# He's Just Not That Into You (film)
**He's Just Not That Into You** is a 2009 American romantic comedy directed by Ken Kwapis, written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, and based on the 2004 self-help book *He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys* by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64905) Released wide on February 6, 2009 by Warner Bros., the film follows nine interconnected Baltimore residents in their twenties and thirties as they misread romantic signals, and it earned $181,053,657 worldwide against a $40,000,000 production budget.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Wide release February 6, 2009 by Warner Bros.; PG-13; 129 minutes[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) |
| Source | Book *He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys* by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo (New York, 2004)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64905) |
| Key crew | Director Ken Kwapis; writers Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein; producer Nancy Juvonen; cinematographer John Bailey[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64905) |
| Principal cast | Ginnifer Goodwin (Gigi), Jennifer Aniston (Beth), Jennifer Connelly (Janine), Ben Affleck (Neil), Drew Barrymore (Mary), Scarlett Johansson (Anna), Bradley Cooper (Ben), Justin Long (Alex), Kevin Connolly (Conor)[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hes-just-not-that-into-you-2009) |
| Box office | $93,953,653 domestic, $87,100,004 international, $181,053,657 worldwide; opening weekend $27,785,487 in 3,175 theaters[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic metascore 47 (mixed or average, 32 reviews); Rotten Tomatoes 42% Tomatometer, 59% audience score[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hes_just_not_that_into_you) |
| Home video | DVD release June 2, 2009 by New Line Home Video; estimated domestic DVD sales of $28,025,981[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and structure
The film tells the stories of interconnected, Baltimore-based twenty- and thirtysomethings as they navigate relationships from early dating through married life, trying to read the signs of the opposite sex.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/) Gigi ([Ginnifer Goodwin](https://www.edgepedia.org/ginnifer-goodwin)) waits by the phone for a callback from a real estate agent named Conor (Kevin Connolly); Janine ([Jennifer Connelly](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-connelly)) has a distant husband, Ben ([Bradley Cooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/bradley-cooper)); Beth (Jennifer Aniston) wants commitment from her boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck), who sees nothing wrong with the status quo; and Mary (Drew Barrymore) has a slew of supportive male friends, none of whom are straight.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hes_just_not_that_into_you) Gigi strikes up a friendship with Alex (Justin Long), who manages a restaurant, and he helps her interpret the signals men often send to women and women often overlook.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2009/02/06/all-dressed-up-with-nowhere-to-go/7ff7312a-ba2d-491a-a1cb-aaf3d384f271/)
**Structural devices.** The plot is episodic, linked by interludes in which characters who are not part of the narrative relay funny anecdotes before a title card announces a new chapter, such as "He's just not that into you if he's not calling you" or "... if he's not marrying you".[11](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/02/hesjustnotthatintoyou/) The film also uses voiceover narration and scenes spoken directly to camera, techniques reminiscent of *Sex and the City* that made the film feel almost an extension of the series to its fans.[7](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501) The story begins on a playground, where a six-year-old boy socks a six-year-old girl in the arm, with Goodwin providing the narration.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-feb-06-et-intoyou6-story.html)
## Origin of the phrase and the book
The title sentence was first heard on HBO's *Sex and the City* (1998–2004), where it was used to explain a man's confusing behavior toward the character Miranda.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-11-ca-goodwin11-story.html) According to a Mapping Contemporary Cinema film note, the idea arose in the writers' room while devising the show's sixth season: a female writer asked Greg Behrendt, the only heterosexual male on the writing team, for advice about a man she was dating, and Behrendt concluded she was being mistreated and told her "he's just not that into you".[7](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501) The notion, that it is better to be single than to be in an unfulfilling relationship, found its way into a 2003 episode titled "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little" and resonated widely with audiences.[7](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501)
Behrendt and Tuccillo turned the line into a book published in 2004, which reached number one on The New York Times bestseller list.[7](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501) In both the book and the film, the authors set out an extensive list of excuses and answer each with the same response: he's just not that into you.[7](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501) [New Line Cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-line-cinema) acquired the rights to the book and struck a deal with the authors to adapt it.[8](https://www.movieinsider.com/archive/1421/)
## Development and production
Producer Nancy Juvonen envisioned a movie and brought the idea to her producing partner, [Drew Barrymore](https://www.edgepedia.org/drew-barrymore), at their company Flower Films. Barrymore recalled that Juvonen said she would never say the sentence in the movie, using the title instead as a springboard to discuss relationships without being weighed down by the line.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-11-ca-goodwin11-story.html) Juvonen developed and produced the project through Flower Films, working closely with screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (*Never Been Kissed*) to create nine fictional main characters whose interconnected storylines explore modern relationships.[9](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59dfe5051f318d21e6e56ce0/t/5a6e79d30d92971475bca6c5/1517189588273/He%27sJustNot_WBFeature.pdf)
