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Definitely, Maybe (2008) More at IMDbPro »

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136 comments in total

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145 out of 216 people found the following comment useful :-
Saw an advance screening and actually enjoyed it!, 18 January 2008

Author: ucanusemy from Jersey City, NJ

and that's saying a lot since I'm not a "romantic comedy" kind of gal.

The little girl is fabulous. Good casting. She's adorable without being perfect. Kevin Kline was an absolute delight as an unapologetic drunken writer/professor who also happens to be quite full of himself. Rachel Weisz (whom I normally do not care for) was completely (and unexpectedly) charming. Ryan Reynolds was also a good casting choice. Unexpectedly believable as a dad.

The bulk of the movie is him explaining to his daughter, bedtime story style (told entirely in flashbacks) about love and how he met her mother, with her being the proverbial "happy ending". Except ... she seems to be the only one who notices that her Dad really isn't happy at all. Isla Fisher also shines. Watching her character grow from someone who is completely devoid of any direction or purpose into a real woman, complete with self-esteem, was a nice touch.

Loved the relationship stories. It's amazing what you don't see when you are in a relationship, only to come to a realization much later. Anyone who has ever traded a trip on the QEII for a proverbial three hour tour on the S.S. Minnow relationship-wise will totally relate.

The fact that Ryan Reynolds sometimes gets so carried away with the story that he forgets he is talking to a little girl leads to a few (ok, so it's a lot) contrived chuckles along with a couple of genuinely funny moments.

It's not going to win an Oscar or break a box office record, but if you want a completely enjoyable two hour escape ... see this movie.

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140 out of 213 people found the following comment useful :-
Seen worse. Seen a whole lot worse., 11 February 2008

Author: stephenm-18 from United Kingdom

For some people, the romantic comedy genre is there to be sneered at. It's a lower art form subscribed to by the uneducated masses, the same plot regurgitated through a word processor with names, dates and locations changed: ("Girl meets boy, she's feisty, he's snobbish, they don't see eye to eye - How oh how are they ever going to end up together by the end of the movie?"). Admittedly, I'm not the biggest advocate of the ol' romcom, but this film falls into the "watchable" category of romantic comedy. Of course it's phoney and sugar-coated. Of course it has no resemblance to real life -

For goodness' sake it's a romantic comedy! If it wasn't shallow and improbable it'd be called a "drama"! I don't understand people who post comments on this site, taking potshots at films like this for being dumb and schmaltzy. Look at the poster before you go in. If it's got young people with good teeth on the poster, the title is a bit twee and the font is in pastel shades, chances are, it's a romantic comedy. If you don't like that kind of thing don't go in!

Anyway, my girlfriend took me to see this film yesterday (missed Cloverfield) but it was OK. Seriously. It was OK.

Ryan Reynolds is a solid enough lead, with enough comic talent to keep things ticking over. Abigail Breslin is charming too. Kevin Kline seems to growing gracefully into more senior roles, and Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks and Isla Fisher are all comfortable enough as Reynold's love interests.

The script isn't belly-laugh funny but it has it's moments, there's some good use of news footage from the time in which the story is set, and the plot ticks over nicely. There's also a bit of guessing for the audience too, and my bet is you'll stay to end if only to find out how it finishes.

So there it is: a better than average romantic comedy. Not weighty. Not cerebral. Not challenging. Just a mildly diverting story, about a nice bunch of nice looking people having a nice time and getting their nice little lives sorted out. Nicely.

To give this film the scathing it's had in some quarters, is like a food critic cruelly reviewing a bag of crisps. That is to say this film is not meant to be "food for thought" it's just a snack. And if you get your kicks out of inflating your own ego by raving about how much a dumb film like this offended your sensibilities, then "for shame!" is all I can say. You weren't led blindfolded into the cinema. You knew what you were getting into. It should have been obvious from the poster that this film is a romcom.

Trust me, as a man that's been dragged to more than his fair share of romcoms, this one is by no means bad.

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74 out of 109 people found the following comment useful :-
Definitely a must see movie, 9 April 2008

Author: robertallenandersonjr from United States

I just saw this movie today and I loved it. I was the only teenage guy in the theatre also. The movie had a great message to it about always being happy. The little girl in this movie was also great she brought a lot to this movie, with out her this would not have been a good movie. The acting was good and the direction was especially good as well. I saw this with my dad today and it brought tears to his eyes. So this movie was also a tear jerker. For someone that loves romantic comedy movies I think would love this movie. It was a little slow moving but I kind of expected it to be. After it got near the end of the movie though it really got you thinking and wishing for him to end up with the girl he was meant to be with. It kind of also took little twists which were good as well. Ryan Reynolds did a terrific job in this movie playing a father who is going through a divorce. Then his daughter tries to help him find his true love. This movie was everything I hoped for so I think that you should definitely take someone to see this movie and have a great time.

