He's Just Not That Into You (2009) * * *

Directed by:  Ken Kwapis

Starring:  Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Luis Guzman, Kevin Connolly, Justin Long, Kris Kristofferson

It is sometimes human nature to overanalyze instead of simply accepting the truth.   He's Just Not That Into You understands this and presents interlocking romantic stories illustrating the point.    I first heard the phrase "he's just not that into you" during a Sex and the City episode in which Carrie's boyfriend utters this dead-on observation when she makes excuses about why her date didn't come upstairs with her.    It is simple.   If someone likes you, he or she will make it happen with you.
If not, then they won't. 

Not all of the stories in He's Just Not That Into You are quite as simple.    We have a long-term relationship between Beth (Aniston) and Neil (Affleck) which dies on the vine because Neil does not want to get married.    He's a great guy, except for that deal-breaking sticking point.   There is Connor (Connolly) and Anna (Johansson), both of whom have wholly different expectations about where their relationship is headed.   In this case, Connor wants to commit, while Anna fools around with married Ben (Cooper), whose wife Janine (Connelly) puts more effort into their home remodeling than their sex life.    Then, on the perimeter is Gigi (Goodwin), who despite her perkiness and sweetness is unlucky in love, Alex (Long) who gives smart advice to Gigi about dating while keeping his emotional distance from her, and Mary (Barrymore) who laments the fact that technological leaps have only allowed for more ways for her to be rejected.

The actors buy into the material and the movie moves along swiftly to its fitting resolutions of each story.   I could've done without the interludes involving "real people" discussing their relationship woes, which is something Sex and the City also did in the first season before the idea was wisely discarded.    The movie's ideas aren't complicated, but some of the characters make them so, and they were all likable enough to keep me involved, which is what a good romantic comedy is supposed to do.