He's Just Not That Into You

Plot synopsis:
The movie centers around Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), Janine (Jennifer Connelly), and Beth (Jennifer Aniston), three women who work in an office together.Gigi is single and very interested in meeting the right man, but tends to overanalyze "the signs" men give off and assumes they are interested in her, even when they don't call her. She is encouraged by Janine and Beth, who help her make excuses and tell her stories about women they know who are happily married even though the man didn't seem interested at first.Janine is married to Ben (Bradley Cooper) and they are renovating their new house. She is a paranoid neat freak, and especially concerned that he may have started smoking again. Ben married Janine because they had been together since college, and she gave him an ultimatum - marry her, or break up. While at the grocery store, Ben meets Anna (Scarlett Johansson), an up and coming singer/yoga teacher. He allows her to cut the line to cashier, resulting in her being named the 1000th customer and winning a water cooler. He reveals he is married, but offers to help Anna with her singing career because he has several contacts in the business.Beth is living with Neil (Ben Affleck) and they have been together for 7 years. She wants to get married, especially since two of her sisters are married and the third is engaged. Neil, although a very attentive and nice boyfriend, is firmly against marriage and wants them to stay the way they are.Gigi meets Connor (Kevin Connolly), a real estate agent, but he is again not very interested in her, and instead of calling her, calls Anna, with whom he begins a quasi-relationship, although she is clearly not very interested in him. After waiting around and cyber-stalking Connor for some time, Gigi tries to find Connor by telling his friend Alex (Justin Long), a bar manager, that she has Connor's pen. Alex flatly tells her that Connor is not interested, that if a man wants to go out with a woman, he will be clear and upfront about it, and that women should stop making excuses for why men don't call. He says that the stories she hears about people who end up together anyway are the exception, and she is the rule.Inspired, Gigi shares her newfound knowledge with Janine and Beth, causing Beth to face the facts, go home, and ask Neil if he will ever marry her. He can't give her an answer, so they break up and he moves out.Anna and her friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) discuss Ben at a salon. Mary works in advertising for a gay publication where she is working over the phone to publish an ad for Connor. Mary is also unsuccessful at meeting men, mostly because she meets them over the internet or the phone and she rarely gets to meet them in person. She especially hates how many portals of communications a woman has to check these days to see whether a guy has called them. She tells Anna a story of a married man who divorced his wife to marry a woman he loved, so Anna calls Ben to see if he would like to discuss contacts over coffee. He gets freaked out and turns her down, but later calls her back and agrees to meet with her. Afterwards, Janine comes into the room, suggests that it could one day be a baby's room. Ben doesn't want to talk about babies yet.Gigi meets another man at Alex's bar during happy hour. They exchange cards, but she presses him as to who will call whom. After he doesn't call, she calls Alex for more advice. He tells her that the man is just not interested and not to call him. She decides to listen to him and throws away the card.Beth's sisters are concerned that she broke up with Neil, and a cousin points out her single status during her sister's rehearsal dinner. Her father tells her she is his favorite daughter anyway, because she has always done things her own way, and the same goes for meeting someone.Anna and Ben meet up in his office to discuss contacts. They reveal that they are attracted to each other, but Ben says he cannot cheat on his wife.Ben goes out sailing with Neil, who is living on his boat, and they talk about marriage. Ben says that he married Janine because he loves her and is happily married now, but jokes that no man really wants to get married and all they think about is all the women they're missing out on. Neil is surprised and says he only wants to be with Beth.Then Ben goes to a yoga class that Anna is teaching, and afterwards she invites him for a swim, where they agree to be friends. Anna strips down and jumps into the pool while Ben watches from the side. Meanwhile, Janine finds an ashtray and cigarettes in their backyard. When Ben comes home, she yells at him for smoking, which he denies, saying that it could be any of the workers who are renovating their house. She apologizes, but he sees his marriage in a new light and sleeps with Anna.Gigi is making out with another guy on his couch. She mentions waiting for the second date to be intimate, but he tells her that he will be out of town and out of touch for a while. She goes to the bathroom and calls Alex, who is also making out with a girl. He tells her to ask where the guy is going that he would be out of touch (he fumbles and tells her Pittsburgh), and says that the guy doesn't really like Gigi, and she should only go out with someone who likes her. He later calls her and says he will introduce her to someone he thinks will like