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50 out of 68 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: Definitely, Maybe, 13 April 2008
Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

One guy and the four loves of his life. Writer-director Adam Brooks paints a very romantic tale that I could have seen some personal relation to, and reinforces the notion that perhaps timing is everything. You may have met the most perfect person whom you believe to be able to forge a relationship with, but circumstances sometimes will decide otherwise, and when it happens, it's way beyond one's control.

Abigail Breslin burst onto the scene with Little Miss Sunshine, and hasn't been looking back since. Given Dakota Fanning's been past her age for such roles (yeah, they disappear come adolescent and may return once they enter young adulthood), Breslin's now having the world fawn over her performances (next up, Nim's Island), and here she has great chemistry with Ryan Reynolds, even if Reynolds might look a little too young to be playing her dad.

But Definitely, Maybe's not all about Breslin as it serves more of a romantic comedy with Ryan Reynolds taking on the lead man-boy role as the father who has to satisfy the curiosity of his daughter Maya (Breslin), who's given a headstart in life thanks to a rather candidly explicit sexual education lesson. In wanting to find out if she's an accident because of her parent's impending divorce, she gets her dad to recount his love life history in a romance- mystery, changing names in order for her to guess who her mom is.

And so begins a tale which harks back to college days where most of us have their perennial sweetheart, and from there we follow Will Hayes (Reynolds) as he goes to New York to work on the Democrat ticket for Bill Clinton's election. Then on he meets the other 2 lovers April (Isla Fisher), the photocopy girl who bickers and banters with him in office, and Summer (Rachel Weisz), who's into much older men.

It's probably easy for me to connect with the messy love life of Will's as he flits into and out of favour and love with all three women at one point in time or another, what with his long distance relationship not working out with Emily (Elizabeth Banks), having sharing instant connection with April but they're always seeing different partners and being unavailable, and with Summer, it boiled down to professional differences having to take its toil on the relationship, because one's not willing to sacrifice for the other. I thought these were really real issues that would creep in and how well it works out, will again depend on timing and circumstances.

But the mystery portion turned out to be somewhat a letdown as it was abruptly solved, perhaps knowing that the game is up and there's nothing else interesting to hold it down together. That doesn't detract the movie from moving on to the more important last act though, which I found to be immensely moving, well, again based on personal reflection on what could be. The other moment that stood out (I told you this was quite personal) was that bit on the brushing of the hair. I remembered quite clearly I was on the receiving end of something like that too, which took me by pleasant surprise when it happened. It's easy too with Will, as his taking a hiatus from the dating scene to focus on his professional life, resembled my mindset at some stage too.

Anyway, what also made the movie stand out, was its setting in and weaving through the 90s tracing Bill Clinton's rise and fall, a period where I and some of you, grew up in, what with all the pop culture of the time referenced, as well as the music. The soundtrack's peppered with songs that defined the era (Nirvana, anyone?) and having Massive Attack on it, is always a massive boost for me since they're one of my favourite trip-hop bands. A Clint Mansell score on top of it all, makes this movie musically a breeze to sit through.

Definitely, maybe a winner? But of course! It's definitely highly recommended, and goes into my books as a contender for movie of the year since I enjoyed so many moments of it, cheesy goosebumps and all. Oh, and I would surely welcome and get for myself those wireless earphones.

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67 out of 107 people found the following comment useful :-
A nice romantic movie for the nostalgic viewer, 20 February 2008

Author: bcastori-1 from United States

As usual with romantic comedies, don't believe much of the negative critique you read about this movie. The move is very entertaining, very romantic, and will play on your nostalgic side if you have one. If you're a 20 something that has been in and out of some significant relationships, this will hit close to home, in a positive way. I wouldn't suggest this movie for a first date because it's not quite light-hearted and happy enough. Watch this one on a second or third date OR watch it with someone you've known for a while who you are about to reveal your feelings to. I promise you - it'll set you up nicely...

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37 out of 52 people found the following comment useful :-
Good movie., 23 April 2008

Author: godzillandg from United States

I heard about this movie almost a year before it came out. I'm a big Ryan Reynolds fan. I wondered if the movie would ever come out and then I heard it was going to be released on V-day. "YES!" I thought "finally". Then the girl I went to see the movie with was five minutes late so that meant that I missed the set up to the movie. But the movie was utterly enjoyable just the same.

I like the idea of mysterious romantic comedy. Where we don't quite know who the mother is. But it is pretty clear who he wants to be with. And you know that's enough. The story was well crafted, the players were phenomenal, and the experience unforgettable. I really enjoyed this movie because, well, it's the guys point of view. All "chick flicks" are from the woman's point of view, it degrades the man in most cases except for "the one" that the girl is meant to be with but he does something to tick her off so therefore all men are scum. In this, yes we address the issue of men are scum, but we move into the unfamiliar territory of men and their emotions. We don't want women to know that we have a side like that but it is there just the same.

Oh! Whoops! I loved the interplay between Ryan and his on-screen daughter. Where he would go off into something that he should be changing and then realizes it is much to late to go back, so he does what any normal parent would do. He lies. He lies his butt off to dig himself out of the hole he is burying himself in.

