Ask a Boy: Is He Into HJNTIY?

Here's an interesting experiment. After watching the 10 Chick Flick Cliches clip from the male stars of He's Just Not That Into You -- you know, the one that promised dudes that they'd like the movie, too? -- the Independent's Alice Jones decided to test that theory.

Would the men in her life truly enjoy the flick? Her answer, along with some thoughtful speculation about the undying appeal of the chick flick template, is here.

10 Chick Flick Cliches...

... Courtesy of the male stars of He's Just Not That Into You:



This video is great -- it manages a neat trick, of both thoroughly skewering my beloved chick flicks, while also reminding me why I love them so much!

(Via Get the Big Picture)

More goodies coming soon, I promise -- Oscar nominations, life on the chick flick trail in NYC (oh yeah, did I mention I kind of moved here?), and some Coming Soon and Screening Log catch-up!

The Golden Globes: Liveblogged (ish)

In the absence of a wireless connection tonight, I'm not actually able to watch TV and play on the internets at the same time. So instead, I'm going to run back and forth during the commercials, updating this post each time. (And burning calories, too!)

Let's call it liveblogging-esque. Hey, it's not like the good people at the Golden Globes advertising sales department aren't going to hook me up with plenty of opportunities.

Quick, quick, before the show starts, my chick flicks-related predictions are:

• Slumdog Millionaire (our honorary chick flick) will nab Best Drama
  
• In Bruges will take down Mamma Mia! and Vicky Cristina... for Best Comedy/Musical
• Emma Thompson will win Best Actress in Comedy/Musical for Last Chance Harvey

Okay, let the show begin!

8:07 pm: I may not make it through the night. One award in, and Kate Winslet already made me cry.

8:10 pm: Bruce Springsteen wins Best Original Song, makes a joke about how good it felt to be in competition with Clint Eastwood for something, and win. Dirty Harry looks unamused - or does his face just look that way all the time...?

8:21 pm: First (albeit slightly veiled) Bush/Obama reference goes to Laura Dern, after her acting win for Recount. First awkward attempt at humour goes to presenters Simon Baker and Eva Longoria.

8:35 pm: Okay, so Don Cheadle's bit about how the Coen brothers have never hired him - while introducing Burn After Reading's best picture clip - was worth a laugh. But otherwise, this show is distinctly lacking in funny. Isn't this supposed to be the one where all the stars get drunk and say hilarious things?

8:41 pm: Hey, speaking of funny, Ricky Gervais just saved the day! Also, I enjoyed the awkward silence that greeted the Jonas Brothers. (Was that an unspoken "Who...?" echoing around the room?)

8:45 pm: I struck out on Best Actress - Comedy. Sally Hawkins took it. But she made me cry again, and she and Emma Thompson seem to be pals, so I guess that's okay!

9:01 pm: Heath Ledger wins it, posthumously of course, for Best Supporting Actor. It's a moment that's been so anticipated (well, I guess it's really the Oscar people are holding their breath on) that it could easily have felt overplayed, but it was handled tastefully. A quick clip, and a few thoughtful words from Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan. Nothing so awful as cutting to a shot of Michelle Williams (if she's even there), thank God.

9:08 pm: Two thoughts: 1) Colin Farrell still does it for me, even with the moustache. 2) His "I have a cold [sniff, sniff], it's not the other thing it used to be" is one of the lines of the night so far. Handsome AND funny, folks!

9:24 pm: Wow, Seth Rogen's "doing coke with Mickey Rourke in the 80s" line fell flat. Seth, see Colin's coke joke, above. Some work, some don't.

Also, Slumdog just won for Best Screenplay! Dev Patel and Freida Pinto looked adorably excited. Nobody laughed at Alec Baldwin's line about bringing Rumer Willis a juice box, after his Best Actor in a Comedy win, but I dug it.

9:41 pm: If John Adams continues winning everything, all the time, I might have to look it up. Although the U.S. founding fathers aren't usually my bag.

