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The forthcoming He’s Just Not That Into You boasts a strong, varied cast and finally answers the burning, itching, slightly rashy question of how to turn a How To book into a movie.

The plethora of talent includes Affleck, Aniston, Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long. Alphabetical order aside, I’m not sure what else to expect from this movie, but you can judge for yourself by watching the trailer:

[flv:http://media.filmschoolrejects.com/trailers/hesjustnotthatintoyou-trailer1.flv 598 254]

Ken Kwapis is directing, and if you haven’t heard of him, it’s because most of his work is in television (“The Office” and “Freaks and Geeks” are notables) although he did direct the masterful Dunstan Checks In. The writing team of Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein appear to be bringing the same sensibilities to this one as they did with Never Been Kissed.

I assume it’s a foregone conclusion that everyone on our editorial team except Kevin Carr — since he’s contractually obligated to like relationship movies — won’t dig the trailer. I’ll let them chime in on their own, but as for me, it looks like this is shooting for the middle. It’s showing the quirkier aspects of relationship building instead of either the sappy romantic version or the dramatic agony that is dealing with the opposite sex. In that regard, it’s capturing the spirit of the source material that has itself been rightfully boiled down to a catchphrase, a slogan, instead of being of much depth. At any rate, the movie had better bring a lot more to the table than the trailer does if it expects to rise above the fray of every other chick flick out there.

Also, Ben Affleck should not be allowed to deliver one-liners about cats and monkeys. When that happened, I wanted Silent Bob to walk in, throw him out of the film, and offer, “No ticket,” as an explanation.