.

One of my Family Theater girlfriends saw this film at a pre-screening and said that while it was funny, the message was a little off. I think I fully agree with that conclusion to a certain extent.

GiGi, played by Giniffer Goodwin, is “that girl” we’ve all known and loved. She’s cute, smart, and funny, but overanalyzes everything when it comes to dating. When Gigi meets Alex (Justin Long), a sarcastic bartender who dishes out free dating advice, Gigi changes the way she dates, taking into account that “he just might not be that into her.” Also interwoven into the film is the story of Ben and Janine (Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Connolley), a couple whose marriage is on the rocks due to a number of reasons including Ben making “friends” with the beautiful and single Anna (Scarlett Johanssen), Beth and Neil (Jennifer Anniston and Ben Affleck), a couple whose been together forever but just can’t seem to get married, and Connor and Mary. Connor is a real estate agent who pines after Anna, but just can’t seem to understand why the spark has been lost in their relationship (probably because she’s busy sexing married men.) Mary is a graphic designer whose storyline was somewhat lost on me and I thought the film could have done without.

I will admit the movie was funny. I went and saw it with one of my girlfriends and we were cackling the entire time (though nervously thinking, “Oh crap, do I do that?”) I also think it definitely told some truths about women in the dating game—overanalyzing, over emotionalism, etc. I’ve never read the book, but I’ve been told that the basic message is that if “he” doesn’t do “x” like calling you, he doesn’t like you. But what confused me about the film was that at the end, some of the storylines get wrapped in a pretty bow with the boy and girl skipping off into the sunset. It seemed a bit contradictory to me.

One big thing that I didn’t like (other than Scarlet Johanssen’s homewrecker character) was the message that “if he’s not having sex with you, he’s just not that into you.” The editing of the film is meant to copy the chapters of the book, and that message was titled in bold print across the screen for that portion of the film. It was actually applicable to the following scenes about Beth and Neil’s marriage, but as soon as I saw the title I couldn’t help but steam in my chair knowing that there were teenage girls sitting all around me who were taking that message as black and white truth. (Girls, that’s not true! I know this as fact!)

The film was funny, but your life won’t be missing anything if you don’t see it.