Here’s a tip for the marketing department handling New Line’s He’s Just Not That Into You: telling guys what isn’t in your movie is not going to get them to see it. Why? Because most guys who hate chick flicks aren’t going to recognize the 10 chick flick cliches you purport are absent from the movie. I’m not a guy’s guy, and I watch a ton of movies, yet even I am not familiar with many of the genre’s conventions. Also: having three of the male leads from HJNTIY mock and act out these cliche scenarios is just going to turn guys off more. The promise of a scene featuring a skinny dipping Scarlett Johansson (even if it is non-nude) would obviously be a much better sell to men than an all-male recreation of a “falling in love montage.”
Unfortunately, my advice comes too late, and HJNTIY already has a viral video in which Justin Long, Bradley Cooper and Kevin Connolly address male moviegoers in order to tell them that their new movie isn’t like most chick flicks and that guys “might even like it.” The six-minute clip reeks of desperation and misdirection, and if anything it should make guys even less interested.
However, I don’t think it is impossible for guys to like this movie, even if it does seem more appropriate for groups of women rather than couples (ladies, be warned: your date may just not be that into you after you drag him to this movie). Occasionally, supposed chick flicks are actually accessible to guys, like last year’s male fantasy film Definitely, Maybe. But like with quiche and Project Runway, us guys can only discover this fact for ourselves accidentally. Not through bad gender-targeted marketing.
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