Ce que pensent les hommes

The film starts with a little girl in a playground getting bullied by a boy, and her mother telling her that this means that the boy likes her, setting up the premise that the more a guy treats a woman like dirt, the more she'll hang around on the phone waiting for his call. From this point we follow the relationship woes of six (no eight, nine, is it ten?) different people and their relationships ups and downs, as one guy is trapped in a loveless marriage, one couple realise they want different things and one woman who is trying to figure out how to play the dating game, the stories cross and intertwine and from this comical situations ensue.

Now, from the tone of the last part of that sentence you may well have come to the conclusion that this is just another standard romantic comedy chick-flick, and, on paper, it should be. But it's not. The script is very similar in tone and feel to "When Harry met Sally" with "supposed" regular people introducing each chapter of the film, the insights are decent and the dialogue contains a lot of honesty that I think many people can relate to. The cast are all first rate with special attention going to Ben Affleck, who has so needed a good role in front of the camera for ages, and Jennifer Aniston as the couple who can't move forward, also good are Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Connolly in their respective roles. The big star turns for me though are Ginnifer Goodwin and Justin Long as the hapless dater and the hapless dating coach, who are really good. For Long it's another step up the Hollywood ranks (pretty much the direction he's been heading since "Dodgeball") and for Goodwin it is a star-making turn that should do for her what "knocked-up" did for Heigl.

The film of course has a number of elements and outcomes that are extremely predictable (it IS a romantic comedy) but there's enough other stuff in there, and definite surprises at the end, to make it more than just the sum of its parts. It's charming, clever and, when viewed with a pantomime-style audience that I saw it with, a lot of fun, and I'm a guy! A cross between "When Harry met Sally" and "Friends" that doesn't try and jump on the gross-out comedy bandwagon.

Good stuff

My girlfriend and I, both at or approaching our 50's, saw this in a theater that was absolutely filled with high school girls. That surprised me actually, given that most of the stars in this film are well-beyond high-school age. But they, like the rest of the audience, seemed to really enjoy this film, as did we. The relationships were nicely intertwined without being contrived ("Crash" anyone?), and unlike the similar movie "Love Actually," nothing portrayed was too outlandish. The convention of adding comments by "real" people to introduce story lines was well done and amusing. If I find any fault with the film, it's that all of the guys are presented as having relationship "issues" or as being total bone-heads. Hopefully there are more "nice guys" interspersed in society than what this film might lead you to believe (though I must say that the attitudes presented are definitely not inaccurate).

Overall, a very nice film whose 2 hour plus running time goes by rather quickly. If you've ever been in or tried to be in a relationship, you'll probably enjoy this movie.

I really like this film, but Gigi is pure cringe. It's embarrassing. It's hard to love a movie when you don't sympathize with a central character.

Ugh, I can't believe I was dragged into liking this movie. It was trending to a 6 but finished at a 7, my cutoff point for "would watch again." I'll probably even find a used DVD so I can see what I missed on the edited tv version.

How dare they play "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane near the end. That pushed it over the edge for me. Tears, UGH!!! I don't like rom coms and I'll never fall in love!!!! But every damn Jennifer Aniston movie rates a 7 with me! STOP IT JENNIFER!!!!!

I didn't have high expectations for this movie. I never read the book HJNTIY (seemed pretty self explanatory by the title alone) and I wasn't really sure how it could be made into a film, but I'll say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

That being said, this is a CHICK FLICK--not a date movie. So don't be surprised by all the negative reviews written by guys--of course they can't stand it, and I definitely wouldn't try dragging your boyfriend to go see it for Valentine's Day...this is a movie you want to see with the girls. I wasn't that interested in seeing it, but I was talked into it and it was the perfect 2 hour distraction. The cast is fun to watch--Jennifer Anniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Jennifer Connelly are delightful on screen together, and I even take back all the bad things I've said about Ben Affleck--I thought he was a perfect fit for this movie.

It's also a very funny movie--I'm one of those people who love going to a packed theater where everyone laughs on cue and claps at the end, and this was one of those experiences. Some of the lines are priceless, and a couple of the funniest scenes in the movie involve "street interviews" à la Sex and the City Season 1. It's just an easy, fun, entertaining film--just relax and enjoy yourself, and don't try to hold this movie to a standard that it wasn't designed to meet. I'd go see it in a packed theater if you can, otherwise wait for the DVD and have a girls' night in!