Romancefest 2018: Definitely, Maybe

Here's another one where the premise seems promising but then you wonder what the point was in the end. I hate to say that because it bugs me when people go, "What was the point of that movie?" Well, what's the point of any movie? They're just movies. But still – seriously, what's the point here?

But I'm getting ahead of myself! DEFINITELY, MAYBE stars Ryan Reynolds as a divorced single father who works in advertising. As the movie begins, Reynolds is picking up his elementary-school-aged daughter (Abigail Breslin) from school, where they're just had a sex education class. This leads Breslin to question Reynolds on how he and her mother got together.

Reynolds agrees to tell the story, but says he's going to keep the identity of which of his early flames turned out to be Breslin's mother a secret until the end. What purpose this serves in the world of the movie, I don't know, but as an audience member it's kind of an intriguing premise – at least it's a different approach to the usual formula, right? But it never really pays off in any meaningful way, other than being an excuse to keep watching until the end instead of giving up halfway through.

So, most of the movie is flashbacks to Reynolds back before his advertising days when he was working on the Clinton campaign. There are three potential moms for Breslin: Elizabeth Banks as the girlfriend Reynolds leaves behind in his move to New York, Rachel Weisz as her artsy-fartsy free spirit friend and Isla Fisher as the one Reynolds actually seems to have chemistry with, but who he keeps on not hooking up with.

So, interesting premise, poorly executed, with a very nice cast. It's also fun that most of the movie is a 90s period piece since you don't see many of those (yet), though I find it hard to believe a guy in his early 20s wouldn't know who Nirvana is in 1992. Get up on that, Reynolds.