not-dat-in2-u

Gigi: Girls are taught a lot of stuff growing up. If a guy punches you he likes you. Never try to trim your own bangs and someday you will meet a wonderful guy and get your very own happy ending. Every movie we see, Every story we're told implores us to wait for it, the third act twist, the unexpected declaration of love, the exception to the rule. But sometimes we're so focused on finding our happy ending we don't learn how to read the signs. How to tell from the ones who want us and the ones who don't, the ones who will stay and the ones who will leave. And maybe a happy ending doesn't include a guy, maybe... it's you, on your own, picking up the pieces and starting over, freeing yourself up for something better in the future. Maybe the happy ending is... just... moving on. Or maybe the happy ending is this, knowing after all the unreturned phone calls, broken-hearts, through the blunders and misread signals, through all the pain and embarrassment you never gave up hope.

formulaic ensemble about finding the one and misreading human behavior and reaction, he's just not that into you boasted of some of the hollywood rom-com's staple: aniston, barrymore, affleck, cooper, as well as more capable actors such as connelly, johansson and goodwin. i've seen my fair share of romcoms but this one just doesn't compare to love actually or 500 days of summer. when i said formulaic, it is what it is. you already know that gigi will end up with alex even if he wasn't attracted with her at all; after beth dumps him because he didn't want to get married, neil eventually came back and did that kneeling position, asked her to get married; mary, who dates online, finally meets her date face-to-face; janine, who's blaming herself for the failure of her marriage with ben, finally decides to seek divorce and of course, ben, the cheating husband, was also dumped by anna, even if there was an obvious connection, while anna chose not to go into a serious relationship, probably out of guilt from cavorting with a married man and wanted to pursue a career in singing.

while doing late night cooking and finishing weekend cleaning, i watched this movie over at hbo... just an alternative to regular pinoy tv programming. next flick please!