He's Just Not That Into You

The women who populate "He's Just Not That Into You" present viewers with weirdly reductive tableaux of female suffering. The story about five women navigating male treachery is so busy getting all its talking points in that it leaves no room for recognizable life. As the protagonists rehearse the movie's core philosophical questions (loosely aggregated under the rubric of Why Are Men Such Dogs?), they wind up making a text of the subtext that lies just under the surface of most romantic comedies: romantic complaint.

Which isn't to say that "He's Just Not That Into You," which is based on a book that itself was inspired by an episode of "Sex and the City," doesn't possess its share of cathartic giggles.

Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) throws herself headlong into every relationship she's in. After an encounter with a real estate agent named Conor (Kevin Connolly), she waits for the callback that's clearly never going to come. Janine (Jennifer Connolly) has a husband, Ben (Bradley Cooper), who is distant when they talk about what color to paint a room, while Beth (Jennifer Aniston) has a boyfriend, Neil (Ben Affleck), who refuses to get married.

"He's Just Not That Into You" is set in Baltimore, but it really takes place in the mythical Land of Great Living Spaces, where everyone is young, attractive, affluent and white. Even the film's resident bohemian, Anna (Scarlett Johansson), lives in a cozy little, to-die-for studio.

Restaurant manager Alex (Justin Long) befriends Gigi and talks her through the messages that men routinely send women and that women routinely ignore. These truths are what give an otherwise shallow exercise a dash of genuine freshness.

"He's Just Not That Into You" isn't a movie as much as a destination, like one of the Napa Valley wineries Gigi dreams of for her imaginary wedding. It's the movie equivalent of a quick mani-pedi, with pleasures that go just about as deep, and last just about as long.


-- Ann Hornaday (Feb. 6, 2009)
Contains sexual content and brief strong profanity.