her, a friend Bill. They meet at the bar, but Alex says he accidentally told Bill the wrong day, so he won't be there. She asks why Alex shares all his insight on men and women with her, and he says he likes her and invites her to a party he's having.Gigi has decided that she will go to the party to pursue Alex, because all the "signs" are there. At the party he barely talks to her, but asks her to refill the chip bowls. She jumps at the chance to "co-host", thinking this will make them a couple. After the party, Alex is playing video games with a tall, attractive woman while Gigi cleans up the apartment. After the woman leaves, Gigi jumps on Alex and begins to kiss him, but he pushes her off and tells her she's doing the same thing again. She gets mad and tells him that she would be naive like she is than cynical like him, because despite his attitude, he is still alone, and she will always be closer to finding someone than he is. She storms out and Alex is obviously stunned.Beth is a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding. While her sisters walk down the aisle with their husbands, the family dog escorts her. Her father has a heart attack at the reception, and Beth, her sisters, and their husbands stay at his home to care for him. Beth does most of the work, while her sisters' husbands are lazy, make a mess, and watch TV. She asks if they went to get groceries like she asked, and they dismiss her, saying they got takeout, and ignore her while shouting at the television. She notices that Neil is in the kitchen and has done all the dishes as well as bought groceries.Janine asks if any of the workers at the house smoked. Their manager denies it, so she concludes that Ben must still be smoking. While at a Home Depot type of store, she insists on their using hardwood instead of laminate, even though she can't tell the difference, because she feels that the laminate is lying to her. Ben tells her he cheated on her and says he will move out, but she says they will work it out. Later, Anna and Ben are about to have sex in his office when his wife knocks on the door. Anna hides in the closet while Janine seduces Ben in an attempt to save their marriage. After she leaves, Anna storms out, disgusted, and ends it with Ben.Mary finally gets a message from someone she met on-line; where he sings her a song and tells her it was special to meet her (on video chat). She gets excited, but the next message is he singing the same song to another girl that he accidentally recorded on her machine.Meanwhile, Alex is at the bar acting very distracted and constantly asking if anyone has called for him. His co-worker tells him he must have fallen for a girl -- Gigi. His friend Bill calls Gigi and they go on a date, after which they awkwardly say goodbye at her door. Gigi hears another knock and opens the door to find Alex, who tells her he has her pen and wants to be with her. Gigi doesn't believe him and states all the advice he has given her, but he kisses her. She asks if this means she is the exception, and he says, "You're my exception."Beth goes to see Neil on his boat to tell him that after seeing her sisters' husbands, she no longer needs to get married, because Neil is a better husband than they ever would be. She says he can move back in as long as he does not bring back his ugly pair of cargo pants.At home, Janine sets up their newly renovated house, looking forward to an improved marriage, but flips out when she finds cigarettes in one of Ben's pockets. She throws all his clothes down the stairs and smashes a mirror, only to get the broom and sweep up the broken pieces. Ben comes home to find his belongings neatly folded on the bottom of the stairs and a carton of cigarettes, with a note from Janine telling him to knock himself out, and she wants a divorce.Anna goes to Connor and they sleep together, but Anna is clearly less satisfied. Connor shows her a house he wants to buy and tells her he hopes that she would someday move in with him, but Anna says she can't be with him. Mary then calls Connor at a coffee place from a few tables away. They finally meet face to face and seem to get along.Neil moves back in with Beth, but she finds his ugly cargo pants and tells him she's throwing them out. He tells her to at least make sure the pockets are empty, and she finds an engagement ring. When she turns around, he proposes to her and she of course says yes.The end of the movie shows Neil and Beth's wedding on his boat, Anna opting to stop dating for awhile to focus on her singing career and herself, Mary and Connor happily in love, Janine and Ben divorced and living on their own, and Gigi and Alex co-hosting a party as a couple, while Gigi's voice over advises that the path to happiness is not through finding another person, but through finding yourself.

Tags: romantic, entertaining, flashback

Review:
From this point we follow the relationship woes of six (no eight, nine, is it ten?) different people and their relationships ups and downs, as one guy is trapped in a loveless marriage, one couple realise they want different things and one woman who is trying to figure out how to play the dating game, the stories cross and intertwine and from this comical situations ensue.Now, from the tone of the last part of that sentence you may well have come to the conclusion that this is just another standard romantic comedy chick-flick, and, on paper, it should be.
