He’s Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009)

Region 1 Warner (USA)
NTSC, 2.35:1 16x9 enhanced and 1.33:1 Pan-&-Scan
129 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, Spanish
Extras: deleted scenes with optional audio commentary; previews for other products; Digital Copy code

Released: 2 June 2009

I’m willing to give most genres a chance to prove their worth, but Romantic Comedies generally earn a big FAIL. They develop contrived barriers separating people from couplehood, and their endings are filled with “everything’s okay” blarney of the most putrid order that viewers should be offended by the stinking offal on display. Yet, rom-coms (especially the bad ones, apparently) usually enjoy healthy box-office grosses. This goes to show you that the average person wants to laugh at other people’s miseries and to be coddled.

He’s Just Not That Into You features a cast with a surprising amount of big names--Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson. Even Kris Kristofferson appears in this movie. Many of these actors are talented performers with winning personas (both on-screen and off-screen). I don’t know what possessed them to play such irritating, morally detestable, or unprincipled characters. The writing is so bad that Ben Affleck’s character doesn’t stick to his guns and caves to heteronormative social norms. The writing is so bad that Drew Barrymore’s character, the one character who seems like a normal and nice person, ends up dating a chode. I guess Barrymore has no one to blame but herself, though, as she is listed as one of the executive producers and probably played an important part in developing the movie.

Maybe He’s Just Not That Into You is bad the way that David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is--the filmmakers are actually laughing at people who like this kind of muck.

Video:
The DVD is a two-sided platter. One side has a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image, and the other side has a 1.33:1 Pan-&-Scan hack job. The widescreen image looks like a typical contemporary rom-com (glossy veneer, bright colors) with few compression problems. The Pan-&-Scan looks worse than the original composition, and not just because the picture has been cropped. Perhaps because the Pan-&-Scan process involves zooming in on the center portion of the picture, there is a noticeable loss of resolution; objects are muddier than what you see with the widescreen version.

Audio:
Perhaps due to contractual reasons or perhaps due to New Line becoming a shell of its former self, Warner seems to be releasing New-Line branded movies with only DD 5.1 English tracks and no dubs. There’s not much to report beyond the obvious. The audio is front-biased with some stereo separation for loud and obnoxious music. The rears and the subwoofer spring to life sporadically. Mostly, you just get dialogue from the center channel.

Extras:
Both sides offer the same extras. There are front-loaded previews for other products, and you get a handful of deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by the director. Considering that the movie is too long by at least 45 minutes, some of the movie should’ve been moved into the Extras category.

--Miscellaneous--
An insert advertises the CD soundtrack, and you also get a Digital Copy code.