If you’re anything like me, then you love it when a good book gets destroyed on the silver screen (Hearts in Atlantis), or the not as likely opposite, when a really bad book (like so bad you wonder how this person got a publisher) becomes a redeemable movie (The Notebook). Actually, if you’re anything like me, then you just love it when books get made into movies, period.
Which brings me to the movie adaptation of the book He’s Just Not That Into You. The book, written in 2004 by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo is inspired by an episode of Sex and the City in which Berger (Carrie’s boyfriend at the time) explains to Miranda that men ARE in fact very simple creatures. If post-date you invite him in and he does not come in, then, as Berger puts it: “He’s just not that into you,” adding, “When a guy’s really into you, he’s coming upstairs, meeting or no meeting.”
I have not read the book. I have not watched the movie. In fact, I’ve decided that I will be boycotting both. Why? Because I refuse to believe that it is THAT simple. I refuse to believe that the actions of half the human race can be described in one six word sentence.
Actually, I think the very thought that it could be so simple is condescending. Men think and analyze things just as much as women, regardless of whether or not this gets played out on the big screen, or published in the pages of yet another patronizing self-help book.
Yes, there are circumstances (like a bad blind date, or any bad date at all) where “he’s just not that into you” is a sufficient enough explanation for why a man would not come in, or call, or make any sort of contact at all post-date, but, that’s mutual. I’m about to blow your mind here, but, (pay close attention) women feel the exact same way. Sometimes SHE’S just not that into you.
What I’m trying to say, in a very lengthy and drawn out way, is that this sentence is not an all-encompassing rule. Sometimes you like someone and the timing is just wrong. Sometimes there’s baggage read: significant others (although, for some this isn’t always a detterent). Sometimes the circumstances are just uncooperative. There are a lot of sometimes, and their consideration does not apply exclusively to women.
Do you agree with me? Let me know, leave your comments.
Publishing Note: I am super miffed by the fact that the release of this movie likely means an increase in book sales. Why? Because the self-help book industry ticks me off as much as prescription drugs tick off Tom Cruise. Those who write them are rarely qualified, and those who read them are ridiculous to think that a book can solve their problems. Be proactive, get a therapist.
I entirely agree, and, as the queen of first dates I should know! It’s not because he “isn’t that into me”, more likely it’s because he can’t handle the greatness that is moi!
Still, how do you judge a book/movie without seeing it? Sorry Brunes, but I just can’t agree because I don’t think a catch-phrase can sum up a whole book or a two hour movie.
You got me thinking about the relationship between books and movies (which you can check out at http://megsmags.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/movies-are-starting-to-ruin-books-seriously/ Yes, that’s right, shameless self-promotion). I normally go with the book being better than the movie. However, in this case I have yet to see the movie or read the book. I have flipped through the book, which left me flabbergasted that my friend (whose copy I was perusing) would even throw away the $30 to purchase this “book.”
I feel like this book is insulting to women even more than men as it portrays women as people who have no sense of what is happening to them or around them. I feel like it mocks common sense in the most basic way possible. More so, I find it appalling that women would actually go out and spend their hard-earned money on such a thing (except that maybe if you are buying this book then you are purchasing it with money from your sugar daddy). To this day, I continue to shake my head in disbelief every time I see this book sitting on the bookshelf of a smart woman. Really, how do you manage to get dressed in the morning if you can’t figure out that “he’s just not that into you if he stops talking to you altogether?”