He's Just Not That Into You

So this movie came out today, and I've read a few reviews. Like most of the reviews from 'critics' that I've read over the last few months, they were all over the place, some gave it three stars, some more like one and a half. All over the map basically.

Moreover, the film spawned separate articles on the subject matter of dating, always a hot topic. I read a few of these as well, and, before I've even seen the movie, my view on the film has done a 180. From these articles and the trailers alone. That's kinda sad.

When I first heard of this movie months and months ago, I was super excited to see it. It was definitely on my free-movie Tuesday (thanks Clearview Cinemas!) list for that far, far in the future day in February when it finally came out. It had a lot of well-known actors (including two I loved from 'Ed' - Justin Long and Ginnifer Goodwin. YES, a mini-reunion from that awesome show!), and it just looked interesting.

As time passed, however, and the movie came closer to premiering, my thoughts on the subject matter changed, not only from articles about the film but from experiences in my own life as well. In between hearing about the movie for the first time and...today, I went through my first total gut-wrenching heartbreak (which, somehow, still sucks horribly months later), my fair share of rebounds, and a few crazy single-and-trying-to-get-back-into-dating disasters. So my clean-cut view of love and dating has flown, no, more like ran at high speed and plummetted, out the window.

So upon seeing trailers for the movie once a week and reading what the critics had to say - that the men and women are quite stereotypical - I grew more and more upset with the film. (And I haven't even seen it yet!) What started months ago with total anticipation at a romantic comedy about everyone's favorite subject - love! dating! relatonships! - has turned into a bitter, but, I think also, reasonably disappointed view on the film's take on its subject matter.
One critic from MSNBC.com that I sometimes like reading gave a pretty good description of the film when he said (something like) 'It's a film that is always about what it's about.' He compared it to 'Crash' and race. I thought that was a very good comparison, and I agreed. Again, I haven't seen the movie, but in the trailers, the 10 or so characters in the movie ALWAYS and ONLY seem to be talking about love and relationships. Now I'm a 20-something year old woman (woman?!), and, as much as this subject does rule my life, I don't talk about it 24/7. And some of the things they showed in the trailer, also lambasted by critics, also struck me as quite backwards. I mean, girls now have confidence to talk on the phone to boys, right? We've been doing it for quite some time now. And the parts with the new technology - especially MySpace (not really that new) seem just...off. There is a certain point, I think, where the older generation shouldn't go out of their way to master these newer younger fads. MySpace is one of these. (Aside - for example, my mom wants me to show her how to use facebook. I refuse. If she can't figure it out on her own then she shouldn't be on it!) WHOA, that was a rambling paragraph.
But what I'm trying to say is this is 2009. Women are no longer ONLY whiny or naive or incapable. And men, I hate to say it, are not ALWAYS at fault or evil. I think we've learned a thing or two about dating, and how incredibly complicated it is. No matter what. It's never clear cut or easy. And it's not meant to be, I think. But to keep trying to question it, get tips, talk about it, and attempt to figure it out and uncover all those wonderful mysteries about it seems to me to almost defeat the purpose. Don't run it into the ground and dwell on it. Do, and find out when you're on the ride. (Does that make sense? It does to me...right now at least).

Wow, that really was a long ramble that didn't piece together exactly right. Oh well.