Maybe Too Much Information
Just in time for Valentine's Day comes a film about the restorative powers of divorce. "Definitely, Maybe," from the producers of "Love, Actually" and "Notting Hill," steals a comma splice from one of its predecessors and the premise from a CBS sitcom to create an often witty, if flawed, romantic comedy.
As the film opens, advertising executive Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) receives divorce papers on his way to pick up his daughter from school. When he greets 10-year-old Maya (Abigail Breslin), he learns that she has attended her first sex education class. Disturbed by the new sexual terminology she enjoys using, Will proceeds to give her the story, in all its gritty detail, of how he came to marry her mother.
But unlike CBS's "How I Met Your Mother," "Definitely, Maybe" fails to draw a line between the reality of adult events and the version the child hears. The film proudly displays its parental honesty, but goes on to demonstrate why many parents choose to shield their children from the truth. Will introduces young Maya to such exciting concepts as threesomes, lesbianism, and his own general "sluttiness."
The self-possessed Ms. Breslin makes the best of any regrettable situation she's dropped into — notably in her striptease routine in 2006's "Little Miss Sunshine" — but adding a few years to the daughter's age could have helped this film in various places. The pint-sized Ms. Breslin exhibits charms far beyond her years, but "Definitely, Maybe" treats her presence as a plot device necessary solely to advance the story. Director Adam Brooks ("Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," "Wimbledon") has filled "Definitely, Maybe" with plenty of charming scenes and meet-cutes, but his film repeatedly gets stuck in the kind of territory most parents try to avoid, such as having a phrase such as "I never knew you smoked and drank and were such a slut" come out of a child's mouth. The sweet moments will satisfy those looking for a light romantic comedy, and diversions such as Kevin Kline, as the hypersexed Hampton Roth, keep the entertainment value up. But conflating the tropes of romantic comedy and children's storytelling undermines the story line, despite the adeptness of the producers with multi-leveled comedy, some whip-smart banter, and strong performances.
Mr. Reynolds does well as the drifting Will, who thinks he has got his life together but is repeatedly reminded of his flawed judgment. The Canadian actor has a skill with fast dialogue and adds helpful humor to romantic scenes, but is often upstaged by his female co-stars who, apart from Ms. Breslin, play Will's old flames. Rachel Weisz plays Summer with an intellectual sex appeal, and though Elizabeth Banks often seems as if she is playing a female "Baxter," Isla Fisher more than makes up for any dearth of charm in the film, or even her character, with a light, flirtatious performance.
Any of these three women could be the film's leading lady, a fact that helps the suspense but eventually kills the story. Will wants desperately to settle down, and whichever lovely woman likes him for long enough will suffice. "Definitely, Maybe" is so busy shedding the trappings of fairy tale that it fails to get behind its own storytelling. Maya barely has time to deal with the reality of her parents splitting before she's needed to fix her father's new dating life. Ten-year-olds today might be maturing at a faster rate than in previous decades, but it's hard to imagine any preteen encouraging her father to pursue a woman other than her own mother. Maya might be scarred by the information her father gives her during this story, but at least she'll have plenty of fodder to use against him in the divorce proceedings.
mkeane@nysun.com
