When Warner Bros. decided to make a movie based on the self-help book He's Just Not That Into You, they at least were going with something fairly recent-- the book had been inspired by a line from Sex and the City and had been published within the last decade. Clearly Summit Entertainment is going for something similar by picking up the film and television rights to Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, but does anyone have the heart to tell them that the first book was published in 1992?
Really, Men Are From Mars feels like the original He's Just Not That Into You, which makes it even stranger that a movie version would be coming after that one. In the official press release producers Gail Berman and lloyd Braun referred to the book as "the most enduring relationship franchise in the world," and said of their plans for the movie, "While men and women may never truly speak the same language, we’re thrilled to explore their perpetually hilarious, painful and romantic conflicts on the big screen.” Yuk yuk yuk, right?
As tired as most of the romantic travails of He's Just Not That Into You felt, at least the title had a certain biting honesty to it. Men Are From Mars just perpetuates the same endless stereotypes about relationships that have been around ever since Ralph Kramden threatened to send Alice to the moon, and really, well before that. How can that title feel both very 90s and irritatingly timeless at the same time? And how much do I have to whine so that I can never think about it again?
