‘Definitely, Maybe’ wonders: What’s the boy word for ’slut’?

Definitely, Maybe is a chick flick disguised as a guy-friendly romantic comedy about a charming Democrat named Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds). Will is a 30-year-old single father sharing the custody of his precocious 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) while going through a divorce with Maya’s mom, No Name. No really, she doesn’t have a name. For 98% of the movie, we don’t have a clue who she is.

In a moment of father-daughter bonding, Maya asks her dad how he met her mom. Maya thinks that reliving all his relationships could cause her father to find the root of the problem and, in turn, find love. Whether with her mom or someone else—Maya just wants her dad to be happy.

Will entertains her theory. He agrees to not only tell his daughter how he met her mother, but to share his entire sexual history. Then Maya can try to guess which girl is her mom! Fun! So as he tucks Maya into bed, Will starts to blather about who he’s slept with, who he’s dated, who he’s cheated on, who’s cheated on him, who he’s proposed to, who he’s made a drunken fool of himself in front of, who’s gotten knocked up, who he’s taken advantage of, and on and on the list goes.

At one point, the smartass that she is, Maya asks, “What’s the boy word for ‘slut’?”

Surprisingly, even with such a blatantly ridiculous outline, the movie doesn’t suck. Reynolds’ vulnerability (he just got dumped, after all) is pretty fucking cute, but not unbelievably so (or maybe that’s just my crush talking). I loved Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine and the filmmakers succeed at keeping her from being too precious here as well. She’s inquisitive, but not annoying; naïve, but not stupid.

There are worse movies your girlfriend could want to see on Valentine’s Day.

DEFINITELY MAYBE DIR. ADAM BROOKS | RATED PG-13 | OPENS THURS

Tags: abigail breslin, definitely maybe, Film, ryan reynolds