For Long it's another step up the Hollywood ranks (pretty much the direction he's been heading since "Dodgeball") and for Goodwin it is a star-making turn that should do for her what "knocked-up" did for Heigl.The film of course has a number of elements and outcomes that are extremely predictable (it IS a romantic comedy) but there's enough other stuff in there, and definite surprises at the end, to make it more than just the sum of its parts.
Though the cast is gorgeous, it is a pity that those actors cannot fully present their charms and acting skills.A friend of mine on the thirties (single) told me that he loved this film because the tactics and bargaining between men and women really hit close to him.
Older generation like me tend to think love affairs should be more direct and frank, spoiled by the old movies where men and women get into romance so easily.
Well-mannered and more refined, nowadays young people must have a harder time.By the way, the Japanese title of this film is funny: "Why Don't You Throw Him Away If He Is Such A Guy.".
I never read the book HJNTIY (seemed pretty self explanatory by the title alone) and I wasn't really sure how it could be made into a film, but I'll say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.That being said, this is a CHICK FLICK--not a date movie.
So don't be surprised by all the negative reviews written by guys--of course they can't stand it, and I definitely wouldn't try dragging your boyfriend to go see it for Valentine's Day...this is a movie you want to see with the girls.
The cast is fun to watch--Jennifer Anniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Jennifer Connelly are delightful on screen together, and I even take back all the bad things I've said about Ben Affleck--I thought he was a perfect fit for this movie.It's also a very funny movie--I'm one of those people who love going to a packed theater where everyone laughs on cue and claps at the end, and this was one of those experiences.
A limp ensemble relationship movie that feels like the frustrated venting of a bitter single girl after a blind date gone badly awry.This is the kind of movie where a bunch of 20 and 30-somethings own beautiful loft apartments they couldn't possibly afford and struggle with relationship issues that are just boring to watch other people grapple with if you yourself are over the age of 30.
Once again we're expected to accept Jennifer Aniston as a sad sack who can't get a date after she dumps the long-time boyfriend (Ben Affleck, playing not so much a character as a woman's fantasy made real) who won't commit to marriage.
Justin Long is terribly miscast as a womanizer who doesn't know when he's fallen in love himself (I can't look at him without seeing the image of his dork from "Dodgeball" getting hit in the face with a wrench, which is not far from what I wanted to do to his character in this movie).
Jennifer Connelly and Bradley Cooper are the lone married couple in the film, and because this is a Hollywood movie about relationships, of course the married couple MUST be miserable.
You want to throttle pretty much everyone by the time the movie's over; I settled for thanking God I didn't have to be friends with any of them.Though the film was only written by two people, it has the feeling of something written by committee.
No wonder so many people have trouble making marriages work if they're using films like this as examples.What a dud, and probably solid evidence that movies shouldn't be adapted from smug and jokey self-help books written by jackass talk show hosts.Grade: C+.
It seems like she went to the producers after the movie was already completed and said: "Hey I want to be in this movie, I'll pay you fifty million dollars if you give me a part." They agreed, shot two scenes where three multi-racial, stereotypical gay men give her dating advice and pep talks, and one scene where she and Kevin Connolly fall for each other completely out of the blue and for no other reason than that every major character needed to be in a couple when the movie ended.
A group of interconnected, Baltimore-based twenty- and thirty-somethings navigate their various relationships from the shallow end of the dating pool through the deep, murky waters of married life, trying to read the signs of the opposite sex...
And Mary, who's found an entire network of loving, supportive men, just needs to find one who's straight.If you've ever sat by the phone wondering why he said he would call, but didn't, or if you can't figure out why she doesn't want to sleep with you anymore, or why your relationship just isn't going to the next level...
The movie thinks it's clever because it identifies some women's need to sit impatiently by a phone, hoping that a guy she shared a drink with two nights earlier will call, but it comes off as being forced and obnoxious.
This in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it seems like she learns absolutely nothing through the process–she simply takes other people's advice without thinking, and her soon-to-be-boyfriend falls into her lap in a rather unconvincing way–she has a meltdown at his apartment after she realizes that he's not initially interested in her, and, by some unexplained miracle, this tantrum makes him realize what an idiot he's been.
Random pop culture references and platitudes pepper this movie like a minefield, leaving its viewers stone-faced.Several different characters are shown here in various relationships, and bizarrely collide by the end of the film.
She's shown as a sad, immature woman who has nothing better to do than to wait for Mr. Right.Then there's Beth (Jennifer Anniston) who is in a long-term relationship with Neil (Ben Affleck), who refuses to walk down the aisle.
