Universal Pictures with Working Title Productions and Studio Canal present a PG-13 rated, 105 minute romantic comedy directed by Adam Brooks and starring Ryan Reynolds (Will Hayes), Elizabeth Banks ( Emily), Abigail Breslin (Maya Hayes), Kevin Kline (Hampton Roth), Rachel Weisz (Summer Hartley), Isla Fisher (April) with Liane Balaban (Kelly), Kevin Corrigan (Simon), Adam Ferrara (Gareth), Alexie Gilmore (Olivia), Daniel Eric Gold (Charlie), Derek Luke (Russell T. McCormack), Annie Parisse (Anne), Nestor Serrano (Arthur Robredo) and Jaime Tirelli (Rafael).
The title of the film speaks volumes in making your choice to check out this film, with a bit more emphasis on the "maybe"! Working in the world of advertising in the present time Will's favorite days are when he gets to go pick up his eleven year old daughter, Maya, from the Hudson Merrill School in New York City. Dealing with a pending divorce and years of trials and tribulations otherwise known as relationships, Will is most happy when he spends time with Maya. Until that one day when Maya learns all about sex education in school. Well, "Pandora's Box" just got opened which leads Will to not only explain the birds and the bees during Maya's one million questions but also his life before her, which involved three relationships, three disasters and ultimately one last chance. Is penis really a bad word for an eleven year old?
One night before bed, Will starts to explain the story of his three relationships which involved Maya's mom, to Maya, in hopes that she would learn which profile her mother fit. Emily, the wholesome, girl next door that ends up wondering to the boy next door, April, the quirky yet lovable in a friend kind of way, Jane Eyre fanatic, or Summer, the highly intense, sophisticated, writer out to change the world, elevating her career. This moment of course leads the story into flashbacks when Will who is in love with Emily leaves Madison Wisconsin to go work for the Clinton campaign in 1992. Leaving Emily behind for only a short time until Will gets settled meant a little settling for Emily. Once in New York, Will the toilet paper man meets the copy machine girl, April, and a friendship blooms. But along the path of life when Emily falls from grace, Summer, blossoms leading to a trail of love, ethics, trust and betrayal.
The film takes on a political flashback to the days of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush which of course leads to several comments heard amongst the political lovers and haters in the audience, making this film a bit timely for our next Democratic President, Hillary! Like all positions in life we all look for promotions and Will moves up from toilet paper man to sign man and eventually a desk job working the phones to promote and raise money for Clinton.
Time passes, the Internet is born and cel phones are everywhere in the year 1994 and Will becomes a speech writer for Arthur Robredo and his campaign. Love once again brings on the sparkling diamond for Will but this time not for Emily but instead Summer who is done sleeping with Hampton, who's character by the way could have been left out which would not have made much of a difference other than shaving off maybe fifteen minutes from the film, hopefully! Grant it, Kline did a wonderful job with his role but it wasn't absolutely necessary to the story other than to add a bigger name to the cast.
But throughout it all, years of miscalculated, complicated love leads Will, bearing a written message from Dad, to his final destination with the help of his one true happy ending. Unlike Penguins who happen to mate for life, humans admire the rock that their mate brings but sometimes throw it back.
The perfect chick flick for a rainy Sunday snuggled up on the sofa alone or with the one you love. The direction seemed adequate but at times a bit confusing. Not between the story being told by Reynolds to Breslin but rather that of the three woman that would enter and exit throughout his story telling. Reynolds, moving his way to becoming an "A" list actor did a great job with what the writers handed him making his character lovable yet tolerable. "Little Miss Sunshine", Breslin, was once again a delight to watch on the screen as she tried to figure out which of the three women was her real mothers character. Banks was somewhat lost in translation and lacked a bit of substance to her role. Fisher, was delightful but a bit cliché to her outcome. Albeit, Weisz, once again was a scene stealer and a true light to an otherwise dark, dreary and lengthy character. Overall, it was a good story with an appropriate score but sometimes less is more and a bit less story but a little more character development would have made this film a bit more likeable, intriguing and worthy of the ticket price.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.