(USA) Category IIB. What started out as a line uttered in an episode of “Sex and the City” has since become an Oprah-endorsed self-help book by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, and now the mother of all chick flicks featuring an all star cast. “He’s Just Not That Into You” is the obvious but dreaded answer that no woman wants to hear when she wonders why the guy she’s seeing is not calling her, not marrying her, or not sleeping with her. Or worse, why he’s sleeping with someone else.
Category IIA. This movie promises love, lust, sex and betrayal. What it delivers is a miserable medley of half-baked intrigue and mild bedroom shenanigans, not enthralling and certainly not sexy. Its lusty, star-studded cast – Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana – couldn’t have been more squandered.
Based on James Ellroy’s novel about the grisly unsolved 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short (played here by an underused Mia Kirshner), “The Black Dahlia” is Brian De Palma’s first directorial effort since the sensational and stylized mystery “Femme Fatale.” So naturally, expectations are high for his latest foray into the world of film noir and gangster hijinks. However, “The Black Dahlia” turns out to be one of De Palma’s most incoherent and lackluster films to date.
