Film Review: He's Just Not That Into You

About the film

He's Just Not That Into You is a 2009 romantic comedy based on the self-help book of the same name by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. The film is rated 12A due to sexual references.

Plot

He's just not that into you is set in Baltimore and follows the lives of 9 people in their 20's and 30's, all with relationship problems. Normally for these kinds of films are set in New York but Baltimore had not been used in romantic comedies for a while.

At the start of the film, Gigi goes on a date with Connor, who never calls. On the date he told her where he normally hangs out so one night she goes there in an attempt to see him, only he isn't there. She gets talking to the owner, Alex, who also happens to be Connors best friend. He's very blunt with her and tells her he's just not interested and he will never call. Although it comes as a shock to Gigi at first, she realised he's right and she's been wasting her time. Alex and Gigi soon become kind of friends and she calls him a fair bit, asking him for advice on her dates.

Neil and Beth have been together for 7 years but aren't married because Neil says he doesn't believe in it. Beth ends up breaking up with Neil after Gigi tells her about the advice Alex gave and the rules of the exception and the rule.

Ben and Janine are married but a spanner is thrown in the works when Ben meets Anna at a grocery store. Mary is Anna's best friend who once told her that she knew a guy who worked for her dad who was married and left his wife for someone else and they've now been together for 20 odd years, putting the idea in Anna's head that Ben will leave his wife for her. Mary never seems to talk properly with guys, it’s always on MySpace or email, or through texts and she's sick of having to check all of these things just to see if someone is interested or not. Anna is also kind of seeing Connor, but aren't in a relationship.

What I thought

Trust me though, it’s not as complicated as it sounds. As well as following all of these relationships, we have little intervals of people in the city talking about their experiences with break ups and relationships. These break up the different characters' stories and make it easier to follow I think. Although a lot of people didn't like the fact that the film followed so many characters at the same time, this was one of the main things I liked about it. I thought the mix of stories and characters kept the film interesting the whole way through.

I had read the book previously and wondered how they could possibly make it into a film but I think it was done very well. Much of the book is questions and answers from people with relationship problems and that's where the little intervals come from. It was good how they changed it from questions and answers to statements from people about why relationships go wrong.

He's just not that into you has a fantastic cast. I was a little bit sceptical to see so many A listers in one film with the fear that one would be trying to out shine the others all the time. I feel like equal time was given to each story and each character came across well. Alex was my favourite character. He starts off as a guy who comes across as a bit of an ass because he's so straight forward but really he's the nice guy who's trying to help. I've seen Justin Long in quite a lot and liked him in everything else, and he didn't disappoint me in this film.

He's Just Not That Into You has a great mix of comedy, romance and heartbreak. I really like the way it dealt with both the good and bad aspects of relationship and it isn't afraid to show that things don't always have a happy ending.