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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 989
Released: June 24, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.10 |
| Used Price: $2.10 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
From the makers of Notting Hill and Love Actually comes the charming and irresistibly funny romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe. When Will (Ryan Reynolds) decides to tell his daughter (Abigail Breslin) the story of how he met her mother, he discovers that a second look at the past might also give him a second chance at the future. Co-starring Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher, it's the heartwarming story that makes you realize it's definitely never too late to go back…and maybe find a happy ending.
Description of Definitely, Maybe (Widescreen):
A romantic comedy that begins with a discussion about sex education and ends with a bit of an unexpected twist, Definitely, Maybe focuses on an engaging father and his 10-year-old daughter. She is curious about the women her dad loved prior to marrying (and separating from) her mother. Instead of telling her, "None of your business," he decides to tell her about them... Sort of. Will is played by Ryan Reynolds and his precocious daughter Maya is adroitly portrayed by Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Will figures out a way to tell Maya about his most meaningful relationships in a PG manner that also is interactive for her (Or as she describes it, "a love story mystery!"). Changing a few of their characteristics and disguising their names, Will tells her about three exceptional women and Maya tries to deduce which one became her mom. Was it Emily (Elizabeth Banks), the wholesome Midwestern girl afraid of the big city; Summer (Rachel Weisz), the exotic journalist; or April (Isla Fisher), the rebel with a cause? Hearing about all these women, Maya asks, "What's the boy word for slut?" Spanning 15 years, back to when Will was an idealistic young man with the hopes of one day becoming president of the United States, the film has a nice light touch and deals with father-daughter bonding issues in a unique, if not completely realistic manner. Reynolds is a genial but bland leading man, but the women--including young Breslin--more than hold their own in this fun film. --Jae-Ha Kim
Get to Know the Girlfriends From Definitely, Maybe
Elizabeth Banks (Emily) | 
Isla Fisher (April) | 
Rachel Weisz (Summer) |
Beyond Definitely, Maybe on DVD
More From Ryan Reynolds | 
Father Daughter Essentials | 
More Romantic Comedies |
Stills from Definitely, Maybe (Click for larger image) Definitely, Maybe (Widescreen) Reviews:
definitely maybe 
2009-11-02 - Great movie...well done... put it right up there near Notting Hill and A Lot Like Love... music could've been a little better... bill
Dynamic Romantic Comedy
2009-10-15 - An obvious romantic comedy, but pretty dynamic as the scene is New York. Few good jokes, sweet main characters, especially the child.. Loved Summer's comments, love NY humor!
Definitely Maybe 
2009-09-12 - This is a great little chick flick and has the added enjoyment of trying to guess the answer to the little girls query before they tell us.
Definitely, Maybe NOT a "chick flick"
2009-08-25 - I am not a big fan of so called "chick flicks" but when a friend of mine recommended Definitely, Maybe to me I have to say I became an automatic fan of this movie. It was very smartly written, which has made me watch it over and over again.
Heck, I'll take all three women and relocate to Utah
2009-08-04 - - Will: "I had two serious girlfriends, and then there was some other smattering of women that I dated. What?"
- His 10-year-old daughter: "What's the boy word for slut?"
- Will: "They still haven't come up with one yet."
I mostly associate Ryan Reynolds with raunchy comedies and comic book flicks, and yet I know he's got range. In The Nines (Special Edition) dude demonstrates that he can deliver in a more serious role. And if you've checked out School of Life then you've seen his gentler, warmer side. In DEFINITELY, MAYBE it's this softer, more restrained persona which we're treated to, and Ryan Reynolds comes across as engaging and convincing, not only as a romantic lead, but also as a caring father. The guy can act. Not that I ever want him to quit making superhero films or raunchy comedies. He rocks those genres also.
DEFINITELY, MAYBE is a romantic whodunit, and although the movie really makes no bones about whom Reynolds' character should end up with, it's not quite a given that that's who lands in his arms by closing creds. Reynolds plays Will Hayes, a thirty-something ad exec whose pre-teen daughter Maya had just gone thru sex ed class and, consequentially, is feeling a bit stressed out. Then there's also Will's impending divorce from Maya's mom. The fallout is that Maya is needing some sort of reassurance and so demands that her dad tell her the story of how he and her mom met. Will agrees but with a caveat: that certain names will be altered and other embellishments thrown in. He then begins to tell the story of the three loves of his life, as he hearkens back to 1992, an era "before e-mails and cell phones and reality television shows."
Color me sappy, but I really liked this movie. Ryan Reynolds is very good, as mentioned, but the entire cast brings it. Thing is, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, and Isla Fisher are all marvelous, and I like that not one of their characters is an obvious wrong choice. Whether it's the wholesome girl next door (Banks), the sexy uninhibited journalist (Weisz), or the lost, quirky and endearing best friend (Fisher) - hell, in any other movie, any one of these girls would shine as the main love interest. And, thru the years, they each stroll in and out of Will Hayes's life often enough - and the story offers up enough romantic red herrings - that you never quite know which girl will stick. But I've got my favorite. As wonderful as Banks and Weisz are (and they both really are wonderful), Isla Fisher ends up stealing the show. Awesome performance.
Not to forget, Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin demonstrate great chemistry and rhythm in their interactions. They're pretty believable as father and daughter, with Abigail's character wise beyond her years and yet, thankfully, not coming off as too, too precious.
DEFINITELY, MAYBE is one of those films I somehow missed out on during its theatrical run. I finally caught it on DVD and I watched it with a bunch of friends, and it's saying something that the girls in the room each had their favorite actress picked out for Will Hayes, and they're not all the same actress. I like that this movie isn't cloying or goes overboard playing for laughs. The humor rises naturally from the story and from Reynold's occasional one-liners. More, this film carries emotional resonance, and that's credit to the cast and to a screenplay that lays out strong character arcs, nice plot twists and turns, and, as the 10-year-old Maya declares, "a love story mystery." And, as we learn and as the little girl eventually points out, maybe part of the problem all along is that Will Hayes needed to do some growing up.
Whether you liked Bill Clinton or not, the man figures in this film in a roundabout way, since most of the story takes place in the '90s and since Will Hayes, way back, aspired to political ambitions and launched his career by working on the Clinton campaign. I guess if there were jokes that fell flat, they would have to be all those tired callbacks on Clinton, Gennifer Flowers, Lewinski, and on what the definition of "is" is. I still remember the French laughing themselves silly over all this stuff.
On the bright side, Rachel Weisz gets a chance to sing "I've Got A Crush On You." She does this great. And if you're looking for even more culture, Jane Eyre figures in the plot somewhere.
This DVD has okay special features: audio commentary with Ryan Reynolds and Director Adam Brooks; "Creating a Romance" - the Making Of segment, of which high points (for me, anyway) are the interview snippets with my new crush Isla Fisher (12 minutes); 4 deleted scenes, meh (5:41 minutes); and "The Changing Times of DEFINITELY, MAYBE" - a featurette exploring the film's production design which tried to stay consistent thru the course of the story with the passing years and the respective fads and fashions (5 minutes long, and with a quote from Ryan Reynolds: "Fortunately, I was alive for all of these periods, so, uh, I kinda had a point of reference...").
