HJNTIY: The Movie

Now most anyone that knows me knows that I'm obsessed with the book He's Just Not That Into You, mostly because it changed the way I think about guys, and taught me to stop obsessing and/or making excuses for why they don't call.

So obviously I have been excited about the movie adaptation since it was announced. The fact that it was filmed in Baltimore, my old college stomping grounds, was just icing on the cake. And the fact that it features the man candy that is known as Bradley Cooper didn't hurt either.

The movie was an entirely entertaining two hours of kinda-sorta-not-really-romantic-comedy, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone, considering it was two nonstop hours of "why won't he call me why won't he sleep with me why doesn't he want to marry me" whining. However, in the same vein of the book, it raised a lot of questions in my mind.

First of all, as was also pointed out in the NY Times movie review, and in following with my last blogpost, the girls are far too hot for these crappy loser guys. Seriously? The Mac guy from the Apple commercials who's participated in other such gems as Jeepers Creepers, Waiting, and GalaxyQuest? And that doofus from Entourage? They're worthy of the attentions of Ginnifer Goodwin and Scarlett Johansson? What, was Kevin from The Office not available due to scheduling conflicts?

Not to mention that this was a total chick flick targeted towards young women. The entire audience in the theater I was in consisted of 97% women, 2% gay guys, and 1% guys dragged by their girlfriends. Which leads me to wonder if the Ken Kwapis was trying to send out some subliminal message that girls need to settle for the loser in order to be happy...

Second of all, in some odd way, I did find the book empowering to single women. Its basic message is that a girl should wait for a guy to treat her the way she should be treated, that it's never ok to settle for a guy who doesn't call when he says he will, who lies, who cheats, who doesn't absolutely adore her. And it's not only ok to be single until he comes along, but it's absolutely imperative.

But in total romantic comedy fashion, the movie highlights how sad and pathetic it is when a gal is single. Even when she escapes a bad relationship, you still feel kind of bad for her that she has to start all over again.

I did appreciate, though, how the movie pointed out that when a guy is mean to a girl, she's conditioned from youth to think that he likes her, and this probably explains the attraction to assholes and the ability to put up with some truly jackass behavior. When I was in second grade, this one boy used to kick me every day at recess on the playground until he sent me a note in red crayon that read: "I like you. Do you like me? Circle yes or no."

(So succinct, I love it.)

And from then on, I assumed any boy who kicked me secretly had a thing for me and was just waiting for the day he could profess his love. Which is ridiculous because when girls are little and they have a crush on a boy, they giggle when he's around and write their names in little hearts on their notebooks, which let's be honest, isn't THAT different from adulthood.

All in all, the movie kind of depressed me, which seemed to be the general sentiment from people leaving the theater. But hey, I got to stare at Bradley Cooper with his shirt off, and that is NEVER a waste of time.

Case and point, this photo: