Definitely, Maybe

Definitely, Maybe Information

Definitely, Maybe is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin and Kevin Kline.

Plot

Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is a 38-year-old father who is in the midst of a divorce. After her first sex-ed class, his 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) insists on hearing the story of how her parents met. Will gives in, but decides to change the names and some of the facts relating to the various love affairs of his youth, thereby creating a love mystery; Maya is left guessing which of the women will turn out to be her mother. The story he tells Maya is depicted in long flashbacks. From time to time the film switches back to the present, where Maya comments (often disdainfully) and asks questions.

The story begins in 1992 when Will, a starry-eyed aspiring political operative, moves away from Wisconsin and his college sweetheart, Emily (Elizabeth Banks) to New York City, where he works on the Clinton campaign. Over the years, Will becomes involved with three women who enter and re-enter his life, including Summer Hartley (Rachel Weisz) an aspiring journalist, and April (Isla Fisher) the copy girl for the campaign. Will and April have a chance meeting outside work, where Will reveals he is going to propose to Emily. When Will practices his proposal to Emily on April, she is taken aback by Will's heartfelt words, and replies, "Definitely, maybe." They go back to her apartment, where April has multiple copies of Jane Eyre in her collection, explaining that her father gave her a copy with an inscription in the front shortly before he died, and the book was later lost. She has spent years looking through copies of Jane Eyre at secondhand stores hoping to find the copy her father gave her, but she buys any copy she finds that has inscription. They suddenly kiss, but Will backs away and leaves.

Emily comes back to New York where she confesses, just after Will proposes, that she slept with his roommate. She did it on purpose to break up with Will, saying that she is "letting him go" because she doesn't share his rather lofty aspirations. After Clinton is elected, Will opens a campaigning business with most of his work colleagues, which enjoys a good amount of success.

Before Will left Wisconsin, Emily asked Will to deliver a package to her former roommate, Summer Hartley, who is living in New York City. Will first meets Summer when he gives her the package, a diary that she wrote when she was a teenager (which, among other things, tells of a brief affair with Emily). He finds she is going out with a famous writer who is old enough to be her father. However, the writer breaks up with Summer and Will starts a relationship with her. Meanwhile, April quits her job and goes to travel around the world. Will plans to propose to Summer when April comes back to tell him she loves him. However, she sees Will's intentions and reluctantly congratulates him instead. Summer writes a derogatory article about one of Will's clients, which causes the end of her relationship with Will. As a result of the article, Will loses his business and his dream of a political career goes down the drain.

April calls after a long while and finds that Will is unemployed and unhappy. She throws a birthday party for him where he is reunited with his old colleagues. In a drunken rant, Will confesses his romantic feelings for April, but in the process ends up having a fight with her, questioning why she works in a used book store and telling her to "go to life rehab." Some time later, while walking the streets Will passes a used book store and sees the copy of Jane Eyre with the inscription from April's father. Will goes to April's apartment to give her the book, but he decides against it when he meets her live-in boyfriend Kevin.

Emily re-enters Will's life when she moves to New York City, and turns out to be Maya's mother and Will's ex-wife, as Maya correctly guesses. Will explains to Maya that his story had a happy ending, which was Maya. Will and Maya share a hug and part ways as Maya leaves with her mother. At home, Will finds the book he has been saving for April, and goes to the offices of Amnesty International, where April is now working. After learning that April is now single again, Will gives her the book. But, when April finds out that Will had been holding on to the book for years, she becomes upset and asks him to leave.

Maya is happy that she figured out the story, but also realizes that her father still loves April, as even though Will changed the names of Emily (Sarah in real life), and Summer (Natasha in real life), he did not change April's name. Encouraged by Maya, they go to April's apartment, where Will confesses to April that he held on to the copy of Jane Eyre because it was the only thing he had left of her. As the three enter into April's building, April springs into Will's arms and kisses him.

Cast

Ryan Reynolds as William Matthew 'Will' Hayes
Abigail Breslin as Maya Hayes
Isla Fisher as April
Elizabeth Banks as Emily Jones/ Sarah
Rachel Weisz as Summer Hartley/ Natasha
Kevin Kline as Professor Hampton Roth
Derek Luke as Russell T. McCormack
Adam Ferrara as Gareth
Annie Parisse as Anne
Liane Balaban as Kelly
Nestor Serrano as Arthur Robredo
Alexie Gilmore as Olivia
Kevin Corrigan as Simon

Reception

Critical

Definitely, Maybe received generally positive reviews from critics. As of May 28, 2012, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes certified it "fresh" with 71% of critics giving the film positive reviews, based on 143 reviews. The site also gave the consensus, "With a clever script and charismatic leads, Definitely, Maybe is a refreshing entry into the romantic comedy genre." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 59 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $9.7 million in 2,204 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #5 at the box office. As of September 28, 2008, the film has grossed $55,447,968 worldwide.

Score

The film was scored by prolific English composer Clint Mansell. Lakeshore Records released the score on March 18, 2008. All Music Guide review William Ruhlmann praised the album as filled with "sweet, melodic numbers that often seem to lack only a lyric to turn them into pop songs". He also stated that it functioned as "light accompaniment to an equally light entertainment."

Release

DVD release

The film was released on DVD June 24, 2008. The DVD featured a widescreen transfer, deleted scenes, two short featurettes, and a commentary track by the director Adam Brooks and lead actor Ryan Reynolds.