Blended

To set the record straight, this is Frank Coraci’s 2^nd movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.  The first time was The Wedding Singer.  This is the 3^rd time Sandler and Barrymore are coming together.  50 First Dates was directed by Peter Segal and not by Coraci. So all of you who are saying 3^rd time lucky for Coraci, Sandler and Barrymore, have more reason to be convinced otherwise.

He's Just Not That Into You

I love the way this movie starts. The first few statements are simply superb. It actually solves the age old mysteries that I had about the female mind. You start watching He’s Just Not That Into You (HJNTIN) and it clears every little doubt about the convoluted female brain (I am certain to lose some female fan followers after this) that you may have had in your mind. Heres the way it goes. The theory says that as children most parents teach their young girls that, “Boys who behave badly with you actually have a crush on you”. This theory then morphs into statements such as, “He cannot handle your emotional maturity” OR “He cannot handle the fact that you are good looking” Or his capability to manage your success is very low”. All of these are statements made by closest friends and relatives who will follow it up by promptly saying, “But he loves you a lot you know”. And dim witted women actually get suckered into it!!!! =)) =)) I mean how difficult is it to believe that, “HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU”??? I could not have said it better.

HJNTIN follows the lives of 9 people who are in various stages of a relationship. And this narration is going to get very complicated. So please bear with me. We start with Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who believes in putting herself out there as often as she can irrespective of whether her heart gets broken or not – lovely approach but needs an immensely strong heart. She is on a date with Connor (Kevin Connolly) who isn’t too interested in her but more interested in the sizzling hot Anna (Scarlett Johansson). But Anna doesn’t really care much about Connor. To her, Connor is just a squeeze which she uses when she is feeling low. Why she doesn’t see the merit in Connor is beyond my reasoning. Anna bumps into Ben (Bradley Cooper) at a supermarket. Ben is extremely smooth with her and charms her off her feet despite openly declaring that he is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly). Janine and Ben are having severe problems with their married life and Anna is just the release Ben shouldn’t be looking for. His closest buddy, Neil (Ben Affleck) definitely doesn’t approve of this. Ben has been in a seven year releationship with Beth (Jennifer Aniston), is truly in love with her but doesn’t believe in marriage. Something that Beth is not willing to live with. Now Beth, Gigi and Janine are colleagues. In between all of this is Alex (Justin Long) who is Connors room mate and has trust issues. He appears to be extremely happy go lucky but does let anyone too close to himself. And yes, there is Janine’s good friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) who is struggling to come to terms with technology and how it has affected relationships.

Thrown into this complicated Khichdi (Goulash) are some great one liners (watch out for Drew Barrymore’s small monologue on the tech bit). The 9 people in the lead roles are given pretty much equal screen time and deliver some really solid performances. Ken Kwapis is the guy who also directed Dunston Checks in (Remember the chimpanzee movie?). Predominantly a TV director, he seems to be one of the rare cases of a TV director being quite good on his big screen ventures as well. Some good humour thrown into this heady mix of complicated relationships makes HJNTIY a very enjoyable flick – chick flick nevertheless and my love for them keeps growing. 7 on 10. I liked it. A lot. Most guys may not (I am the exception). Most girls will.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1239875865/

Going the Distance

Meet Garret (Justin Long) is your atypical man in his late twenties (presumably). His “boy next door” image ensures more often than not that he has company. He is not averse to being in a relationship but he just doesn’t know how to sustain it in the long term. He has no clue on the expectations of the fairer sex when in a relationship. To quote, “I didn’t get you a birthday gift coz you asked me not to”. Duh!!! Even I know what THAT means. After every such instance he finds himself at the local bar with his best friends Dan (Charlie Day) & Box (Jason Sudeikis) wondering what could have possibly gone wrong. Not getting drunk. Just getting his mind off. And if he is really off his mind then he indulges himself in a game of Centipede.


Meet Erin (Drew Barrymore) is 31 years old. Very Girl Next Door. She is studying journalism @ Stanford and stays in San Francisco with her sister Corrine (Christina Applegate). She is completing her internship in New York. A few twists of fate in her life led her to drop out of school and follow a guy all over the place (with no references to which places). But over time, realization dawns on her and she eventually gets dumped. She picks up the pieces and gets back to completing her grad school. She is an extremely basic woman with almost little or no hang ups – a man’s dream come true and decent looking to boot. And she is brilliant @ Centipede.

And if u haven’t made the connect yet, that’s how Garret and Erin meet. @ the local bar in New York over a game of Centipede. Garret interrupts her game rudely to say the least. However, when he realizes that she is “ËRL” – the highest scorer on that very Centipede machine – he is quick to apologise and offers to buy her a drink. Well cupid strikes. And quite quickly at that. Before you know it the two are getting really really REALLY close. This despite knowing that the affair can last for not more than 6 weeks coz Erin will be headed back to SFO after her internship. At the end of 6 weeks, Garret drops Erin off to the airport. Both of them have pretty much resigned to the end of the affair. However, they are unable to go through with it and decide to give the long distance relationship a really good shot.

Directed by Nanette Burstein (not known for much per se), GTD is quite funny in parts and very entertaining in the first half. It gets a but mushy towards the 2nd half where our cute couple are struggling to maintain the excitement in the Long Distance Relationship. But it doesn’t drag all over the place. The direction is quite decent. Both Drew Barrymore and Justin Long pull off an above average performance. The support cast is also quite entertaining. Not to mention that there have not been too many movies made on the topic. So definitely a different Rom Com positively. Worth a dekko and even an DVD rental or buy if you haven’t been able to catch up with it on the big screen. 5 on 10 for this one.