He's Just Not That Into You: a romance galore!

Poster:

Trailer:



Plot:

Nine people in Baltimore deal with their respective romantic problems, usually thwarted by the differing ideals and desires of their chosen partner. At the center of this is Gigi Phillips (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young woman who repeatedly misinterprets the behavior of her romantic partners.

Gigi and Alex

Gigi is a single woman who repeatedly misreads mundane actions and comments from her dates as indications that they are romantically interested in her, and frets when the guy does not call her.

In attempting to meet Conor Barry (Kevin Connolly), a real estate agent, at a bar, she befriends the bar owner Alex (Justin Long), who reveals the strategies men use to avoid a woman.

He explains that if a man is interested in a woman, he will overcome any obstacles to ensure they date again, and that Gigi has been misinterpreting and obsessing over imagined "signs" that she receives.

Their friendship continues, and Gigi interprets his eagerness to always assist (such as taking Gigi's call while he is on a date) as a sign that he is interested in her. She makes a move, but Alex claims he is not romantically interested in her and chastises her for ignoring his advice. She angrily replies that at least she has not let herself become cynical and bitter like him.

Gigi eventually moves on from Alex, however, in a role reversal, Alex begins falling for Gigi.

After leaving several unanswered messages, Alex arrives at Gigi's apartment to declare his love. Gigi thinks that she is the rule, but after Alex suddenly kisses her passionately, he says that she is his exception.

Janine, Ben, and Anna

Gigi's friend and co-worker Janine Gunders (Jennifer Connelly) is having difficulties in her marriage to Ben (Bradley Cooper). As Janine obsesses on their home renovations, Ben becomes attracted to Anna Marks (Scarlett Johansson), a yoga instructor and aspiring singer, and the feeling is mutual.

Ben and Anna pursue a flirtatious friendship under the pretense of him helping her establish a singing career. Ben reveals to Anna that Janine once gave him an ultimatum by threatening to leave him if he did not propose. Ben agrees to be friends with Anna, and in order to flirt with him she strips and jumps naked into a swimming pool. She invites him to join, but he decides against it.

Fervently anti-smoking (due to her father's death from lung cancer), Janine pointedly asks Ben if he has been smoking and later is perturbed to find cigarette butts hidden in their back yard. Ben insists that they are not his, and their contractor, Javier (Luis Guzman), says none of his workers smoke at the house.

During a tense shopping trip, Ben reveals to Janine that he has cheated on her. Janine is devastated but rationalizes Ben's behavior, blaming herself for being too cold in the relationship, and decides she wants to save their marriage.

After a positive meeting about her singing career, Anna begins to have sex with Ben in his office. They are interrupted by Janine who, hoping to spice up their marriage, has arrived unexpectedly. Anna hides in a closet, and Ben attempts to send Janine away who then makes a heartfelt plea to save their marriage, and there are indications she succeeds in seducing him. After Janine leaves, Anna angrily departs vowing to cut ties with Ben. As Janine tidies up Ben's clothes back at their completed house, she discovers a fresh pack of cigarettes in a pocket, and she explodes in anger. When Ben returns home, he finds his clothes neatly folded with a carton of cigarettes and a note attached from Janine asking for a divorce. Janine moves into a new apartment by herself to start a new life, and Anna is later seen performing at an upscale nightclub. Ben is alone, purchasing the same beer at the same supermarket where he met Anna.

Conor, Anna, and Mary

Meanwhile, Anna enjoys a close friendship with Alex's friend, Conor. He is romantically interested in her, but Anna is only interested in a casual relationship. Conor misinterprets her hugs and cute nicknames for potential romantic interest.

Anna's friend, Mary Harris (Drew Barrymore), works in advertising for a local newspaper, and helps Conor promote his real estate business in a series of print ads. Like Gigi, she meets many men (mostly online), but despite constantly monitoring emails, pager, phone, and Myspace messages, her dates go nowhere.

While Conor attempts to cultivate a gay clientele, two gay men tell him how he is going wrong with Anna. Taking their advice, Conor decides to declare his love to Anna. Vulnerable after falling out with Ben, Anna agrees to start a serious relationship with him. But when Conor proposes buying a house and moving in together, Anna admits she doesn't want to, and they break up.

