Column: ‘Definitely’ may be good
Feb. 19, 2008
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As if he were answering his audience’s inquiry of “is this movie good?” writer/director Adam Brooks informs, “Definitely, Maybe.”
This film goes beyond typical romantic comedy plot lines and even ventures into genuinely creative territory. However, just when “Definitely, Maybe” starts to hit its stride, cliché and cornball dialogue flood an otherwise clever script.
In the film, Ryan Reynolds plays the father of the sometimes-too-cute-to-be-tolerable Maya (Abigail Breslin). Maya is curious to know the story behind her conception, especially because she refuses to settle for her father’s explanation of the story being “complicated.” Brooks then approaches the love story from reverse, offering what Breslin’s character refers to as a “romantic mystery.”
The bulk of the film recalls Reynolds’s character during his quest for love in the ‘90s. During this time, Reynolds is smitten with three women. One is his college sweetheart (Elizabeth Banks), a rambunctious copy girl (Isla Fischer) and a sexually experienced journalist (Rachel Weisz). While narrating the story to his daughter, Reynolds uses fake names for the three so that his daughter (nor the audience) is able to figure out who the mother is until the end.
In this regard, I applaud Brooks for adding some new perspectives to a tired genre. Granted, the concept does seem like the movie version of CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” it certainly beats the vapid doldrums of your typical rom-com playbook. But for every original concept, Brooks lazily inserts an “I saw that one coming” moment for his audience.
It is in this way that Brooks sells the audience out. Viewers get the feeling that Brooks knows his audience wants more, and also strives to deliver his audience more. Unfortunately it also seems that he lacks faith in what his audience desires, and assumes that they would rather be spoon fed overused and unnatural sentiments instead of realistic human experiences.
That’s not to say that “Definitely, Maybe” doesn’t play to human emotion. Brooks pulls Reynolds’s character through that most taboo of notions: that what you think is the best thing going for you really isn’t. In this way, Reynolds (who is usually so sardonic to the point of repulsion) actually brings a likeability and sympathy to his character that hasn’t been seen since John Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler in “Say Anything.” Once again though, Brooks sluggishly discredits him by hamming it up with Hallmark lines like: “You’re the first person I want to see when I wake up.”
So if you’re reading this review and thinking to yourself, “Hmm, maybe this movie is good,” you’re absolutely right. To those who want to have cornball lines and happy endings, maybe you’ll like this movie. For those of you who would like to see something different from your romantic comedies, maybe you’ll like this movie. But then again, maybe not.
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