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IT'S A LONG STORY: Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin play father and daughter in “Definitely, Maybe.”

Universal

Are you a ’90s kind of guy? ‘Definitely, Maybe’ you’ll love this film

By Craig Outhier, Get Out

February 14, 2008

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If you’re like me — which is to say, an aging Gen X male — maybe you remember the first time you heard a Nirvana song. It was 1991. I was at a party. The track was “About a Girl,” and it rocked my little flannel-and-Birkenstocks world.

One of the characters in Adam Brooks’ “Definitely, Maybe” has a virtually identical moment, a fact I offer not as an endorsement, but as a disclaimer. Indeed, I was thoroughly amused by this movie, but keep in mind — I’m precisely the kind of romantic-comedy grinch at whom Brooks skillfully takes aim. I’m not saying you won’t like “Definitely, Maybe” if you don’t meet the above criteria. However, you might not find it as funny, moving and eerily prescient.

Ryan Reynolds plays New York ad exec Will Hayes, and he’s not an immediately likable fellow. Strutting down Madison Avenue with his wireless earphones and hundred-dollar haircut, he looks more like an iPod ad than a sympathetic character. I experienced anxiety watching Will: Is this what modern media professionals are really supposed to look like?

Thankfully, the man’s insufferability is only opening credits-deep. With divorce papers tucked into his briefcase, Will fetches 11-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) from school. Naturally, the plucky, precocious Maya is upset about the divorce, but she puts on a brave face. More to the point, she’s curious to know how her parents met. Reluctantly, Will agrees to spill his romantic history, fashioning it as a bedtime story, with the names changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Will recounts his years as a volunteer for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and the three women with whom he had life-altering relationships. First, there’s college sweetheart “Emily” (Elizabeth Banks from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”). Later, he makes a love connection with “Summer” (Rachel Weisz), an aspiring journalist living with a gone-to-seed academic (Kevin Kline). Finally, there’s April (“Wedding Crashers” fruit loop Isla Fisher), a bright but aimless Clinton volunteer who collects copies of “Jane Eyre” as a sentimental homage to her dead father.

Brooks — the “Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason” screenwriter — doesn’t mean to compare April to the Emily Bronte heroine; in fact, it’s Will who has the years-long journey of self. Reynolds has pitch-perfect rapport with each of the female co-stars.

That’s especially true of Breslin, the Oscar-nominated child star of “Little Miss Sunshine.” Sure, the idea of a grown man spilling his romantic history to his daughter sounds slightly unsavory, but then, the institution of divorce is slightly unsavory, too.

“Definitely, Maybe” is ambiguous about romantic love. In Brooks’ estimation, it’s all about timing, not destiny. But about fatherly love, the movie leaves nothing to chance. Will opens up to Maya, puts her in his adult confidence, as it were, because the betrayal of a broken home demands a proportional gesture of trust. Yeah, “Definitely, Maybe” is “about a girl,” but it isn’t any of the adult ones.

Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683

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