Movie #2: "Definitely, Maybe"

Sometimes you can tell kind of what to expect from a movie by looking at the spread of the reviews. All but two of the reviews on Metacritic for the romantic comedy "Definitely, Maybe" fall in the two to three star range. That tells you pretty much what you're going to get. It's not "Annie Hall," but it's not painful either. What end of the two-to-three star range you fall on will likely depend on if you roll your eyes at the framing story: Divorcing advertising executive Will (Ryan Reynolds) goes to pick up his daughter ("Little Miss Sunshine" herself Abigail Breslin) from school only to find out that they've had a far more graphic sex-ed class than a group of pre-teens should ever be given. This, coupled with her parents' impending divorce, sparks her curiousity as to her dad's romantic history, how he and her mother ended up together. If your immediate reaction is "That's too cutesy" or "He's actually going to tell his pre-teen daughter about his love life?" then you'll probably fall on the two star end. If you decide to go with it, there's a better-than-average romantic comedy waiting.

To the extent the movie works, it works for two reasons: 1. It seems far more interested in its characters than easy jokes or romatic comedy hi-jinks, and, 2. The cast, especially love interests Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher of "Wedding Crashers" fame, as well as a hilarious Kevin Kline as a cantankerous, womanizing college professor/author.

The film is being billed as a romantic mystery, but if you're listening closely, you'll know early on who he's going to end up with. The real story isn't about who he ends up with, but how the driven, idealistic Clinton campaign volunteer becomes the sad, cynical soon-to-be divorcee we meet at the beginning of the film. And although the film places some of the blame on Clinton's own fall from grace, it also hints at other reasons, especially in one deftly played scene between Reynolds, Weisz and Kline. It knows its characters and it doesn't sell them out (with the exception of one scene) by making any of the potential loves bad people. As Reynolds tells Breslin at the beginning of the film, it's more complex than that.

The film's main problem is that you get the feeling there is a great movie to be made with this idea and even this cast (yes, including Reynolds of "Van Wilder" and "Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place" fame). This just isn't that movie. Writer-director Adam Brooks too often lacks the subtlety to wring the full emotional power and relatability from Will's fall and his last grasp at love and getting back those shattered ideals that he once wore as a badge. Still, if Brooks fails to achieve greatness with this rom-com, at least it seems that he tried. I'd much rather watch a film that shoots to be in the same league as "Annie Hall" and falls short than one that aims to be like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and succeeds.