Sunday, March 29, 2009

DEFINITELY, MAYBE

Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Rachel Weisz,
Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Kline


"Three relationships. Three disasters. One last chance"


HBO


Definitely, Maybe


This romantic comedy presents the different nuances of love relationships. The happy ups and the depressing downs one naturally has to deal with. The different emotions involved as well as the contributing factors towards maintaining a healthy romantic relationship. It is displayed in flash back scenes and narrated by a soon to be divorced guy Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) to his precocious daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin of "Little Miss Sunshine" fame).

I like how the father treats his child with maturity. He doesn't sugarcoat his past love adventures as he recounts them to his young daughter. Although he did change their names in his narration, he recounted them with such conviction. So much so that his daughter exclaims that she is shocked to find out that her father drank, smoked and was a 'slut' during his younger days. That was a hilarious scene.

His romantic entanglements with three different women is realistically portrayed by 3 good actresses (Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher) They all get involved with him during different stages of his adult life. Since it was set in the early 1990s with Will being an active Democrat volunteer campaigning for Bill Clinton, the setting of the film was made believable with some actual footage of the presidential race.

"Definitely, Maybe" is a coherent love story with all the right ingredients. It presents romance without it being too mushy (well except maybe towards the ending but it was tolerable). Nor is it too serious that it would turn audience off and they would lose interest in the lives of the characters.

It is nice to watch Ryan Reynolds in a 'serious' romantic lead role. I always found him to be an obnoxious character in his earlier comedic roles. So he redeems himself nicely as Will Hayes. He has good rapport with all of his 3 leading ladies as well as with his daughter portrayed subtly in a somewhat brief role by Abigail Breslin.

Another pleasant feel good love story with endearing characters, a solid plot and some nice.to.hear.again 90s soundtrack.

2 comments:

docemdy said...

I watched this on the plane last year and glad that it's now showing on HBO. What I like about the movie are its unpredictability and ending.

D@phneL@ur@ said...

Em Dy - Yes the ending was really sweet and mushy and a nice culmination to giving Will Hayes a happy ending.

As for the part where the kid doesn't know who her real mother is, I find that a bit strange. But maybe I overlooked the part how that came about in the plot.