Film Review--He's Just Not that Into You

He’s Just Not That Into You
directed by Ken Kwapis
written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
based on the book “He’s Just Not That Into You”: The No Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore

Ah, love with the tenacious fangs of fear pressed against one’s throat. This film explores the myriad ways the beasts creeps in to devour the unwitting who necessarily succumb to its charms and derelictions.

The film follows the lives of numerous characters as they walk the tightrope between pleasure and emotional pain. Gigi (Goodwin) is a sweet girl who finds her self struggling to understand the motives and behaviors of guys. She frets that Conor (Connolly) hasn’t called her back after a single date. Desperately she consults her friends Beth (Aniston) and Janine (Connelly) and they aren’t quite able to calm her down. Out of desperation she asks bar owner Alex (Long) for advice and he informs her that if a guy doesn’t pursue a woman directly he’s not interested. This advice helps Gigi and leads her in a direction that ultimately allows her to find someone who is into her completely and effortlessly.

Beth and Neil (Affleck) have been seeing each other for seven years but Neil refuses to pop the question because he doesn’t believe in marriage. Beth takes it in stride although she repeatedly makes her feelings felt on the matter. Janine and Ben (Cooper) have been married for seven years and consider themselves happy. However, Ben meets Anna (Johansson) at a grocery store and beings a romance with her. It is revealed that the marriage isn’t exactly ideal and that Janine is upset that Ben has lied to her about not smoking. Anna is sort of dating Conor but she won’t sleep with him again and this arrangement upsets Conor who wants more. Mary promotes Conor’s real estate business but is the only character who is not pursuing nor is pursued by any potential suitors.

The film does an adequate job juggling its many narratives. There’s a naturalness about each of the characters and their plights are presented in a matter-of-fact way that is bereft of sentimentality and over-reaching. Once the dynamics are set up the film just allows the characters to follow their perspective paths until they ultimately collide in various levels. There is tremendous strain in this film as ideas about what each character wants continually shift. There is no set grounding for any of the characters as mooring is repeatedly kicked aside in a painstaking effort for release of some sort.

Gigi is the narrator and perhaps the most significant character in the film. Her hysterical reactions to feeling left out and abandoned resonate throughout the entire film. She longs for the one true love and seems to want to be rescued from herself and her neurotic tendencies. She is the image of impatience and demands that it happen to her right now. It isn’t until she realizes her folly that she is able to open herself up to love and indeed it takes the release of very harsh but revealing words to a man for the air to be cleared leaving true feelings to reveal themselves. She lambasts him and he realizes that her rings sting with truth. Up to that point he had denied his true feelings for Gigi and even pushed her off when she tried to kiss him after staying until 3 in the morning helping him clean up after a party. She is able to read his signals of desire that he is not able to recognize. It is clear upon their first meeting that they are going to hook up by film’s end. Indeed, all the relationship issues solve themselves eventually.

The film navigates through decidedly treacherous waters. There is deceit, suppressed longing and insecurities on display as each character demonstrates a not so perfect grasp on their situation. There is pain here but it is superceded by contentment. There doesn’t seem to be any unabashed demonstration of love, however. Every character lazily moves about and nothing they do seems to suggest intense and undying love. Mostly what is on display here is the belief that a person isn’t quite whole unless they have convinced another person to share entirely in their life. These characters are all fragmented and works in progress. None of them seem particularly fulfilled in their lives despite their various careers and the fact that they have found that someone who may or may not to prove themselves willing and ready for the long haul. Still, that seems to be the direction the film is heading although there is an ambiguous display of marriage.

Another idea voiced by the character Mary is that when you are married to someone and you meet someone else who you connect with on every level, are you supposed to just let that person go by? Ben is the embodiment of this predicament. Even though they were not having sex he believed, because he enjoyed the rut they were in, that things were working out. However, he meets Anna and suddenly the game changes for him and he realizes he has stumbled precisely into the same situation described by Mary. There is intense chemistry between these two characters and the obvious can not be effectively denied. He wants her but hesitates because he honestly believes he cannot betray his wife. Still, he gives in to his temptation and effectively destroys his marriage even though Janine puts on a brave face once he reveals the truth to her. She is impossibly strong after his announcement and states evenly and cooly that it’s something they can work through and doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a separation. Ben is perfectly willing to break it off perhaps because he has already in his mind decided to leave Janine and will latch on any excuse to do so.

There isn’t a whole lot of sexual chemistry in this film between any of the characters and little magic. There is only the satisfaction that these characters one has spent over two hours with have found someone who reflects themselves back to them with clarity and honesty. The film makes out this process to be trying and difficult and capable of convincing a person that the quest is not worth it and the only recourse is to get out of the game entirely. This is not an option in this film because each character is driven by the desire to justify themselves in the eyes of another person who redeems them to a certain degree. These characters all seek such redemption and seem unable to find it by any other source. There is tremendous anxiety throughout this film and significant insecurity. The characters seem unable to tackle life without the crutch of another person to lean on. There is ambition here and an effort to foster change in the lives of some of the characters. There is drive and at least a level of understanding.

The performances in this film are all infectious. Bradley Cooper is dynamic and impossibly charming throughout. He exudes an air of confidence that most likely comes from a lifetime of play. Ginnifer Goodwin is captivating in her character’s neurosis. She naturally conveys Gigi’s startling need for reassurance that she is worthy of a man’s attention and affection. Jennifer Aniston routinely presents her character’s empathic nature and comes off as entirely sympathetic. There is an earnestness about Beth that Aniston genuinely affects throughout. Scarlett Johannson is slinky and well-grounded in her sexuality. She presents a character who is tingling with a robust, expressive erotic appeal. She’s the one character who truly seems comfortable in her immaculate skin. Justin Long captures Alex’s understanding nature as well as his role as a harbinger of cold, hard truth. Jennifer Connelly is iconic and devastatingly present throughout this film. She’s got a iciness and a fortitude about her that comes across periodically. Ben Affleck is typically solid in this role. Neil is initially impenetrable and Affleck demonstrates his gradual softening and openness. Kevin Connolly is quite good at demonstrating Conor’s neediness and his cool discharge of emotions. Drew Barrymore is earthy and perpetually calm yet decisive throughout the film. Mary is not particularly neurotic and seems to know what she wants unlike most of the other characters.

Overall, this film offers an appetizing dish of anxiety and fear throughout. It’s fairly even handed between the males and females and seems relatively honest about the motivations that drive people to crash into each other all in the name of commitment and sexual satiation. These characters are all driven by aspects of their relationships with members of the opposite sex. There’s not much room in this film for personal growth save the occasional realization that one is behaving like a coward or a jerk and needs more than they are willing to admit to themselves. The performances are natural and all convey the myriad complexities that go into anyone who has difficulty nailing down what they actually want.