Behind Enemy Lines

So, during my up-all-night session for F-Squared, we got to talking about movies. He and his main squeeze had just seen The Ugly Truth. I asked him what he thought, because that is what polite people do, and he said he thought it was okay, but there was another movie that he thought was a lot worse -- as far as giving away guy’s secrets.

Really, I thought. Which one?

He couldn’t remember the name, but Drew Barrymore was in it and the kid that is the Mac in all those commercials and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston.

Oh, He’s Just Not That Into You?

That’s the one. He wanted to punch in the face the guy that wrote that movie. He gave away too much.

Huh.

Yes, I read and critiqued the book. And no, I had no interest in seeing this movie. But, maybe I missed something. Maybe I underestimated what the authors were saying. Maybe the movie gave away something that wasn’t in the book.

I made a promise to myself that I would On Demand the movie at my earliest convenience. After all, as GI Joe once told me, “knowing is half the battle.”

As it turns out, the first night I was free to really sit down and take in this movie, was this past Friday.

I brought in reinforcements -- a chocolate, chocolate vegan cookie from Whole Foods (I know I am suppose to be boycotting them, but I really love their vegan cookies) and a bottle of red wine. Hey, if I am going to spend a Friday night alone, watching a romantic comedy, I am going to need back-up.

Thank goodness it was raining. It seems so much less pathetic on a rainy night.

Honestly, I didn’t hate the movie. Which is odd, because I rarely like romantic comedies. Maybe it was the wine -- it was a really good red I picked up when I was in Nags Head.

As for insider information -- not so much. Justin Long (my new Hollywood crush, I can totally see why Drew Barrymore loves him) provided most of it to Ginnifer Goodwin’s character Gigi, after she shows up at his bar looking for a guy that she had a really good date with, but never called her. Ginnifer is enthralled when he tells her that her date is never going to call her. They become fast friends and Ginnifer starts calling him whenever she finds herself unsure about a guy’s intentions.

Predictably, Ginnifer then develops a crush on Justin after over-thinking all the “obvious” signals he has been throwing her way. She throws herself at him, he rejects her, angry that she hasn’t been listening to anything he has said and she gives a great speech about preferring to look like a jackass again and again and still have hope of finding someone than be him -- cynical and alone.

The movie then contradicts the book, not just by having Justin Long’s character falls for Gigi. But also when Ben Affleck asks Jennifer Aniston to marry her after seven years of dating -- umm, okay, I get the first one, but the second? Cripes that is actually a chapter in the book -- He Is Just Not That Into You If He Doesn’t Want To Marry You. Though, I was happy it worked out for them. I am totally Team Aniston.

Ooh, maybe I should have started this post by saying I would be spoiling parts of this movie. Yikes. Oh well, I mean it is a romantic comedy, I am sure most of you could predict the ending.

So it seems the movie had to tone down the rhetoric to sell some tickets. And sure, it didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t know already. Still, it wasn’t a terrible way to spend a Friday night. Certainly better than the way I have spent the last few Friday nights.

Wait, is that pathetic?