Definitely, Maybe

courtesy Definitely, Maybe official site 

The universal desire of children to learn the details of how their parents met provides quite the bouncy springboard for this smart, winning romcom.

Definitely, Maybe — its bizarre title notwithstanding — is a charmer, an affable divertissement that is structured as a romantic who-dun-it.

Ryan Reynolds plays Will Hayes, a thirtysomething political-consultant-turned-ad-exec whose 10-year-old daughter Maya, played by Abigail Breslin, asks him how he met her mom and how they fell in love. Also, more importantly, why they’re now on the brink of divorce — one day away from signing the papers, in fact.

To answer her, in the form of a bedtime story, the soon-to-be-single father tells his inquisitive child three tales of bachelorhood, each involving one of the significant romantic relationships of his past.

Sure, his premarital narratives are somewhat sanitized in the name of childhood innocence. But they’re nonetheless essentially true.

Except that he purposely changes the names of the women under the microscope and neglects to tell Maya in advance which of them is actually her mother. She has to figure that out for herself. As do we.

Is it his college sweetheart, played by Elisabeth Banks, whom he left behind in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1992, when he headed for New York City to work on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign?

Is it the underachieving free spirit and confidant played by Isla Fisher, who works at Clinton headquarters without having any interest in politics?

Or is it his old girlfriend’s college roommate, the aspiring, workaholic journalist played by Rachel Weisz, who’s having an affair with her political science professor, a curmudgeonly alcoholic played in a vivid extended cameo by Kevin Kline?

Writer-director Adam Brooks (Almost You, The Invisible Circus), employing voiceovers and flashbacks as his protagonist spins his bedtime tale, keeps the political landscape — the Bill Clinton presidency, that is — in the near background.

courtesy Definitely, Maybe official site 

And he interweaves the three tales to keep us guessing along with the tale-spinner’s audience of one. He does occasionally push the cutesy button, but it’s never for more than an instant: D,M maintains its essential comedic gracefulness from beginning to end. And without sacrificing verisimilitude.

The cast is uniformly likable.

Reynolds, who’s been at the mainstream-stardom doorstep ever since Van Wilder in 2002, is at his deadpan best, dialing down the snarkiness level of his earlier outings, adding a dimension of reality, and putting his natural comic timing to good use.

Weisz, Fisher, and Banks as brunette Summer, redhead April, and blonde Emily comprise a fetching and skilled trifecta of romantic possibilities.

And let’s not forget that talented little Abigail Breslin, who already has a well-deserved Oscar nomination on her resume for Little Miss Sunshine.

So we’ll reminisce about 3 stars out of 4 for the witty, thoughtful, sweet-natured, and emotionally engaging seriocomedy, Definitely, Maybe.

Is this romantic puzzle worth seeing? Definitely.

Will you want to see it again? Maybe.