He's Just Not That Into You

Liza grudgingly sees the truth in stereotypes.

By Liza Persky

So, after two weeks, many reviews, and much anticipation, I finally saw, "He's Just Not That Into You."  I've been doing a lot of talking about this movie, and it dawned on me that every time I say the words, "he's just not that into you," it possibly could attract negative results. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you obviously don't TIVO "Oprah" every day, and you most likely don't have a worn out, dog-eared copy of "The Secret" lying next to your bed. But, odds are you have a life. Good for you.

Walking into the theater, one thing (besides the fact that it suddenly has become perfectly acceptable to save two rows of seats, using one jacket, for your late friends) was immediately apparent; this movie pretty much was populated by every girl, woman, and child on the upper West Side. Sephora must have been a ghost town.  

I have mixed feelings about the movie. It was filled with every stereotype you can imagine, which can feel false sometimes, but the truth is they all were pretty dead on.

It's been marketed as an ensemble cast, but it mostly focused on one character, Gigi, played by Ginnifer Goodwin. I had a lot of issues with her -- and no, it's not because she spells Jennifer with a G and I. "Gigi" is supposed to represent every girl who's ever been single, and the whole story is told through her DESPERATE search for love. The problem is, she looks about 22 years old. When I was 22, the only thing I was desperate for was a hair mousse that would dissolve properly so it didn't look like I was walking around with marshmallows on my head. Instead of coming off as a character deserving love, and someone we could root for, "Gigi" looks like one big, needy, red flag walking around in an old flannel jacket (which, by the way, could be why she can't get a guy to call her back).

The other main characters are: Jennifer Connolly, who's in a sexless marriage with a very cute Bradley Cooper; Scarlett Johansson, who's having an affair with Bradley Cooper, all the while stringing poor, love-struck Kevin Connolly along, Drew Barrymore, who I'm not really sure why she's there except to show us how technology has gotten in the way of communicating and we were better off dating in the good old days; and Jennifer Aniston, who's been dating Ben Affleck for seven years and can't get him to marry her, and whose wardrobe I covet in every film she does; and Justin Long who plays the straight tell-it-like-it-is everyman, who counsels "Gigi" on what she's doing wrong in her pursuit of love.

To me, the best part of the movie was the first five minutes, where different groups of girlfriends reassure one another that 'he'll call' with every lame excuse of why 'he hasn't' that you've ever heard or said. I dare any girl to watch those scenes and not see themselves in them. The film really points out how we will rationalize with anything -- even if we use one of my personal favorites, "Maybe he got hit by a car and died" -- to get the answer we want.

I don't want to suggest that the audience I saw this with was desperate for love, but, when one character in the film got proposed to, there were loud gasps and cheers. I'm pretty sure that if instead of, "Will you marry me?" the character had said, "I just cured cancer," you would have been able to hear a pin drop.

When all is said and done, although I didn't love the movie there was some truth to its message. And the next time I'm waiting for that second-date call from a guy who said, "Let's do this again," I'll know better than to waste my time staring at the phone; I'll just stalk him, like the good old days.