It’s easy to get into ‘He’s Just Not’ (4/5)

He's Just Not That Into You

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Alex Long, Scarlett Johansson.
Directed by: Ken Kwapis.
Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and brief strong language.
Running time: 2 hours, 9 minutes.

For all of us sad souls who have ever Facebook-stalked a love interest, “He’s Just Not That Into You” makes us feel not quite so alone in our times of bewilderment, embarrassment and pints of ice cream.

Based off of a novel of the same name, co-producer Drew Barrymore, writers Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (both writers on “Never Been Kissed”) and director Ken Kwapis (“The Office,” “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) complement a superbly chosen A-list cast including Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson and Justin Long.

Kwapis manages to organize the large cast and intertwining plot lines into a believable and surprisingly easy-to-follow story with honest dialogue. The bevy of characters covers all of the bases:

• Mary (Barrymore), a news ad saleswoman, is the manifestation of dating in the digital age, lamenting how “no one meets organically anymore.” She considers a date video-chatting while having coffee. One of her clients is ...

• Conor (Connolly), a real estate agent who desperately needs to get beyond past-hookup ...

• Anna (Johansson), the “blonde bombshell” who is an aspiring singer and falls for ...

• Ben (Cooper), who got married before he felt ready to ...

• Janine (Connelly), who fears that married life has changed her for the worst and works with ...

• Beth (Aniston), who is ready to settle down after seven years of dating ...

• Neil (Affleck), who is committed to Beth but does not believe in marriage.

At the center of these plotlines are:

• Gigi (Goodwin), the insecure girl who consistently misreads the “signs.” She stages an unsuccessful run-in after a date with Conor and meets ...

• Alex (Long), the social yet insensitive bartender who gives harsh, realistic advice such as: “If a guy doesn’t call you, he doesn’t want to call you.”

Goodwin and Long shine as the stars of the ensemble and it’s good to see them hold their own in a cast of well-known actors.

Critics suggest that the film is shallow and shows women as solely desperate, dependent psychopaths and men as insensitive jerks. But that’s what a romantic comedy is. Typically, the characters start off as gender-based stereotypes and later emerge with a deeper sense of self and others. And besides, what woman hasn’t waited for that phone call, and what man hasn’t refused to give it?

For those characters who refuse to emerge, they are cast off, generally alone and just as miserable as when the film started.

Though characterized as a cliché chick flick, the film rather meets head on the insecurities and difficulties that have always surrounded dating and peppers in new complications involving the digital age.

The film is full of insights usable for women and men, such as suggesting a believable answer to the age-old “why does the bad boy always get the girl?” which is posed at the start and sets the pace for the rest of the movie.

A fun touch Kwapis adds to the film is that of the documentary-style “drive-by confessions” introducing each “chapter” of the plotline. Here, Kwapis brushes against an opportunity to truly make “He’s Just Not That Into You” unique, but leaves these “confessions” as brief intervals rather than delving into their potential.

Though not up to the level of “Love Actually” (arguably the end-all be-all of rom-coms), “He’s Just Not That Into You” is engaging, introspective and fun, and will leave most viewers with a smile.

4 of 5 stars