The end of the movie is good to... but I won't go into that here. See the movie when you can. I think you'll enjoy it.

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43 out of 70 people found the following comment useful :-
Definitely Watchable, 28 February 2008

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

When I first saw the trailer for Definitely, Maybe, it looked like an alright film that was probably just your average Valentine's Day love fest movie. But I got to see it for free, if the price is right, why not? So I watched it and actually I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Ryan Renolds, I love the guy in comedies, I haven't seen him in drama, so I was a little skeptical, but after seeing Definitely, Maybe, he pulled in a good performance that surprised me. The only thing I have to say I was a little disappointed in was Abigail Breslin, her performance in Little Miss Sunshine was wonderful and heart warming, Definitely, Maybe didn't bring in her best performance, who knows? It could've been the script or director, but she pulls a decent enough performance to where the movie works and puts a different twist on the average romantic comedy.

Will Hayes has it all, a great paying job, a beautiful daughter, Maya, and a nice home, but unfortunately he is getting divorced. Maya comes over and wonders how he and her mom met. Will keeps saying no, but after tons of begging, he finally decides to go ahead and tell her. But he puts a little twist, since he went through a few women before her mom came along, he tells her the whole story, but through three women, Maya has to solve the love story mystery and find out who her mother is.

Definitely, Maybe was different than the average romantic comedy and that's what I liked about it, it seemed also like it was just more real and not what women should have expectations about. It goes through the serious up's and down's of a relationship, the on and off's as well. The cast did a good job of pulling the film together and making the film very decent. I would recommend Definitely, Maybe, it's worth the watch and was a pleasant movie to see.

7/10

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75 out of 142 people found the following comment useful :-
Has its heart in the right place but don't expect much outside of a few good performances., 13 February 2008

Author: capggg from Seattle, DC

Decent but contrived comedy that has its heart in the right place but depends more on old plot twists than telling a compelling story. The mystery of who's the mom of Abigail Breslin's character is really easy if you're in tune to the laws of romantic comedies and the story of how it happens just does not jell very well at all. It's more a romantic who dun it than a romantic comedy and you get bored after a while with it, especially when you can see the ending already before the actual film ends. But the film has its heart in the right place and it's not hard to like it, especially if you have a few very good performances that are giving the film more than it deserves. Ryan Reynolds does a great job as the hero of the piece and he has great chemistry with Rachel Weisz, who is just flat out fun, sexy and charismatic. Kevin Klein is fun as well as the other man in Weisz's characters life. Too bad for Reynolds though that both Weisz and Klein are not in the film that much because they are the best things about this movie and while they are not on screen, Reynolds basically has to fiend for himself in dealing with less interesting characters and predicament and that's where the film begins to lose its charm. Isla Fisher is adorable and sweet but there is nothing much to her character that we have not seen before and Elisabeth Banks is fine with a character that she manages to give some life to despite the fact of how one dimensional she is.

The film has a warm heart but it takes quite a lot for it to make the viewer forget how contrived it really is and its loses its focus on what it wants to be and that's not a good thing if you want the viewer to stay interested in it.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Wonderful Casting Makes For A Wonderful Movie, 1 July 2008

Author: Dragoneyed363 from United States

Oh my goodness, this movie was absolutely wonderful!It was so touching and completely entertaining, while being somewhat humorous and overall perfect at the same time.The acting was great, script was great, casting was GREAT.They did a perfect job on this movie and I thought they couldn't have done better.There was some material I found unbelievable, and at one point I felt as if I was loosing interest, but this movie is so uplifting and very sad, but of course happy all at once.It deserves the rating it has, and I hope that many more people will watch it, because it is a great movie, that needs to be spread around for it's wonderfulness.Go see it if you haven't!

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Between a Maybe and a Definitely, 22 February 2009
Author: Senyales from Fraggle Rock

The intention behind Adam Brooks's 'Definitely, Maybe' may be sincere, the film has heart but it's the writing that is disappointing. It could have used more comic sequences as it gets a tad dull at times. Most of the jokes that were used were not even funny, especially that whole sex-ed thing in the beginning (which is the kind of thing you expect in a bad American comedy). There are a few plot holes and the mystery behind 'who the mother is' isn't convincingly told.

Needless to say, 'Definitely, Maybe' is more a romantic drama than a comedy. The execution is quite decent. The cinematography is efficient. The score is not bad. Ryan Reynolds is cast against type. He shows growth as an actor and does a decent job. Rachel Weisz is brilliant as the ambitious and smoldering Summer. Isla Fisher is adorable (even though her role is a bit clichéd). Elizabeth Banks makes the best of her role but the writing lets her down. Provided that she's such an important character, there is too little of her in the movie. Abigail Breslin has her share of annoying moments and bad acting (especially in the beginning) but she's much better in the latter scenes, during the more intense moments. Kevin Kline is hilariously hideous.

'Definitely, Maybe' does have its syrupy moments but they're not overdone to the point of getting irritating. It's quite a decent film, perhaps, a good date movie. It's a shame that the writing is a letdown otherwise the movie could have been more than it is.

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