... And Counterpoint.

On Sunday night, my very best friend - who is a dude - invited me to the movies to see He's Just Not That Into You. (Yeah, he's a straight man, I promise you.) Despite the fact that Jean gave it a freaking glowing review, I still went along to check it out. Sometimes I do ill-advised things. And I paid money. At the expensive theater.

Prior to Jean seeing it, I did have a mild interest in watching the movie because I was hopeful it would be like an American version of Love Actually, which is a really great movie, in my opinion. Jean hates Love Actually. I like Love Actually. I can't hate anything with Hugh Grant in it, even though he's most likely a giant fucktard in real life.

That being said, I guess it kind of makes sense that I didn't actually hate this movie.

I didn't luh-huve it, like my companions did. But I was pleasantly surprised at how amused I was by it. Obviously, it was completely predictable. It's a movie, and movies are meant to be "uplifting" because that's what the public wants. (Case in point: Slumdog Millionaire - UGH.) Generally speaking, I hate uplifting movies because they're so cliche. But you don't go into a romantic comedy and not expect Harry to make a scene about how much he adores Sally on New Year's Eve. If he didn't, it would be a different kind of movie. Probably, overall, a better one.

The whole exception-versus-rule thing in this movie is important and stupid. When Crazyface Girl realizes that she's The Rule, it was a big moment. I totally bought that. But, an hour later, the movie spins it with this moral: "If you wait long enough, you will eventually be The Exception." Wuh? ...And then I ralphed into my popcorn bucket. Waste of perfectly good popcorn. Maybe I'm still in the "I'm The Rule" phase of my romantic career, but I didn't buy that shit. They tried to give it to me for free with my $14.50 movie ticket, but I didn't even take it. All I wanted was my parking validated.

Also, I'd like to note that I don't remember a single character's name. That's generally a bad sign. The characters in this movie weren't really people - they were characatures. Crazyface Girl. Married Couple (Bitchy Lady and Lying-Cheater Dude.) Unmarried Couple (Hot Girl and Awesome Dude - sorry! I liked him and I'm on his side.) Clingy Real Estate Dude. Attention Whore. "I'm a Mac"/ Afraid of Relationships Guy. Drew Barrymore. But I think that was kind of the point - you were supposed to be able to relate to one or some of the characters on some level or another.

So what exactly did I like?

First of all: afterwards, you get to play with "Which Character Do You Relate To Game." (After a lot of thought, I've concluded that I'm "I'm a Mac"/Afraid of Relationships Guy.) Could be worse, right? And then you get to tell your friends which characters they were: "Dude. You are so Real Estate Guy!" "....Oh, God, I'm Real Estate Guy!!! NOOOO!"

I liked the woman-on-the-street mock interviews between scenes. They were funny. I liked that I genuinely laughed at things. I liked Drew Barrymore's monologue about MySpace/texting/emailing/cyber-tag. (Because I agree- if it's a text, it ain't a date. And I'm not shaving my legs - so there.) I liked that the basic message boiled down to not playing games. (i.e. He's probably not playing games. And you probably shouldn't be either.) I liked the set design A LOT because I'm a lame nerd like that. I liked that it allowed you to laugh at the person who was acting like a total shithead retard because, in real life, that person is usually your friend and you usually have to be nicer. I liked that it was honest about the way women tell each other silly advice to make each other feel better that may or may not be true. I liked that when my friend said it gave her "hope," it made me a little happy, but also a little "You're so cute and naive; it's a good thing you're so pretty."