He's Just Not That Into You
He's Just Not That Into You has one of the key elements that I’m not usually into – an all-star cast. So when I see Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Justin Long, Kris Kristofferson, and even Kevin Connolly as part of this entourage I immediately wonder how bad is this going to be? The truth is not bad at all. As a mater of fact it’s great! None of the above plays the central character. That job goes to the relatively unknown fresh faced Ginnifer Goodwin as Gigi who is dangerously predisposed to planning her trousseau the moment any guy pays the slightest attention to her. This leads her from one disaster to another until she runs into Alex (Long- really hitting his stride as a romantic lead) a player bartender who takes pity on her and becomes her dating coach. Swirling around all this is a daisy chain that includes Beth (Aniston) who can not get enough of a commitment from Neil (Affleck). His best friend Ben (Yes Man’s Bradley Cooper) is married to Janine (Connelly) but he’s having an affair with Anna (Johansson) who is also stringing along Conor (Connolly) who just happens to be Alex’s roommate. Mary (Barrymore) is hooked up to a lot of these characters but mostly serves to lampoon on-line dating. Like most romantic comedies the ending is predictable but crisp writing makes this date movie easy to get into.