Definitely, Maybe Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)February 8th, 2008
DEFINITELY, MAYBE
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2008 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
Will Hayes is in a bit of a pickle. His wife just served him divorce papers (at work!) and his daughter Maya, whose 5th grade class was just given an impromptu sex education lesson, wants the blow-by-blow of Dad's significant relationships up to and including the present day or she's going to start shouting "penis!" in the school corridors.
Thus begins a recounting (recanting?) of Will's tragic love life, with (most of the) names changed to protect the innocent. And, ala "The Princess Bride," it's interrupted, periodically, for outrage on the part of the impressionable young listener--"you smoked cigarettes!!" the ten-year-old Maya gasps with genuine effrontery.
The story starts in (i.e., flashes back to) 1992, when Will, a starry-eyed political consultant, first began working for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, uprooting himself from the cheese capital of the world to the Big Apple for (supposedly) several months. This means leaving the love of his life, college sweetheart Emily, behind. Or at least temporarily, theoretically. Emily gives Will a package to deliver to an old chum of hers, Summer Hartley, a free-spirited and aspiring writer living in New York City. And while making copies and fetching coffee, Will meets the down-to-earth April.
Emily, Summer, and April prove to be the significant others in Will's life, but which one did he wind up marrying? It's up to Maya--and the audience--to find out.
Adam Brooks's traditional rom-com isn't going to win any awards--well, it could conceivably win some rom-com awards--but it's easy on the brain as well as on the eyes. Leading man Ryan Reynolds, whom some might consider attractive, others a thinking man's Dane Cook, is charismatic and personable enough the carry the weight of the picture (since said picture isn't particularly weighty). Reynolds projects an attractive, easy-going nature; he's especially good alongside Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") who plays Maya. Breslin, of course, for all her endearing cuteness, manages to get off a few choice (if mild) curse words.
But the real reason to see "Definitely, Maybe" (Certainly, No Question) is The Women. As played by Elizabeth Banks ("The 40 Year Old Virgin"), Rachel Weisz ("The Constant Gardener"), and Ilsa Fisher ("Wedding Crashers"), Emily, Summer, and April respectively are *luminous*. All three very different women; all three playing very different characters; all three luminous. I tell you I was agog at how luminous these three women are in the film. This triumvirate alone could generate enough wattage to illuminate Shea Stadium.
Less dripping with lumens, but also quite good, is Kevin Kline, who plays Hampton Roth, an alcoholic English professor cum novelist of some repute to whom Summer plays muse-du-jour. Mostly bathrobed and quaffing bourbon for breakfast, Roth could have been a complete caricature, but Kline bestows a little humanity upon him.
The Bottom Line: Will Hayes may not be the best father on the planet, or the best political campaigner, or the best roommate a man could want for, but his taste in women is extra extraordinary. Three thumbs up indeed!
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David N. Butterworth
[email protected]
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