9:48 pm: And the Year of Tina continues. Is it possible Time mis-stepped naming Barack Obama its person of the year, and should have given the nod to Tina Fey instead?

10:24 pm: Hurray for Colin Farrell!! I love a heartfelt, off-the-cuff speech. Well done.

Also, Slumdog has added Best Director and Best Score since I last checked in. Cue more shots of the young cast jumping for joy. Is this a one-off, or is Hollywood about to discover the cinematic potential of India in some larger, more meaningful way?

10:33 pm: Strike two. Vicky Cristina took the award for Best Comedy.

10:55 pm: Mickey Rourke = speech of the night, and not only for the expletives. Fingers crossed that Slumdog will complete its sweep and land Best Picture...

11:07 pm: Yes! Slumdog Millionaire wins Best Picture... The only thing left to do now is to lament that no one streams a live feed of the after parties!

To quote Tom Cruise: Good night, folks!

Whole Lotta Nominating Goin' On!

Whew! While I've been otherwise occupied, a veritable slew of awards and award nominations have been handed out.

Here's the chick flick cheat sheet:

Golden Raspberries

The Razzies are normally our chance to shine, but remarkably enough, we're under-represented this year. (A banner year for chick flicks, or an especially bad year for man movies? Tough to say.)

In the "Worst Picture" category, only High School Musical 3, The Hottie and the Nottie, and The Love Guru come close to qualifying. And really - do we have to associated with any of them? I hopes not.

Into purer chick flick territory: Dane Cook and Kate Hudson both took worst acting nominations for My Best Friend's Girl, while Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz represented for What Happens in Vegas. All of the above also landed "Worst Couple" nominations, as did Kate Hudson (again) and Matthew McConaughey, for Fool's Gold, and "any couple in Mamma Mia" for, well, Mamma Mia.

The Women scored a nod for Worst Sequel, Prequel, Remake or Rip-Off, and "the cast of The Women" was also nominated for Worst Actress. Ouch.

Here's hoping Sylvester Stallone takes home most of the actual statuettes this year!

Writers Guild of America

The good folks at the Writers Guild have nominated Vicky Cristina Barcelona for Best Original Screenplay. They also gave Slumdog Millionaire the nod for Best Adapted Screenplay -- and speaking of which, can we adopt Slumdog into the chick flick fold?

It's a love story. There's a dance number at the end. It's also fabulous. I say we claim it!

Directors Guild of America

Again, our adoptive chick flick Slumdog gets a nomination, for Danny Boyle's direction. Hurray for flexible definitions of film sub-genres!

People's Choice Awards

Over at the awards show that proves (to many film critics) the inadequcies of democracy, there's plenty of chick flick action. (Surprised?) 27 Dresses beat out Mamma Mia! for Favorite Comedy, Mamma Mia! and Sex and the City lost out (to The Dark Knight, definitely not a chick flick) on Favorite Cast, Baby Mama's Tina Fey and Amy Poehler got denied for Favorite On-Screen Match-Up, and chick flick maestro (maestra?) Kate Hudson was named Favorite Leading Lady.

Critics Choice Awards

Finally, the antithesis of the People's Choice: the Critics Choice. Once again, I'm leaning on Slumdog, here, and it racks 'em up. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Composer, Best Writer, and Best Actor! Also, Anne Hathaway tied with Meryl Streep (for Doubt, not Mamma Mia, silly) for her performance in Rachel Getting Married.

More soon! The Golden Globes get under way in just over 40 minutes!

Me, on movies and on the web!

I know, I know. I'm way behind on Awards Season. But in the meantime here are some links to my other writing about movies -- an increasingly widespread phenomenon!

(Clicking on shameless links is kind of like reading about Oscar gossip, right? Right.)

Here goes...

