by J A Wright

Created on: September 12, 2009   Last Updated: September 13, 2009

Could you bear to be told He's Just Not That Into You? Most people can't and therefore the premise of the film is that they are the words so many people need to hear but no one dare say.

How many times did you wonder if the phone might not be sat in the cradle right and you could be missing a call? Did you scrutinise with friends each action of your 'intended' trying to work out if they are interested, or how keen they are?

Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), spends her life detailing the minutiae of each and every date to her friends in the hope that they can unravel the secret language of men through his actions and his every word. She examines every nuance, misinterpreting most as interest and spends her every waking minute checking her phone and waiting for a date to call, after all, he said he would.
Until she meet Alex, a straight talking serial dater who educates Gigi in the realities of dating, interpreting the man speak she hears at each date. Comments like 'I'll call you.' and 'We'll speak soon.' suddenly translate as 'he's just not that into you'.

Gigi's endlessly supportive friend is Janine (Jennifer Connolly), a smug married working on renovating a house with her husband and hoping it's time to have a baby together. Her husband Ben (Bradley Cooper) appears to be mostly underwhelmed until he meets Anna (Scarlett Johanssen). Suddenly he is tempted and although he wants to help her professionally, he is sorely tempted by her provocative looks and behaviour too.

Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston) have been in a long term relationship without change and when Gigi announces that she now knows how men work, Beth begins to question why she and Neil aren't married, causing them heartache and separation.

The film charts the changes in each relationship and each person and turns the dating world on it's head, throwing back at us all the silly things romance inspires us to do. So, there are funny parts and tear jerkers in turn.
I'd seen the showing before us coming out of the cinema and commented on how the audience seemed a little flat afterwards. Usually a cinema audience will have a bit of a vibe about them when leaving a good film, but these were somehow limp. I realised later, it's the truths of the film which jar a little in places. Most of the people leaving the cinema were women aged 18 - 30 ish, mostly in groups of women but rarely with a man.... perhaps this says something about the appeal and the lessons within. Perhaps not.

Ginnifer

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