Movie #198 2020: Definitely, Maybe (2008)

You know those movies that you finish and then just think ‘there is no reason for this movie to exist?’ That’s Definitely, Maybe.

Based around the story of single father, Will (Ryan Reynolds) telling the story of how he met her daughter’s mother, and the girlfriends he had prior to that. Daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) then spots an opportunity that he hadn’t: how to make amends with the woman from his past that he truly loved.

Let’s start with the positives. This movie is fairly entertaining and comes with a great format. It’s actually quite an interesting format in the way that not many ‘chick flicks’ of a similar ilk are laid out in this way. That’s about it for positives of the story itself, I’m afraid.

A more successful asset is the casting choice and the performances by the actors. Ryan Reynolds is – oddly – not irritating! It’s no secret that I’m not his biggest fan; his cockiness and his weird tone of voice just grate on me in a big way. But here, it’s great to see him playing a normal person (not a dickhead superhero) with a normal voice, and I just wish he’d accept more roles like this one because a) he’s good at it, and b) it makes him far easier to tolerate. Rachel Weisz also puts an unnecessarily good performance into this bang average movie, which is just confirmation that she deserves better always.

So, the negatives.

Plot-wise, it’s not all that riveting. I was fond of the way they set the majority of the story back in 1992, but that’s about it. It’s all just your obvious ‘boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy dates other girls, boy realises he misses the original girl’ type of deal. Nothing is groundbreaking or out of the ordinary, and the entire movie ends up being extremely forgettable.

Quite pivotal to how this movie could have been saved is how they handle the conclusion. However, the ending drags for way too long, and overall this is just a very “meh” love story that isn’t very significant. I guess if you’re into ‘chick flicks’ with an all-white cast you’d enjoy it? Or would you? I don’t even know. I’m not a huge fan of this type of movie anyway, but there are some within the genre that really make an impression. This is not one of them.

Best way to use this movie? As background noise.

Definitely, Maybe is available to rent on Amazon for £2.49.

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