I'm now taking increased responsibility for the pop culture / travel segment of the World Hum blog. Check out my efforts so far:

• The Critics: 'Australia'
• The Golden Globes: Is It the Year of the Funny Travel Movie?
• Movie Tourism: 'An Obsessively Ridiculous, Embarrassing, Empty, and Needy Exercise'?
• Bollywood Comes to Miami
• 9 Travel Movies to Watch For in 2009
• Colombia on Film (Again)
• 'Gilligan's Island': Castaways Hitting the Big Screen?
  

Meanwhile, over at Not Coming to a Theater Near You, my year-end essay focused on (what else?!) chick flicks and the Big Apple:

• Definitely, Maybe: The Smart New York Rom-Com Hangs Tough in 2008

Stay tuned for more exciting news on my end (and yes, some more actual blog posts, too!) in the next couple of weeks!

Golden Globes: And the Nominees Are...

Ahhh, awards season: my favourite extended guessing game of the year. Let the fun begin!

First up? The Golden Globes nominations are in, and there's plenty of lovey-dovey, chick flick-esque stuff to discuss.

Of course, the Globes are always a better option than Oscar for chick flick lovers, thanks to the division between comedies (and musicals) and dramas, which lets some worthy fun-loving material sneak in alongside all the oh-so-serious heavy-hitters.

But this year, even the drama category has some romance to it -- in stark contrast to, say, last year's roster of man-heavy, bloody flicks.

In Best Picture - Drama, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and Slumdog Millionaire all got the nod; between them, the trio also landed 3 acting nominations, 3 shots at Best Director, and a couple of screenplay nominations.

Meanwhile, in Best Picture - Musical or Comedy, Happy-Go-Lucky, Mamma Mia! and Vicky Cristina Barcelona are all vying for the top prize. Between them, they've also got 5 acting nominations.

And there's more beyond the Best Picture nods: Anne Hatheway's nominated (for Rachel Getting Married) as Best Actress in a Drama, as is Kristin Scott-Thomas (for I've Loved You So Long - also a Best Foreign Language Film nominee). Classifying Doubt and Changeling as chick flicks might be a stretch, but if you want to count them, Meryl Streep (surprise!) and Angelina Jolie round out the nominees.

Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson both took Best Actor/Actress in a Comedy or Musical nominations for Last Chance Harvey, and Ralph Fiennes landed a Best Supporting Actor nod for The Duchess.

Quite the field, by chick flick standards! And yes, I realize I've used "chick flick" pretty broadly here -- but considering the dearth of romantic or even remotely "feminine" plots we've seen at awards shows in the past few years (see: There Will Be Blood, both Cronenberg/Mortensen flicks, No Country For Old Men, Half Nelson, etc, etc) I think that's fair.

So, I have to confess: I have yet to see any of these. (I know, not even Mamma Mia!) I plan on remedying that asap, but in the meantime, here are some uninformed predictions:

Slumdog Millionaire is getting an awful lot of the buzz so far, so don't be surprised to see it go big. As far as guaranteed also-rans, I'd say it's highly unlikely that Mamma Mia! will win in its Best Picture category.

Meryl Streep should never be counted out, but this year she's got two nominations for Best Actress, one in each category. Kate Winslet's also got a pair, in Best Actress and Best Supporting, so keep an eye on both of them. In fact, the whole Actress field is much, much deeper than usual, this year!

That's something to celebrate -- but, taken in conjunction with the greater range of "romantic" storylines up for awards this year, it begs the question: Is Hollywood incapable of creating serious, meaty, well-written roles for women outside of the chick flick rubric? Why don't any of those bleak, bloody movies we were discussing earlier feature any strong, hard-ass women?

Hmm. More to come, as Awards Season 08-09 gets under way!

Did 'Sex and the City' Get "Snubbed" by the Golden Globes?

Uh, in a word? No.

The Hollywood Reporter seems to be confused. In a roundup of GG snubs, Gregg Kilday writes:

Perhaps most puzzling of all: The movie version of "Sex" failed to register in the comedy categories.

During the run of the TV series, the Globe voters lavished their attention on star Sarah Jessica Parker (seven nominations, four wins) and the show (six nominations, three wins). But the movie? Nada.

