He's Just Not That Into You

Love Actually is probably my favorite romantic comedy ever. I love all the criss-crossing stories and its unabashed schmaltz and Christmas spirit. On Friday, America's answer to that fantastic collection of love stories, He's Just Not That Into You, arrives in theaters. I actually can't say with confidence that it's the US Love Actually, but based on the fact that it's 12 love stories crammed into one flick and jammed with stars, I think it will do.

I'm ridiculously excited to see it, and my excitement only increased when I saw the track list for the soundtrack. Some of my all-time favorite bands are listed (Wilco, The Replacements, My Morning Jacket) as well as the song that my friend proclaims "the greatest love song of all time" (Talking Heads's "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"). Also listed is Keane's instant-classic (at least in my head) "Somewhere Only We Know", The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love" (which I blogged about recently), and cuts from singer-songwriters Corinne Bailey Rae, Erin McCarley (whose track "Love, Save the Empty" is also featured in the trailer), James Morrison, and Tristan Prettyman.

Rounding out the bunch (of which I haven't even fully described) is Scarlett Johansson's cover of Jeff Buckley's classic (in everyone's head) "Last Goodbye." I'm not a fan of Scarlett's Tom Waits cover album (I thought it was dull and pretentious) and so I'm not too keen to hear her take on this gorgeous song. Except in the case of "Hallelujah," (which is not even a Buckley original, and has been covered beautifully by both Rufus Wainwright and a friend of mine at my high school's talent show), I'd prefer people to keep their paws off of Buckley's songbook. His voice and style is too beautiful to tamper with.

Scarlett aside, I can't wait to buy the soundtrack and see this movie.