Definitely, Maybe Review

"Definitely, Maybe" reviews

Movie

Definitely, Maybe

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-02-14 23:02:25

Rating

2.5/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

If guys' harshest punishment this Valentine's Day is being dragged to see Definitely, Maybe, they're getting off pretty easy, thanks in large part to Ryan Reynolds.

Story

If Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) didn't have such a smart, intuitive and inquisitive young daughter (Abigail Breslin), there might've been no Definitely, Maybe. It is she who demands the unabridged story of who her mother is and how she met Will, a story that dates all the way back to 1992 and involves a trio of women. It begins as a classic bolting-for-the-big-city tale when Will accepts a job on the Bill Clinton campaign in Manhattan, leaving behind his college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks) in Madison, Wisconsin. Slowly but surely, Will falls for the city and two of its women in particular: Summer (Rachel Weisz), Emily's scholarly college friend who is emotionally and romantically unavailable and thus irresistible to Will, and April (Isla Fisher), an edgy, apolitical copy girl who works with Will at the Clinton campaign office. So begins Will's three-woman conundrum, which isn't necessarily solved by the time he finishes telling his daughter the story.

Acting

Is there a more consistently surprising actor out there than Ryan Reynolds? Once known only for his sophomoric comedies that appealed to sophomoric viewers, the actor has drastically changed his career for the better recently. He's done horror (The Amityville Horror) and action (Smokin' Aces) in the past couple years, and now his most surprising genre: romantic comedy. In Reynolds' best performance to date, he is natural, charismatic (duh!) and clearly capable of shedding his sarcasm for the sake of a more grown-up, even vulnerable, character. Without a doubt, he is leading-man material. As for the three actresses who play Reynolds' love interests, they can pretty much do no wrong. Fisher (Wedding Crashers), especially, shines as multi-layered, complicated NYC-girl-next-door April. Weisz, meanwhile, is a perfect fit (when is she not?) as the intellectual and slightly mischievous Summer, and Banks (Slither) again shows why she's pigeonholed in the girlfriend role--in a good way. In supporting roles, Kevin Kline and Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) are hilarious and dead-on, respectively. And finally, Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), in a small but crucial role, is infectiously energetic for such a tired, clichéd character.

Direction

If Definitely, Maybe does have a downfall or make a concession, it falls within writer-director Adam Brooks' (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon) screenplay. While the dialogue is unconventionally sharp for a romantic comedy, the story takes a hard turn towards predictability in the second half, undoing the inventiveness displayed early on. And the all-too-convenient fact that Will changes the names of the three women when he's telling his daughter the story, so she--and we--can't unlock the maternity mystery, is the ultimate gimmick. But as a director, Brooks, who has been working primarily as a screenwriter for over two decades, shows a lot of promise. The fact is, despite ending disappointingly, Definitely, Maybe is a refreshing, relatable antidote to most of today's rom-coms. And even though that's thanks partly to the strong performances, strong performances are often thanks partly to a solid director, like Brooks.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 2 1/2 stars.

Movie

Definitely, Maybe

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-02-01 19:42:45

Provider

MRIB

Review

This romantic comedy/mystery sees 10-year-old girl Maya (Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin) coping with the break up of her parents. Feeling depressed and looking to be cheered up she asks her dad Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) how he met and fell in love with her mum. Will decides to tell her his story of the three woman in his life before she was born and, by given them false names, she has to guess which one is her mother by the end of it.

It's a novel twist which makes it stand out from other standard romantic comedies. There are some imaginative touches as the film constantly floats from the flashback structure to Maya, who is loaded with questions. And some of the best humour comes from Will's attempts to present his fairly active love life as a PG version (Breslin does say at one point: "What's the male version of a slut?").

But seeing as it is a romantic comedy, the film can only work if you buy Reynolds' transformation into a romantic lead. Luckily, he proves that he can flip from action hero in films like Smokin Aces, to a Hugh Grant stand-in easily.

Here, he gives such a likeable and charming performance that it's no surprise he manages to woo Isla Fisher (an adorable performance), Wedding Crasher's Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz in the film.

No definitely maybe about it, this is a perfect film for the Valentines Day season.

Definitely, Maybe Review