A week prior to the film's release, the marketing team for He's Just Not That Into You has released a video of three of film's male stars - Justin Long, Bradley Cooper, and Kevin Connolly - trying to persuade men to see the film. The reason they think men might actually like the film? Because, they claim, He's Just Not That Into You avoids the top 10 cliches of chick flicks.
This video boosts the film's prior promotional attempts to be seen as a different kind of romantic comedy (or chick flick, as this video cares to reiterate). Yet, it's also an interesting marketing tactic: taking a type of film that is traditionally developed and promoted for women and marketing it assertively to men. Is this an attempt increase the crossover appeal of romantic comedies? After all, women have increasingly become a mainstay of action, thriller and horror film audiences - despite the fact that those films don't even market specifically to them.
As for this video, it has some charm. Certainly, they've captured a whole list of cheezy filmmaking shortcuts that are regularly used in romantic comedies. But are these really the cliches that we should hope aren't found in He's Just Not That Into You? Hardly. But I've already hashed out a number of these elsewhere on this blog. In addition, while I think it's amusing to see these actors poke fun at men who are horrified by the prospect of going to see a romantic comedy, I'm not all that impressed that this video equates crappy filmmaking with "chick flicks." It's irksome to see the film marketed to men at the expense of the many women who would also like to see their romantic comedies get smarter and less cliched.
This video boosts the film's prior promotional attempts to be seen as a different kind of romantic comedy (or chick flick, as this video cares to reiterate). Yet, it's also an interesting marketing tactic: taking a type of film that is traditionally developed and promoted for women and marketing it assertively to men. Is this an attempt increase the crossover appeal of romantic comedies? After all, women have increasingly become a mainstay of action, thriller and horror film audiences - despite the fact that those films don't even market specifically to them.
As for this video, it has some charm. Certainly, they've captured a whole list of cheezy filmmaking shortcuts that are regularly used in romantic comedies. But are these really the cliches that we should hope aren't found in He's Just Not That Into You? Hardly. But I've already hashed out a number of these elsewhere on this blog. In addition, while I think it's amusing to see these actors poke fun at men who are horrified by the prospect of going to see a romantic comedy, I'm not all that impressed that this video equates crappy filmmaking with "chick flicks." It's irksome to see the film marketed to men at the expense of the many women who would also like to see their romantic comedies get smarter and less cliched.
