Critic Watch: He's Just Not that Into You

The film He’s Just Not That Into You, directed by Ken Kwapis, is a light comedy that has received mixed reviews of 47% overall on Metacritic. The movie, according to Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, was a decent romantic comedy. Although there were no “break through observations” with dealing with relationship problems, it was still likable. The movie never had any significant scenes which were mind-blowing, but mainly were just good. Although the movie had a popular cast, the only character that strongly stood out was Ginnifer Goodwin who played Gigi, a woman who keeps losing in “the game of love.” Finding the movie to be entertaining and filled with the effort to try to make an enjoyable film, LaSalle gave the movie a rating of 75 out of 100, signifying that the film is a decent choice to watch.
James Berardinelli of ReelViews sees He’s Just Not that Into You as a movie that seemed flat throughout it’s two hour run. There are four main plots but the characters seem underdeveloped and a “wannabe Love Actually” movie. Unlike LaSalle, Berardinelli argues that Goodwin’s plot, although the main in the movie, is the “least compelling” out of all the others. A girl finds a bartender who one night gives her advice on men; she ends up calling him continuously afterwards to keep getting his advice, and the story goes on. Berardinelli particularly enjoyed the “Janine/Ben/Anna/Connor foursome” because that segment showed the complications of relationships. Overall, he considered the movie decent, there were some moments that were enjoyable and worth watching while some parts of the movie were not necessary, such as the Drew Barrymore scene. Berardinelli gave the movie an overall rating of sixty three percent.
Sean Axmaker from seattlepi.com expressed his apparent dislike for the film He’s Just Not that Into You when he called it “easily the least passionate romantic comedy I've seen in years.” He feels that the movie is cutesy more than anything, rather than funny. The comedy aspect is lost in all of the chorus of the emotional problems that all the characters are facing with their emotional problems. He feels that the movie misses the true feelings that love expresses. He’s just not that into you received a 58 percent rating from Axmaker, expressing his dislike for the movie.
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone gave the movie a thirty eight percent rating. He speaks of Goodwin’s character Gigi who “salivates” over characters that aren’t worth the attention. He calls it a movie that is poisonous for women and depicts them as flighty, insecure human beings. He speaks that the movie doesn’t depict real women. For example, Jennifer Aniston’s character stays with her boyfriend for seven years and cannot decide whether her relationship is worth it. Travers says that women would make up their minds rather than waste all of that time on a man. He also says Drew Barrymore’s character is a waste on screen because her only relationships are those that involve cyber space, and is not relevant to the movie. Overall, Travers disliked how women are depicted in this movie, the movie being unrealistic in the realm of the relationship world.
Scott Tobias from The Onion gave He’s Just Not That Into You a 50 percent on Metacritic. He did not like the movie and said “How much space can really be devoted to a straight dude telling straight women that men are simple creatures who send off clear, unambiguous signals?” when speaking of the movie’s plot. The movie seemed to be drawn out and scattered with all of the characters. The women are needy and constantly embarrass themselves in the realm of the relationship world. It seems as it would try to relate to Sex in the City as “liberating” women as showing them as independent but the movie works in reverse. The movie, according to Tobias is not worth watching, for it may cause even more relationship confusion.