Other comments have called this movie "intelligent" and claim that although our plucky lead is obviously too verbose to be believable, it's still a refreshing portrayal of the college-male psyche. Unfortunately, it takes a little more than a well-versed guy who has some strong opinions about men and women to forge a good romantic comedy.
Either a rom-com is total fluff, in which men and women speak in bouncy blips of whitewashed cuteness, and everything predictably turns out OK ("The Holiday," "Because I Said So," or any other nonsense) OR it's the smarter kind, with men and women speaking like real men and women, and the relationship between them portrayed a little more real as well (i.e. "When Harry Met Sally" or "Knocked Up"). You have to pick one -- it can't be both ways. A movie in which young men sit around waxing sexuality needs a realistic plot to compliment its didactic "insights" into the real world of men and women, something like "Clerks" did. In this tripe, Matt's alleged brilliant perception is juxtaposed with an absurd, simplistic plot and the most one-dimensional stock characters since "Porky's." Are we supposed to take it seriously or not? The worst part is that while Matt's insight is totally subjective and problematic, it's presented as scripture with no one questioning it. At least when Randall runs his month with all of his crazy theories, Dante (and others) present discord. In this one, especially when so many of his opinions are presented as voice-over, there's no one to question it (i.e. he warns us early to always be wary of girls who don't wear makeup, and any guy who has a single female friend is left shaking his head in awe). We don't get any help from the female characters, who either smile and marvel at Matt's dogmatic spew (i.e. Wendy) or argue with him initially but then eventually come around (i.e. Arlene). He never grows or changes, and since his opinions are the only interesting thing about the movie (given that there's barely a plot), we're left feeling flat.
I just can't deal with a movie whose writer apparently feels like the best way to endear us to his lead is to have Matt speak in a laundry list of angry-loner-guy sexist drivel and snarky "questions of life" like the ones that were floating around the internet circa 1998 (I was half expecting him to charm some girl by asking, "so, why don't sheep shrink when it rains?"). Or maybe it'd be better to make us like him by having him sneak into girls' rooms under false auspices, dress up like a girl and lie to them, and never pay for either. Or maybe he should get all self-righteous and call his roommate sexist and then display exactly the same closed-mindedness that he condemns. Try not to be annoyed when he vents his anti-feminist "everyone is a sexist, guys and girls" idiocy in front of his demonized women's studies professor and ALL THE GIRLS IN THE CLASS immediately applaud him. Lucky Matt, the one guy who understands, lost somewhere in a mindless movie full of mindless girls.
Either a rom-com is total fluff, in which men and women speak in bouncy blips of whitewashed cuteness, and everything predictably turns out OK ("The Holiday," "Because I Said So," or any other nonsense) OR it's the smarter kind, with men and women speaking like real men and women, and the relationship between them portrayed a little more real as well (i.e. "When Harry Met Sally" or "Knocked Up"). You have to pick one -- it can't be both ways. A movie in which young men sit around waxing sexuality needs a realistic plot to compliment its didactic "insights" into the real world of men and women, something like "Clerks" did. In this tripe, Matt's alleged brilliant perception is juxtaposed with an absurd, simplistic plot and the most one-dimensional stock characters since "Porky's." Are we supposed to take it seriously or not? The worst part is that while Matt's insight is totally subjective and problematic, it's presented as scripture with no one questioning it. At least when Randall runs his month with all of his crazy theories, Dante (and others) present discord. In this one, especially when so many of his opinions are presented as voice-over, there's no one to question it (i.e. he warns us early to always be wary of girls who don't wear makeup, and any guy who has a single female friend is left shaking his head in awe). We don't get any help from the female characters, who either smile and marvel at Matt's dogmatic spew (i.e. Wendy) or argue with him initially but then eventually come around (i.e. Arlene). He never grows or changes, and since his opinions are the only interesting thing about the movie (given that there's barely a plot), we're left feeling flat.
I just can't deal with a movie whose writer apparently feels like the best way to endear us to his lead is to have Matt speak in a laundry list of angry-loner-guy sexist drivel and snarky "questions of life" like the ones that were floating around the internet circa 1998 (I was half expecting him to charm some girl by asking, "so, why don't sheep shrink when it rains?"). Or maybe it'd be better to make us like him by having him sneak into girls' rooms under false auspices, dress up like a girl and lie to them, and never pay for either. Or maybe he should get all self-righteous and call his roommate sexist and then display exactly the same closed-mindedness that he condemns. Try not to be annoyed when he vents his anti-feminist "everyone is a sexist, guys and girls" idiocy in front of his demonized women's studies professor and ALL THE GIRLS IN THE CLASS immediately applaud him. Lucky Matt, the one guy who understands, lost somewhere in a mindless movie full of mindless girls.