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Mating Falls

The no-nonsense line "He's Just Not That Into You" first appeared in an episode of "Sex and the City," then became a best-selling book by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, and is now a star power-fueled romantic comedy. Have you ever had an amazing time with someone and then wondered why you never heard from him again? Wasted countless hours dissecting why a relationship hit a wall? Made a laundry list of excuses for a date's clear lack of interest? Then in February, when there's pretty much nothing else to see anyway, this is the movie for you.

"He's Just Not That Into You," directed by Ken Kwapis ("Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), features the dating trials and tribulations of a handful of Baltimore-based twenty- and thirtysomethings. At the center is Gigi ("Big Love's" Ginnifer Goodwin), who is like a younger, bubblier, more clueless version of Charlotte from "Sex and the City." After a mediocre date with real estate maven Conor ("Entourage's" Kevin Connolly), she obsesses over why he hasn't called. "Maybe he lost my number, or was out of town, or was hit by a cab, or his grandma died!" she hypothesizes. The voice of reason is playboy Alex (Justin Long), a restaurant manager, who tells her the bitter truth: He's not remotely interested. From there, she tries to approach dating from a more common-sense perspective, with little success.

Also in the mix are Beth (Jennifer Aniston) and Neil (Ben Affleck), who have been together for seven years and are still nowhere near roaming down the aisle; happy-only-on-the-surface married couple Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Ben (Bradley Cooper); sexually-charged yoga instructor Anna (Scarlett Johansson) who can't stop thinking about Ben or being hopelessly chased by Conor; and unsavvy dater Mary (Drew Barrymore) who finds solace in gay guys.

"He's Just Not That Into You," possibly the first movie launched by a wise-cracking catch phrase, isn't all light and fluffy. The script by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein ("Never Been Kissed") delivers plenty of chuckles at the expense of its naive characters, but a few storylines are painful to watch, like seeing Janine be duped by her full-of-dung husband. (Note to married men: You can never "just be friends" with a girl who looks like Scarlett. Really.) The most interesting person in the overstuffed lineup is Alex, who is full of sage advice but far removed from his own inner Romeo.

Besides the obvious complaints about the movie -- there are way too many characters (Affleck and Barrymore, in particular, are throwaways), it falls into typical genre traps -- the biggest one is that it totally cops out at the end. This is supposed to be a wakeup call to people about the realities of dating, about not chasing fantasies and not trying to be the "exception to the rule." But then, in yawn-inducing Hollywood fashion, a few storylines embrace just that. For a passable night out with the gals, "He's Just Not That Into You" does the trick, but it's essentially yet another romantic comedy disguised as a cold splash of water.