He's Just Not That Into You (2008)

You probably don't need me to tell you about this one. It had a huge opening weekend, including us on the first day. The university-area theatre was packed, mostly with young women. I asked Jack if he minded seeing it. No! he replied emphatically, the stories were told from both male and female points of view, there were plenty of laughs, and lots of eye candy. He asked before it came out, "Why don't they just tell us who is NOT in it?" Ginnifer Goodwin (Margene on HBO's Big Love, and Johnny Cash's first wife in Walk the Line (2005)) stars in this adaptation of the self-help book which is named after a line from Sex and the City. They casted a good match for her childhood self in the opening sequence.

The ensemble also includes Ben Affleck (loved him in Hollywoodland (2006)), Jennifer Aniston (this may be her best work yet, but I am unlikely to see her previous blockbuster Marley & Me (2008)), Drew Barrymore (my favorite is Everyone Says I Love You (1996)), Jennifer Connelly (Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind (2001), and I also liked Requiem for a Dream (2000) about which I have written twice, House of Sand and Fog (2003), and Little Children (2006)), Kevin Connolly (Eric on HBO's Entourage), Bradley Cooper (the lead doctor in the show-within-the-show on FX's Nip/Tuck), Scarlett Johansson (playing a luscious home-wrecker similar to her Nola on Match Point (2005)), Justin Long (the Mac guy in the commercials, but he has many credits, notably Zack & Miri (2008), Accepted (2006), and Waiting (2005)), and, in a cameo, Kris Kristofferson.

I'm a fan of director Ken Kwapis' TV work: The Office, Bernie Mac, Malcolm in the Middle, Freaks and Geeks, Grounded for Life, and a couple of his movies, He Said, She Said (1991) and About a Boy (2003). I thought Goodwin was in Love, Actually (2003), which resembles this movie in many ways, but the ingenue who makes good was actually Martine McCutcheon, who didn't do much afterwards. The 4 writers (Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein for the screenplay and Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo for the book), 7 producers (including Barrymore) and Kwapis have a winning formula with this crowd pleaser. See it for some light fluffy entertainment on a date, with friends, or by yourself to cheer up on a lonely afternoon.