he doesn’t call, she doesn’t sleep with you… The first part of the movie has a very sexist message that basically divides the world between the human beings who live under the illusion of the constant need of interpretation of “signs” (female) and those who are simple and take everything for face value (men). The rationale is outspokenly presented as gendered even though one of the male characters suffers women’s curse of over-interpretation.
You know, one might need to hear that life is simple and that if someone doesn’t call you it’s simply because (s)he is not interested enough. What can I say… fair enough. Of course, the problem comes in the second part which basically says: there are exceptions, and these are automatically where you don’t expect them.
If that is annoying, it’s even more annoying that the main character does not choose men but jumps on the man whom she finally manages to interest.
Nothing in this movie is acceptable, anything at all. There are no aesthetics whatsoever, even Scarlett’s perfect body is cheaply blurred in the total lack of aesthetics.
Don’t watch it unless you feel like a mojito on a Tuesday and have absolutely no excuse to have one. But be aware that you might need at least two mojitos to recover.
cucurbitacee 