Must have been a case of been there, done that.

Puzzling? Not at all.

To quote the Magic 8 Ball, the answer is obvious: The HFPA rewarded the show because it was good, and ignored the movie because it was baaaad.

More on the Golden Globes nominations, and awards season more generally, coming soon!

Bad, Bad Blogger!

So I've been doing a horrifying job of keeping this puppy going for the last two months. Sadly, my life has been nearly as devoid of chick flicks as it has been blog posts about chick flicks, too.

I've been working hard (crazy hard) for the last six weeks or so (the two weeks before that, I plead bridesmaid duty) but the results have borne fruit: I'm inching slowly but surely towards being able to call myself a paid, honest-to-goodness arts and entertainment writer!

Stay tuned for news on a) even more movie-related posts (travel-themed, of course) over at World Hum, b) an article about movies - including a couple of chick flicks that have been featured right here - in WestJet's in-flight magazine, and c) renewed efforts here on the blog.

Coming soon: an ode to dance movies, and a column mulling the Judd Apatow "chick flicks for dudes" phenomenon.

Dana Stevens on Nick and Norah

I have to admit - with the release of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, I was a little worried that Michael Cera's magic might run out.

After all, how many sensitive, awkward indie-music-loving hipsters can one kid bring to the silver screen?

Thankfully, though, early signs are positive. Dana Stevens offers an effusive review:

Teen viewers accustomed to the rapid-fire vulgarities of Superbad and Pineapple Express may snort at this movie's emo guilelessness. But like its source, a young-adult novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Playlist is unabashedly romantic. Some people really were made for each other, the movie asserts, and New York does look beautiful by night. You got a problem with that?

No, ma'am. No problem here!

Simon Pegg: Leading Man

The Times of London has an interesting profile of Simon Pegg, the man who invited the zom-rom-com and who's been romping around Hollywood ever since.

The story calls Pegg "the world's unlikeliest rom-com hero" (even less likely than Ricky Gervais?) and attempts to explain his appeal:

He doesn’t have Brad Pitt’s abs, Daniel Craig’s jaw or Johnny Depp’s smoulder. He is an everyman with dreams - letting men think that they, too, might kiss Kirsten Dunst while allowing their girlfriends to believe the slob beside them might yet shape up.

The whole thing is worth a read. Pegg's latest, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, hits theaters this weekend.

The 60th Primetime Emmys... In Real Time

Before we head into the real awards season, I figured I ought to work on my live-blogging skills. Consider this an experiment. Here goes!

8:02pm - Am I the only one who caught Susan Sarandon rolling her eyes when Oprah was introduced?

8:14pm - I had forgotten that the five nominees for "Best Reality TV Show Host" would be co-hosting the show. I wish the Emmys had forgotten, too. Was their intro designed to prove that they don't, in fact, belong at the big show?

8:22pm - You know it's bad when the winners are coming up with the best jokes of the night. Thank you, Jeremy Piven. The television writers aren't still on strike, are they?

8:39pm - Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell just made this show worth watching. Give them both awards - for Most Awkward Man In History, and Best Poker Face On Prime Time.

8:58pm - Nice to see the Colbert Report's writers get their due. (Also nice to see Conan O'Brien's Heigl bit!) Is it me, or is the writer crowd getting an unusual level of attention in this year's show? Post-strike fall-out, I guess.

9:00pm - I wonder what Steve Martin thinks of Howie Mandel and Ryan Seacrest. It must be tough to craft a show that has room for the likes of both. Steve Martin, in my mind, stands for everything that's right about TV - Jeff Probst, on the other hand...

9:04pm - Two questions spring to mind: First, are Heidi Klum's constant outfit changes designed to mask her inability to read a teleprompter? And second, has Josh Groban secretly been voicing Cartman all these years?

9:08pm - First "community organizer" line of the night goes to... Laura Linney!

9:27pm - Television is so lucky that they have someone like Tina Fey on their side: talented, articulate, and a bona fide hottie to boot. But is it just me, or are the Emmys turning somewhat Oscar-like in terms of honouring shows that hardly anyone watches?