Mary later runs into Conor, recognizing him from his ad photo, and introduces herself, since they have only spoken over the phone. They hit it off, and start dating.

Beth and Neil

Gigi's other co-worker, Beth Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), is living with her boyfriend, Neil (Ben Affleck), who is also friends with Ben. After seven years of dating, Beth wants to get married, but Neil does not believe in marriage. With Gigi's newfound pragmatic stance on relationships after advice from Alex, she announces she will no longer misinterpret vague gestures from men as more than they really are. This spurs Beth to confront Neil about their relationship. When he still doesn't want to get married, she breaks up with him.

Later, the preparations for her younger sister's wedding brings the issue into sharper focus for Beth after hearing many back-handed comments from various family members. During the reception, her father Rod (Kris Kristofferson) suffers a heart attack. Beth looks after him as he recuperates while her sisters wallow, and their husbands remain glued to the television playing video games and watching football with constant takeout as the household falls into chaos. As Beth reaches the end of her patience looking after her siblings and in-laws as well as her recovering father, Neil arrives with groceries and helps with the chores. The two reconcile, with Beth saying that Neil is more of a husband to her than her sisters' spouses are to them, and she will not insist they be married. Neil later proposes to her, and they marry in an intimate ceremony aboard his sailboat.

Review:

I've watched the movie many times that i could literally mouthed off the lines :D

the most favourite couple would of course be Alex and Gigi. they're sweet together. especially after Alex starts mooning over Gigi soon as they parted ways.. amek kau. padan muka Alex :evil laughs:

then, there would be the sweet pairing of Connor and Mary. they hit it off so easily because they had the same sense of humor. funny isn't it, how easily one can bumped into one's soulmate after despairing for so long over someone unavailable.

i like the part when Neil realises that though he doesn't believe in marriage, he's willing to give it a shot just because he loves Beth too much. it made the 7 years of waiting worthwhile, don't you think? Beth ni mmg sabar betul!

as for Janine, JC played it so convincingly that to this day i detested her character, she made me itched! same detest goes to SJ's character, she's only into Ben so much so because he resisted at first. but you have to admit, he was unhappy with Janine. when Anna continued to charm his pants off, he simply surrendered, albeit haltingly due to his loyalty to Janine. in the end, they were all three unhappy people. though Janine admitted that she's now dating again.

but then, i do think Ben and Janine are best divorced. their marriage is lukewarm at best and Ben is always held by guilt to stay married to her. of course you have to work hard at making the marriage works. but if you can't find it in yourself to confide in your partner about the things not right in your relationship, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Ben was suffering. he doesn't know how to convey that he's not happy without having Janine freaked out and feeling an ass himself. so he rebelled by smoking as in retaliation.

Well, enough of that. This however is my favourite scene of the movie:



love it!

The Notebook: what you want...

Trailer:


Plot:
At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man named Duke (James Garner) begins to read a romantic story from his notebook to a fellow patient (Gena Rowlands).

The story he tells begins in 1940. In Seabrook Island, South Carolina, local country boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) is smitten with seventeen-year-old heiress Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) after seeing her at a carnival, and they share an idyllic summer love affair. Noah takes Allie to an abandoned house, which he explains that he intends to restore the house.  And Allie requests to have her own spot in the house, a room to paint, overlooking the lake. It was some sort of a reaffirmation that she intends to marry him.

Later that evening, she asks him to make love to her, but they are interrupted by Noah's friend Fin (Kevin Connolly) with the news that Allie's parents have the police out looking for her. When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, they ban her from seeing Noah, whom they called "trash, trash, trash". Knowing that her parents do not approve of him, Noah leaves the house, much to Allie's frustration that her fiery temper gets to her head.



The two break up, in the fits of Allie's temper. The next morning, Allie's mother announces that the family is returning home to Charleston. Desperate, Allie searches for Noah at the lumberyard but he's not there. Fin instead asks her to leave Noah alone, that it's not going to work out. She asks him to tell Noah that she loves him and that she's sorry. She leaves by asking Fin to tell Noah to write to her.

For a year, Noah writes a letter to Allie each day. But the letters are intercepted by Allie's mother (Joan Allen), leaving Allie to feel that Noah has forgotten her.

