As you noted, these movies are always advanced, story-wise, by the same stupid device: having the dormouse character played by an actress who we know, in real life, would have men panting after her like crazy. In the world of the movie, though, the men are all too dull to see the obvious attractions of Katherine Heigl.

Excuse me, what? What crazy Bizzarro world are these men living in? "She am physically perfect. Me not attracted to her at all."

This is one of them.

cool! Men are making headway!

Houston radio has a funny ditty they play often by (I think it is) Mancow and friends chastising women for acting like they won the lottery when they are asked if they want to marry. The bit just says it all, at least until the laws granting women half of all marital assets and the kids change, even if she is at fault.

The divorce rate is not 50% by the way, but 70% when BOTH participants are American born. Just so you know.

As for men being oblivious when women are into them, most of the guys I know say the same thing, that until they reached their late thirties or so did most of them not have a sense that a woman was into them in the past. By the time they reach their late thirties apparently, they are knowledgeable enough to finally pick up the microwatttage weak signal subtleties of female rutting behavior.

Girls, do yourselves the favor and MAKE THE FIRST GODDAMN MOVE. Oh, too scary. Make the guy do it instead.

Ahh, the wedding to the rich prince. The creme de la creme of life to a woman. After that, she'll improvis. After all, she got her end of the deal already, and now he is trapped.

But I'm not cynical...

"My Best Friend's Wedding Planner"?

You leave me breathless.

I can't believe I'm responding directly to Brightstar! But as is often the case, I want him to hear a counterpoint even if he won't believe it.

While you and your friends may have trouble knowing when a women is interested, the vast majority of men in my life tell me they DO know when a woman is hitting on them, and if he doesn't make a move it means he's REALLY not interested.

Men are often receptive if I ask them out, but it doesn't last. We go on one or two dates and then they start mumbling vaguely about how they like me but there's a lot going on at work and emails grow more sporadic and then peter out. (Clearly a case of "he's just not that into me" which isn't a big deal, although I would prefer a direct rejection.) I have no idea if they are turned off by being pursued or if they just weren't that interested to begin with, but it doesn't matter. In the end, my making a big move simply doesn't pan out so I'm not overly likely to do it. When a man approaches me first, however, he's already invested and attracted, so it's more likely to go somewhere. Certainly I try to do my part to flirt and make eye contact to give the green light, but asking men out (or for their digits) directly always fails for me.

I'd estimate there are maybe 10-20% of men you have to hit over the head to get them to notice you're flirting with them. I can usually spot them (more common among intellectual introverts in science, tech, and engineering fields) and take that into account, but sometimes it's hard to believe anyone could be that dense.

"How come a film with these formidable females falls into the chick-flick trap of offering such half-assed Prince Charmings?"

Um... because it's a chick flick?

It would appear that Mary Williams is unwilling to face not the film, but the fact that "chick flicks" are her beat.

So she desperately pretends she's looking at some heavyweight art film, and chalks up its limitations one by one, to show not that it doesn't measure up, but that somehow she's better than that it is.

No, she's not. From this review, the film appears to be a fluffy, silly little thing that no man would ever want to see, and women will forget almost instantly.

In other words, it's a chick flick, and has no particular pretensions to being anything else. Why is it being judged as if it does?

>Some movies are just to bring your date to while you zone out for 2 hrs.<

Sooo, why aren't you two going to a movie you both might like? Even more to the point, why would you be dating a woman who'd want to see this crap, anyway?

Okay, maybe it is free of homosexuals and divorce, but thank you to this movie for sparing us the cliched "gay best friend" character. Whew.

While you and your friends may have trouble knowing when a women is interested, the vast majority of men in my life tell me they DO know when a woman is hitting on them, and if he doesn't make a move it means he's REALLY not interested.

I don't hang with lotharios (is that the term?). I and most of my friends are/were the shy, brainy, sensitive but not nerdy types. Not being players, we did not have the experience to suss out girls' behaviors. Which is why if I have a boy, he will be encouraged to date and befriend as many women as possible to learn that women are different than men.

Men are often receptive if I ask them out, but it doesn't last. We go on one or two dates and then they start mumbling vaguely about how they like me but there's a lot going on at work and emails grow more sporadic and then peter out. (Clearly a case of "he's just not that into me" which isn't a big deal, although I would prefer a direct rejection.) I have no idea if they are turned off by being pursued or if they just weren't that interested to begin with, but it doesn't matter. In the end, my making a big move simply doesn't pan out so I'm not overly likely to do it. When a man approaches me first, however, he's already invested and attracted, so it's more likely to go somewhere. Certainly I try to do my part to flirt and make eye contact to give the green light, but asking men out (or for their digits) directly always fails for me.

This is wrong several ways. Just because you ask him out does not mean it is automatically supposed to work out for the two of you. It is a getting to know you period. Because you took the initiative, you initially are more intereted in him than he is in you. The next step is to hang out to see if the feeling is mutual.

men have to play this numbers game, because a lot of times we get interested in someone who is not into us. she goes out and it does nto pan out. So are we supposed to hide after that from women? Lots of men do just that.

As for him being more interested and invested, it sound like you imply that it is not up to you to tell him either you re or are not interested after you both go out several times. I have alays had a problem with women being so passive, acting like it is all up to the guy and that she is along for the ride.

I'd estimate there are maybe 10-20% of men you have to hit over the head to get them to notice you're flirting with them. I can usually spot them (more common among intellectual introverts in science, tech, and engineering fields) and take that into account, but sometimes it's hard to believe anyone could be that dense.

Again, lack of experience. They have not been with 200 girls and to not f*ck everything they see.

men and women are fundamentally different in this aspect. One cannot emphasize this enough.

Guys act straightforward. They want you. Girls have to be coy and pretend to be stupdi or whatever other stunts they pull.

many times I would have dated a girl that I hung out with and was interested in, but I was shy and DENSE as you say.