9:40pm - That was probably the least boring message from an Academy president that I've ever witnessed. That's not saying much, though.

9:49pm - Stephen Colbert just induced my first real guffaw of the night, with his "dried up old prune" bit. "You can never have too much... What could possibly go wrong?"

In other news... 9 minutes since the last commercial break? Weak.

9:54pm - Sandra Oh had a favourite line for the night: "My parents are here with me tonight, and they could not be prouder... Unless I actually was a doctor."

10:01pm - Don Rickles should henceforth host all award shows and present all awards. The man made my night - and I'm pretty sure most of the audience felt the same way!

Also - did anyone else notice that NO ONE clapped for the Amazing Race when they won Best Reality TV Series? I guess it's a room full of writers and actors - neither of whom reality tv bothers to employ..

10:03pm - Whoever was in charge of the teasers before each commercial break is under the mistaken impression that we care about the winner of the reality TV awards. Memo To Whomever It May Concern: We don't.

10:33pm - Yup, it's a regular writer love-fest at the Emmys tonight. Alec Baldwin called Tina Fey "the Elaine May of her generation" - I'm going to have to google that.

In the meantime, all the writer love is re-kindling my occasional fantasies of somehow writing something, someday, that qualifies for nomination at a fancy televised red-carpet event, wearing a designer gown, and giving a Hollywood hottie a kiss on the cheek before gracefully accepting my award...

10:36pm - Elaine May

10:46pm - Ahhh... Now I understand! They included an award for Best Reality TV Host so they could trot out Jimmy Kimmel to mock the nominees. Almost makes it worth it. Almost.

10:59pm - That's all, folks!

The Buzz On 'Ghost Town'

The reviews are in on Ricky Gervais' rom-com debut - and the results are...mixed.

In a mostly-glowing review, the Globe's Liam Lacey calls Ghost Town an "innovative romantic comedy that is a mixture of British spice and American sugar." (Lacey also notes that Gervais is part-Canadian... File that away for future cocktail party trivia!)

Meanwhile, over at the CBC, Martin Morrow calls the flick a "tepid supernatural rom-com" and "a largely uninspired parody of Ghost." He praises Gervais, though, and here's a bang-on excerpt from that bit of the review:

Like some of the great comedians (Peter Sellers springs to mind), Gervais seems to possess an inner core of melancholy. At his best, he walks the knife-edge between laughter and pathos beautifully. Think of that funny/mortifying scene in Extras when David Bowie made up a nasty song mocking Andy Millman — Andy sat there, listening politely, his ego crumbling like a biscuit in hot tea. Ghost Town doesn’t give Gervais the same opportunity for subtlety.

Slate's Dana Stevens agrees that Ghost Town "doesn't do justice to the manifold gifts of Ricky Gervais" - but she's willing to give the film some credit. It does, she writes, have "inspired casting, a few memorable scenes, and enough laughs that mainstream U.S. audiences may finally get the point of that doughy English guy with the pointy canine teeth and the high-pitched giggle."

As for me, I'm still planning to catch this one in theaters. I said above that Martin Morrow's comment was bang on - but that's exactly my problem with Ricky Gervais. That "core of melancholy" throws this cheesy-ending-loving gal right off: too much of 'The Office' and I've been known to sink into a deep funk.

If Ghost Town is vintage Gervais with some syrup mixed in, that sounds just sweet enough for me.

Screening Log - The Holiday

Ah, the power of low expectations.

I went into 'The Holiday' with vague memories of the dismemberment the flick underwent at the hands of reviewers a couple years back, and I was braced for the worst.

What I got instead was... a mixed bag.