Noah and Allie have no choice but to move on with their lives; Noah and Fin enlist to fight in World War II and Fin is killed in battle. Allie becomes a volunteer in a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets an officer named Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden), a young lawyer who is handsome, sophisticated, charming and comes from old Southern money. The two eventually become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents, but Allie sees Noah's face when Lon asks her to marry him.

When Noah returns home from the war, he discovers his father has sold their home so that Noah can buy the abandoned house, fulfilling his lifelong dream to buy it for the departed Allie, whom by now he hasn't seen for several years. While visiting Charleston, Noah witnesses Allie and Lon kissing at a restaurant; he convinces himself that if he restores the house, Allie will come back to him. Some says he works on the house like a madman, and when he completes it, he refuses to sell it, regardless of the price offered.

Later, during a bridal gown fitting, Allie is startled to read in the newspaper that Noah has restored the house that she faints there and then. Knowing that she has to see him, Allie visits Noah in Seabrook.

In the present, it is made clear that the elderly woman is in fact Allie, who is suffering from dementia and cannot remember any of the events being read to her. Duke, the man who is reading to her, is her husband, but Allie cannot recognize him.

Back in the forties, Allie and Noah renew their relationship by spending time together, as friends. Her feelings come back to her and she questions Noah for not writing to her before. When she knows the truth, and that Noah still has feelings for her, they make love at Noah's now-restored house. In the morning, Allie's mother appears on Noah's doorstep, warning Allie that Lon knows about Noah being her first love back in Seabrook and thus has decided to follow her there. Confused, Allie tells Noah that she's going back to talk to Lon, much to Noah's frustration that they fight.





As Allie reads Noah's letters, she knows she has to confess to Lon about Noah and her feelings. He is upset but says that he still loves her. Allie tells him she knows she should be with him, but she remains indecisive.

In the present, Allie becomes briefly lucid and remembers that the story Duke is reading is the story of how they met. Young Allie appears at Noah's doorstep, having left Lon at the hotel. Elderly Allie suddenly remembers her past; after finding out about her illness, she herself wrote their story in the notebook with instructions for Noah to "read this to me, and I'll come back to you". But Allie soon relapses, losing her memories of Noah. She panics, not understanding who he is, and has to be sedated. That same night Noah is hospitalised with what seems to be another heart attack.

When released from the hospital, Elderly Noah ("Duke") goes to Allie's room to find her lucid again. Allie questions Noah about what will happen to them when she loses her memory completely, and he reassures her that he will never leave her. She asks him if he thinks their love for each other is strong enough to "take them away together"; he replies that he thinks their love could do anything. After telling each other that they love one another, they both go to sleep in Allie's bed. The next morning, a nurse finds them dead in each other's arms.


Review:
I was taken by the story. Duke's voice captivated me as he reads the Notebook to Miss Allie. no wonder this is a famous romance movie, top 12 high-grossing romance movie at the moment. Noah and Allie draw you in. He was charming, she was lovable. Though, I find issues in Allie's parents being so carefree when their daughter spends every waking hour of the summer with Noah.

The storyline is beautiful, moving even. That Duke (elderly Noah) still has faith in Allie's ability to come back, to remember him.. The scene by the counter the night before they die, moves me. If I were the nurse, I would totally do the same. James Garner delivers the lines so convincingly! to be the subject of such devotion, man, I'd love that very much.

Lon was a honorable man too. The way he understood Allie, her reservations about him and her feelings. It is a rare man to love that much but still can release her to be with her first love.  

The issue I have with this film is that it's too perfect, too easy for Allie to get her dreams. True, she longs for Noah for 7 years but we didn't get to see her suffering, merely by mentions that she cried every night for a year. Maybe it's wrong to ask for that but I have this feeling that Noah is the only one suffering. He's stuck in the same place, even the girl he's seeing, Martha doesn't get him to love her. The way she said to him, after spending time to know Allie, was touching. "At least now I have something to look forward to-", meaning now she knows she will have to move on, that at least she knows where she's heading. away.

alahai. this is a sad story by Nicholas Sparks. I know I'd cry buckets reading it..