The flat script, the forced humor, the clichéd situations and the confused intertwining of the characters all add to this disparaging production.Although it is disguised as a fun loving date movie, "He's Just Not That Into You" spends most of its hour and a half running time over-analyzing simple encounters, patronizing and generalizing both sexes, and placing stereotypes everywhere.
And the movie is exactly that - Nice romantic comedy.I usually prefer to watch such movies only in TV or DVD but gave this a try simply for the star cast - Scarlett, Jennifer Anniston and Connelly, Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck, Justin Long etc..But the person who stole the show was Ginnifer Goodwin.
A little subtlety would have made her character more poignant and more believable.The film really does contain a lot of good advice for people in the dating scene, both men and women..
But he doesn't and this is the catalyst that eventually proceeds to link all the characters together in interconnected plot lines that range from funny and sweet, (Drew Barrymore's character bemoaning the fact that there's so much technology out there and she's managed to get dumped via email, MySpace and SMS) to tragic and heartbreaking (Ben Afflleck and Jennifer Aniston's characters not seeing eye to eye on getting married and so she would rather throw away their 7 year old relationship).Scarlet Johansson also plays a pivotal role, that of a single woman who has a friend pining for her, but she would rather try and tempt a married man who himself is going through a rough patch with his wife, played to perfection by Jennifer Connelly.
And this masterstroke is how the movie becomes a guide just like the book, while also telling a story that many of us will see ourselves in.The acting is all pretty faultless, with Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Brendan Cooper and Justing Long displaying some of their best work.
In total, I think she might only have 10 minutes worth of screen time, but she does use it well.And I wouldn't go so far to call this a 'chick flick', as I think there's just as much enjoyment and knowledge to be gained from this movie for us guys as there is for women.
Also in the "raven" city is a longtime-together couple, Beth (Jennifer Aniston) and Neil (Ben Affleck) who are at odds, too, for Beth longs for marriage and Neil, despite his love for his lady, doesn't care for formalities.
Finally, bar manager Alex (Justin Long) cynically gives advice to Gigi about men, real estate salesman Conor (Kevin Connolly) pines for Anna and newspaper ad-lady Mary (Drew Barrymore) is trying to make a love connection for herself, too.
I frankly just didn't care about any of these people enough to try to keep track of all their relationships and juvenile dating games.My wife assured me it wasn't a "chick-flick" and that even men who see it learn something.
The only story that I found a notch better than the rest was that of Neil and Beth (Jennifer Anniston and Ben Affleck), who have been together for seven years, love each other but are not married because Neil does not believe in marriage.
By the time it ended I was glad it didn't turn out to be just another stupid romantic comedy made to pull the audiences with big stars.The story is not new yet the script is cleverly written as it juggles between couples all somehow intertwined/related with each other added with nice style of presenting it, thus keeping the viewer interested.The characters are from a wide range of people we encounter in real life.
Finally it would've helped if it would have been more funny.I would recommend this fresh take on love, romance, loyalty, marriage and things similar, to anyone who is looking for a good romantic comedy..
Thoroughly enjoyable and deals with something, most of us have dealt with(or are dealing with).The nice thing about the movie is that I suppose everyone will be able to relate to one character or another (and in our case, a few) or at least an incident.Its not a mystery but you want to keep predicting what will happen next, and I would give the story quite high marks for weaving everything in order, and quite intelligently at that.Its romantic and its funny, the characters are nice, the script is fine, a really good movie to watch!.
One involves a ditzy hopeless romantic by the name of Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) receiving tips from a promiscuous bar manager (Justin Long), another one involves a long-lasting couple not yet married (Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston), a third tale involves a recently-married couple (Jennifer Connelly and Bradley Cooper) having complications because of outside temptation (Scarlett Johannson).
Based off a book which is based off of a catchphrase from the ultra-popular Sex and the City show, this film at the core feels like a younger sister of the phenomenon.Romantic comedies rely heavily on two things: the writing, and the casting.
The casting is definitely superb; we have several Golden Globe and Academy Award-winners and nominees on the front end (Ben Affleck, Connelly, Johannson) and many wonderful up-and-coming stars contributing (Long, Goodwin, Cooper).
The writing duo of Abby Kohn and Mark Silverstein had a tough job of translating a rather deep and complex story into a film but nonetheless stripped the bare essentials, good dialogue, and did a better job keeping the plots tightly wound when compared to other films in similar fashion (Shut up "Crash" fans, that movie was a writing disaster).Chick flicks have gotten a bad reputation because of its ability to dwell into every single type of stereotype imaginable.