Jack Black as Mr. Nice Guy, a devoted softie who always gets the shaft? Come on. The man has evil (or at least, mischief) in his eyes at all times. Call me narrow minded, but I couldn't see it. But on the other hand, Jude Law as Hot Dad? I've never been a Jude woman (or, for that matter, a Hot Dad woman) but damn, the scene with the girls slayed me. Meanwhile, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet did their things, I guess, but both characters were so extreme - Extremely Emotionally Repressed, and Extreme Doormat, respectively - that they were hard to relate to, or take seriously at key moments. (Really? She can't cry? Really??)

Still, with those rock-bottom expectations as my starting point, I enjoyed the movie a lot. The ode to Hollywood's Golden Age was inexplicably tangential, but the relationship between Winslet's Iris and Eli Wallach's Arthur was, for me, more interesting than any of the romances beginning and ending on the main stage.

Plus, for once, it was a flick about women seizing control of their problems and (pardon the Oprah moment) making positive change in their lives. Sure, sure, the men come along for the ride, but really this was all about Iris and Amanda being pro-active - for maybe the first time ever? - about their own happiness.

And that's worth raising a glass to, during this rapidly-approaching holiday season. Am I right?

Screening Log - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

I'd be lying if I said Sisterhood 2 was everything I hoped it would be.

But then again, with this kind of movie, sometimes you have to blame the hopes, not the flick.

Though I didn't know it at the time, Sisterhood 1 set an impossible task for its sequel. (Yep, even more so than usual.) It messed with a couple of key plot lines from the first book, thus leaving any future films based on the other books to either, a) attempt some serious plotting acrobatics, or b) diverge entirely.

Either would have been tricky. But the producers of the sequel, instead, opted to land somewhere in the middle: mashing together plots from all three remaining books (hence the acrobatics) while also omitting generously, and even making a few things up where it suited them. (Funny, didn't one of the characters have a quasi-affair with a married man in the print version? Yeah, I thought so too. But that wouldn't fly with the under-12 set, would it?)

I know, I know. Comparisons to "the book version" are tiresome - but in this case, where some plot lines have been entirely altered or omitted (and not all that adeptly), they're hard to avoid. To my eye, as someone who's read the books, the narrative felt rushed and awkward. I'd guess even film-only Sisterhood fans would feel the same way. (Carmen's mom got married? What about her father and stepfamily? Brian and Tibby are together, and Lena and Kostos aren't? Wha...?)

Okay, enough about the plotting. The gals were great - Amber Tamblyn in particular impressed me - and still had that natural, fun, "BFFs 4eva!" vibe. The eye candy on display was man-tastic throughout. (Who knew Leonardo "The Perfect Score" Nam was hiding those goodies under his ironic t-shirts?) And, of course, the flick provided that gooey, feel-good Sisterhood message that we all (okay, some of us) know and love.

Sure, they dropped some of my favorite sub-plots. I can always re-read the books the next time I hit a beach, and in the meantime, I'm going to bed smiling.

Just a reminder: Here's what I thought of the first installment.

Ricky Gervais Does Rom-Com?

Yep, Britain's own Most Cringe-Inducing Man (beating out Steve Coogan and, uh, dozens of other "awkward is funny" comedians in a tight race) is playing a romantic lead in his next film.

It's called Ghost Town. Here's what CBC had to say:

In the film, Gervais portrays a cranky ex-pat British dentist who is suddenly able to see ghosts. They, naturally, want to use him to liaise with the world of the living, especially Kinnear, who seeks to disrupt the romantic life of his widow.

"I just thought 'I can do this. This is me … I don't need to be George Clooney or Brad Pitt,'" Gervais said, also dubbing the film funny, sweet and perfect.

Admitting to being generally intimidated by the experience of co-stars like Greg Kinnear, one thing that did concern Gervais was avoiding the trappings of a typical romance.

"My fear was people thinking I was taking myself too seriously," he said. "I didn't [want] that thing where the music swells up and I get the girl and that's just the way because it'd be nauseating."

But you DO get the girl, right, Ricky??

The flick opens September 19. Here's the trailer:

Coming Soon - The House Bunny

I was about ready to write this one off from the first time I got wind of its existence - but then, tonight, my eye caught the CBC headline: 'The House Bunny is funnier (and less sexist) than it looks.'

