CINEMA: Definitely, Maybe

Take one single dad (Ryan Reynolds), his far too precocious 10-year-old daughter (Abigail Breslin) and a bedtime story loosely based on the three great loves of his life and guess whether or not there will be a happy ending. Of course there will be because this is Hollywood schmaltz of the worst kind.

Told as a series of flashbacks as Will (Reynolds) relates the story of his rather complicated romantic entanglements to daughter Maya (Brelin), we learn all about Will’s college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks), his affair with free-spirited Summer (Rachel Weisz), and his long-term friendship with dependable April (Isla Fisher). But which one of this winsome trio will he eventually end up with? It won’t be long before you’ve guessed exactly who she is because the writing is so ineffectual and the plot so puny, the answer makes itself obvious way before the eventual denouement arrives.

It’s all rather fluffy and cute with the only vim being injected by an unacknowledged cameo from Kevin Kline as an ascerbic and totally un-PC author.

We’ve had a run of these limp, vapid romcoms lately – time for someone to up the ante and give us something with real bite and wit.
Dee Pilgrim