Being the counterculture expert that enjoys destroying trends and normal thinking on a daily basis, I can tell you that this is a good movie with great acting, good writing, and an overall semi-realistic and good view on love and its inability to have a set course.
I am not a fan of chick flicks, but I loved this movie.Oh, and the great acting for once (and by all the characters) was a beautiful thing.I don't think anyone, including the guys, will regret seeing this film.
Sure, there are moments to the story here that feel overly contrived, sickly and just a little too fairy-tale catered, but for the majority of the feature's admittedly overlong runtime, the rewards end up far outweighing the momentary slips and low points.Where the movie does tend to slip up more substantially however is in delivering two things; romance, and comedy.
'He is just not that into you!!!'By watching the movie, I surprised many times because the main characters seem like me whenever they meet boyfriend.
So, if you do not have boyfriend right now, you consider these errors about relationship and ways of thinking between men and women movie showed.I really recommend that single women wanted to make boyfriend and success your love.
If you want to think all men are complete a**#$@*^s and fear dating forever, watch this movie.All it was was a minagerie of all of the worst traits of guys.
However, the movie completely fades away from this plot and gets too busy describing the several subplots ( already established relationships between the characters)It may not have been a 2, but I would rather give it that so that people don't get the wrong idea and watch this movie hoping it will be funny, I actually did not laugh once....
There are some notable mentions I think, Drew Barrymore's brief cameo had some funny bits in it, and I also enjoyed Jennifer Connolly's performance, although due to the amount of characters, these two did not get enough screen time.Another issue I had with the movie seemed to be the star power that was put into it.
There were too many names, too many characters and in the end it spoiled the movie, trying to be like CRASH or one of those interconnected movies, this fails on all counts.Some of the actors in this movie who I love such as Bradley Cooper (of ALIAS fame) was horrible, that being said his material left a lot to be desired.AND FINALLY THE WORST PART OF THE LOT!!!
Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, and Scarlett Johansson are very talent actresses, who are simply wasting their time in this waste of two hours.This movie is one of the worst I have ever seen; it was playing on a long-haul flight, and my choices were to watch the movie, or watch the kid across the aisle and one row up puking into his blanket.
Romantic comedy is all about inner growth and coming to terms with oneself, so it gives a refreshing if somewhat bitter tang to the film to see, for once, what happens when one really cannot do that, including the collateral damage to others.Scarlett Johansson is cleverly cast, superficially the "other woman" and home-wrecker, her spontaneity ends up setting a serious moral standard.
At first glance, "He's Just Not That Into You" has the right combination for a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy: a top-notch cast (including Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Long, among others), a cute love story, and a number of miscommunications and one-liners to get the audience laughing.However, it's not just another romantic comedy.
The film does a good job of keeping all the stories straight without confusing anyone by giving each character a distinct personality and smoothly transitioning between each story.What makes this film stand out above others, however, is its exploration into the minds of men, women and their relationships that is on par with the 1989 comedy "When Harry Met Sally." It shows a reality of how each tries to dissect what the other is trying to communicate - what the guy means when he says "it was nice to meet you" after the date, for example.
Goodwin gives her character just the right amount of sweetness for us to still enjoy her even though she makes embarrassing mistakes and has slight stalker-like tendencies.This film is a great date movie.
Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Connelly, Drew Barrymore, Scarlet Johansson and Ginnifer Goodwin join forces to tell us why he is just not that into you.This movie felt like it was made to make women paranoid.
Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Connelly and Scarlet Johansson were the only women in this movie with a real role.
And as you'll guess, *SPOILER ALERT* Alex and Gigi wind up together--seemingly inevitably.I really enjoyed Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck--I thought they had a wonderful sense of ease and chemistry together, and although you could see the end of their story a mile away, it was fairly well done, even if a bit cloying.
You will be interested in every character, every situation, and every thought provoking reasoning and its fun ways to deliver them.It is awesome how this movie takes everyday romantic situation that's not far fetched and injected them with effective comedy that's really funny and engaging.
But without over analyzing the heck out of a simple romantic comedy the movie delivers a good entertaining time.I will have to cut down on my reviews of the cast given how huge it is.
Jennifer Aniston is good in her role but has one of the smallest story lines but the most romantic in the film oddly enough.
This makes a good date movie or even if you want a romantic comedy that guys and girls can enjoy equally.