Huh? Really?

Jason Anderson writes:

Some may find it depressing to learn that a lowbrow comedy about a former Playboy bunny who becomes a sorority house mother is one of the few recent Hollywood movies to be marketed chiefly on the basis of its female star (Anna Faris) and one of an equally tiny number to be written and largely co-produced by women.

But you’ve got to turn that frown upside down, sunshine; consider this a lesson in post-post-post-feminism. Any bitter aftertaste related to experiencing The House Bunny is mitigated by two factors: 1) Faris is the most gifted comedienne working in Hollywood today; and 2) the movie is often very funny.

Hey, I was wrong about Legally Blonde the first time around. (Though I make no apologies for pre-judging the sequel...) So maybe I ought to give this flick a chance, too?

The House Bunny opens tomorrow. Here's the trailer:

Spreading the Chick Flick Love!

Well, it's official. I have my first published, paid, chick-flick-related clip. It's the first step on the road to global rom-com domination.

Here it is: a Speaker's Corner essay at World Hum, called Affairs To Remember - On-Screen and Off.

And here's the accompanying Top 10 list of "Euro-romances" - movies in which two characters meet on holiday in Europe and fall "suddenly, inexplicably, madly in love".

Screening Log - Definitely, Maybe

Okay, first of all: Would the real Ryan Reynolds please stand up?

Because I never figured the guy who made his name as Van Wilder would be able to pull off the role of Will Hayes in this flick.

In case you're not already familiar with the story: Will Hayes is in the midst of a divorce. As she tries to come to terms with the change, his daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) asks him about his past loves, and how he wound up with her mother in the end. He agrees to tell the story, without revealing which of the three women is actually his soon-to-be ex-wife.

The tale is told in flashbacks, and Reynolds is the key player. It's no easy task to play a single dad, an earnest young college grad, and the leading man in three different romances - all in one movie. The way the character woman-hops alone could be enough to put the audience off, but Ryan Reynolds pulls it off completely. He's believable, endearing, and offers up a huge range of emotion with subtlety I never knew he was capable of. Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher all do fine jobs as the leading ladies, but for me the real story is about Will and his daughter - and Reynolds and Breslin connect in those roles really well. On top of that, the script is funny and smart, and the New York scenery is the icing on the cake.

Definitely, Maybe is a reminder of what the genre is capable of - I don't know if this one will go on my annual re-watch list, but I sure enjoyed it this time around.

Screening Log - Step Up 2: The Streets

This latest variation on the 'hip hop meets ballet/ballroom' dance movie is so formulaic, it almost could have come straight from those plotting graphs my high school writing teacher used to hand out. Remember that early peak, where the protagonist meets a challenge from the antagonist and loses badly, only to return to face down that same challenge victoriously in the finale?

In Step Up 2, that translates to: Team of misfits puts together a dance crew and eventually challenges the reigning champs at a club, where they get stomped. Later, they face down those same reigning champs in a final contest. (Spoilers? Come on. You already knew they win in the end.) Insert a couple of romantic sub-plots, and you've got yourself a movie. The formula is tried and true. Don't believe me? Hey, guess what - if you substitute 'dance crew' and 'reigning champs' for 'Team USA' and 'Team Iceland', and 'club' and 'final contest' for 'World Junior Hockey Championships', you wind up with D2: The Mighty Ducks.

All that being said, though - a formulaic plot didn't stop me from enjoying some great dancing and lots of pretty people. Briana Evigan pulls off her role as simultaneously tough and feminine Andie, and by the standards of this sort of movie, she makes a relatively interesting female lead.

The bottom line is this: Step Up 2 is a fun riff on an old theme. If you liked Step Up 2's predecessors, you'll like this one, too.

Last one, I promise

How could I forget? One last Sex and the City link - my own round-up of SATC tour info, over at World Hum:

Move Over, Frodo: 'Sex and the City' Tourism Takes Off