The script attracted a large ensemble cast, including [Jennifer Aniston](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-aniston), Ben Affleck, Barrymore, and [Scarlett Johansson](https://www.edgepedia.org/scarlett-johansson).[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-11-ca-goodwin11-story.html) AFI credits the production to New Line Cinema, with John Bailey as cinematographer, Cara Silverman as editor, Gae Buckley as production designer, and Cliff Eidelman as composer; the film was a United States and Germany co-production.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64905)
## Box office
The film opened at number one on the weekend of February 6, 2009, grossing $27,785,487 from 3,175 theaters, 29.6 percent of its eventual domestic total.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) It finished with $93,953,653 domestically and $87,100,004 internationally, for a worldwide total of $181,053,657, about 4.5 times its $40,000,000 production budget.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) Domestic business was 51.9 percent of the worldwide gross, and the film ran an average of 6.2 weeks per theater.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You) Estimated domestic DVD sales added $28,025,981 after the June 2, 2009 video release.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You)
## Critical reception
Critical response was mixed. The film holds a Metascore of 47 on Metacritic, based on 32 critic reviews classified as 25 percent positive, 63 percent mixed, and 13 percent negative, with a user score of 5.9.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 42 percent from 166 critics, while audiences gave it 59 percent from more than 250,000 ratings; the site's critics consensus says the film devotes too little time to each protagonist, reducing them to stereotypes.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hes_just_not_that_into_you)
Reviewers praised the ensemble while faulting the structure. Mick LaSalle of the [San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-francisco-chronicle) called the film brisk, engaging, and pleasant throughout, and suggested that with Spanish or French subtitles it would be discussed as a searing examination of sexual politics.[13](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/critic-reviews/) James Berardinelli of ReelViews found it often flat, with subplots that feel rushed or contrived, in contrast to *Love, Actually*.[13](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/critic-reviews/) Claudia Puig of USA Today noted a few too many story threads but credited the film with sharp-eyed commentary on relationships in the era of instant messages and MySpace.[13](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/critic-reviews/) Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic from 1967 until his death in 2013 and winner of the 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism, wrote that the actors were really too good for the rom-com and complained that most of its stories have happy endings.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hes-just-not-that-into-you-2009) Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post observed that although the film is set in Baltimore, everyone in it is young, attractive, affluent, and white.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2009/02/06/all-dressed-up-with-nowhere-to-go/7ff7312a-ba2d-491a-a1cb-aaf3d384f271/)
## Legacy
The film is frequently grouped with *Love, Actually* (2003) as the start of a wave of multi-protagonist romantic comedies that followed, including *Valentine's Day* (2010), *New Year's Eve* (2011), *[What to Expect When You're Expecting](https://www.edgepedia.org/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-film)* (2012), and *Mother's Day* (2016).[14](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/106481/1/WRAP_Theses_Teinemaa_2017.pdf) A British Vogue retrospective in the 2020s described it as a cult 2009 rom-com that informed the love lives of millennial women, while noting that much of the film relies on misogynistic stereotypes and has not all aged well.[15](https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-hes-just-not-that-into-you-transformed-the-way-millennials-date) The underlying advice has persisted in popular culture, often restated as "If he wanted to, he would".[15](https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-hes-just-not-that-into-you-transformed-the-way-millennials-date)
## References
1. [He's Just Not That Into You (2009), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/64905)
2. [He's Just Not That Into You (2009), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Hes-Just-Not-That-Into-You)
3. [Like, your phone service has so not been interrupted, girlfriend, review by Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/hes-just-not-that-into-you-2009)
4. [He's Just Not That Into You Reviews - Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/)
5. [He's Just Not That Into You, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hes_just_not_that_into_you)
6. [Not going by the book, by Lisa Rosen, Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2009](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-11-ca-goodwin11-story.html)
7. [Film Note: He's Just Not That Into You, Mapping Contemporary Cinema, Queen Mary University of London](https://mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/?p=1501)
8. [New Line Cinema Acquires Rights to 'He's Just Not That Into You', MovieInsider](https://www.movieinsider.com/archive/1421/)
9. [He's Just Not That Into You production notes (Warner Bros. feature)](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59dfe5051f318d21e6e56ce0/t/5a6e79d30d92971475bca6c5/1517189588273/He%27sJustNot_WBFeature.pdf)
10. [All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go, by Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post, February 5, 2009](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2009/02/06/all-dressed-up-with-nowhere-to-go/7ff7312a-ba2d-491a-a1cb-aaf3d384f271/)
11. [He's Just Not That Into You, Christianity Today review, February 2009](https://www.christianitytoday.com/2009/02/hesjustnotthatintoyou/)
12. [Love at first slight, by Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2009](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-feb-06-et-intoyou6-story.html)
13. [He's Just Not That Into You critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hes-just-not-that-into-you/critic-reviews/)
14. [WRAP Theses: Teinemaa (2017), University of Warwick](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/106481/1/WRAP_Theses_Teinemaa_2017.pdf)
15. [How He's Just Not That Into You Transformed The Way Millennials Date, British Vogue](https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-hes-just-not-that-into-you-transformed-the-way-millennials-date)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2009 to 2010 › Released in 2009*
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