Review of Definitely, Maybe

There is no worse Valentine’s gift than admission to a movie by director Adam Brooks (Wimbledon). Definitely, Maybe, a story about a man who has three recurring girlfriends and later tells his tale of triplicate love to his daughter during his divorce from her mother, is not the type of romantic movie that will make a person feel overjoyed about being in a relationship. Especially if you are in a relationship with a significant other who has given you the insult of buying you a ticket to this movie.

Definitely, Maybe wavers from the beginning with Ryan Reynolds’ voice-over introduction and a bizarre montage of Will Hayes (Reynolds) walking around New York to the tune of “Everyday People.” When Will picks up his daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), from school, he discovers that she has just learned about sex. Maya questions Will all the way home and their conversation somehow leads to Will’s dating life before he married Abigail’s mother.

Creating a “mystery romance” for his daughter’s bedtime story, Will agrees to tell Maya about the three loves he had in his life, without revealing which one turned out to be Maya’s mother. The story jumps back to 1992 when Will leaves his college girlfriend, “Emily” (Elizabeth Banks), behind to work on the Clinton campaign in New York. With occasional disapproving interjections from Maya, the new (or rather, previous) plot revolves around Will’s life in New York without Emily.

Will soon meets April (Isla Fisher), an office worker at the campaign headquarters, and Summer (Rachel Weisz), an old friend of Emily’s. While waiting for Emily to come to New York so he can propose to her, Will manages to get to first base with both April and Summer. So begins a series of ill-fated romantic attempts with all three girls as Will repeatedly falls in love and gets his heart broken.

During this tedious span of five years, the audience is treated to an awkward and inappropriately placed song by Rachel Weisz and intermittent returns to Will’s current life with Maya. Abigail Breslin, playing perhaps the only likeable character in the film, can’t seem to pull much believability out of the clichéd script and uninspired direction. Ryan Reynolds doesn’t show enough emotion until the last twenty minutes of the film to really enamor the audience at all. His interactions with Breslin seem like scraps from some Dane Cook movie. The trio of actresses who play Will’s girlfriends is highlighted by Isla Fisher, but this may be because she is the only one required to show a range of emotions.

After Maya discovers which one of Will’s old love interests is her mother, she tries to get him back together with the woman she decides he will be truly happy with. In the end, Will does reunite with one of his old girlfriends (who could do much better) and the film manages a charming finish. This is, of course, only after a long hour and a half of redundant romantic struggles and a few upsetting appearances from Kevin Kline.

It’s a mystery why this movie was released on Valentine’s Day. An unimpressive story about the confusion and disappointment of love in which every character proves to be unfaithful, it seems unlikely (despite the happy ending) that Definitely, Maybe will be able to rely on the romantic atmosphere of this holiday for a substantial audience.