SNMR 7.3: "Definitely, Maybe"

GREEN'S "DON'T MAKE ME STAPLE YOUR HEAD" REVIEW:

Maya Hayes (Abigail Breslin) is not happy that her parents are getting divorced. She wants her father, Will (Ryan Reynolds) to tell her the story of how he met her mother. He keeps resisting, saying it's too complicated. Finally he relents but tells her that he's going to change the names and some of the facts and see if she can't figure out who her mother is. There are three choices: Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz) and April Hoffman (Isla Fisher). Who is it? I'm not going to tell you.

This is one of the best romantic comedies I've seen recently. The cast is absolutely wonderful. Ryan Reynolds has come a long way since the semi successful television series "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" which ran from 1998-2001, and is actually a fine actor. Abigail Breslin, even at such a young age, gets it. It's going to be fun watching her grow up through the movies she does. Lets just hope she doesn't become one of those child actor turned tragedy stories. I compare her now to a very young Drew Barrymore, who also 'got it' at a very young age.

As for the three actresses who form the core of the story, they are so different yet mesh well together. I'm really not familiar with Elizabeth Banks and don't recall noticing her in movies I've seen, but she has been in some, like the "Spider-Man" films. Rachel Weisz is usually pretty good in her movies, notably "The Runaway Jury" and two of "The Mummy" films. Isla Fisher is absolutely adorable in this film. Makes me want to rent "Confessions of a Shopaholic." Too bad she's engaged to such a putz. Kevin Kline is superb as the alcoholic voice of moral conscience Hampton Roth.

The script is well written and ably directed by Adam Brooks and has a good pace to it. The run time of 112 minutes is perfect. Not too short, so we don't feel like we're missing out on anything, nor too long so we don't get bored.

The DVD has some short but informative extras.

If romantic comedies is your thing, then I think you'll like this one. I can definitely, maybe see adding this DVD to my collection at some point. (And indeed I now have done just that.)

****½ out of *****

Definitely, Maybe (2008, PG-13, 112 minutes) starrng Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks and Kevin Kline. The film was written and directed by Adam Brooks.