Warning: The views expressed in this review are solely those of Matthew Toomey and may not be a true reflection of the general public.

He’s Just Not That Into You is a dreadful film. It’s about a bunch of shallow, superficial people trying to justify to themselves why they can’t find the perfect guy/girl. Some of them are borderline psychotic. This isn’t a drama though. It’s packaged as some fluffy romantic comedy which is supposed to make us feel good. I left the theatre feeling angry.

The film is based on the self-help book which was first published in 2004. The two people responsible, Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, got the idea from an episode of Sex And The City. I haven’t read the book and I have no desire to having seen this film. I don’t want people thinking I’m on some tirade against "chick flicks" so I will confess at this point that I liked the Sex And The City television series. It has the depth and intelligence that this film is sorely lacking in its exploration of friendships and relationships.

There are nine high-profile actors in this ensemble so let me quickly rush through them. There’s a married guy being seduced by a young wanna-be singer. There’s a married woman trapped in a loveless marriage. There’s a man and a woman who are in a long-term relationship but disagree over whether they should tie the knot. There’s a real estate agent who doesn’t know where he stands. There’s a chick who dates guys she meets on MySpace. There’s a bar manager helping a neurotic young girl understand what men think.

It all adds up to a waste of time. Is there any reason why it needed to be a whopping 129 minutes in length? The ending is the worst part about this movie. They try to wrap everything up in a neat little package to reaffirm our belief that if we’re nice people, we’ll find happiness and if we cheat on our spouses, we’ll be miserable for the rest of our lives. These fantasy type films have their place in our world but I object to this one in particular. It’s just too phoney.

As much as I disliked He’s Just Not That Into You, it has ticked one box in that it will generate discussion. It inspired me to write this review and I have shared my thoughts with several friends since I saw it. I would rather have seen this film, which fired me up, than something that left me feeling more ho-hum. I just love talking about movies.

This film was released in the United States last weekend and it topped the box-office with a very strong showing. When I attended a preview screening earlier this week, many laughs could be heard. For this reason, once again, I think I’m in the minority. Am I just a miserable old Grinch? Or am I just one of the few people who are just not that into this.