Definitely, Maybe (PG-13) **½ | Definitely a refreshing effort

BY CONNIE OGLE

cogle@MiamiHerald.com

Maybe it's a measure of the numbing awfulness of romantic comedies in general lately, but Definitely, Maybe isn't nearly so bad as you might fear; it's actually fairly pleasant, a bit too off-color to be a family film but enjoyable just the same. That statement sounds like faint praise, but this time of year is a graveyard for film releases, and, besides, anyone who survived the double whammy horror of Over Her Dead Body and The Hottie and the Nottie will find the film's lack of Eva Longoria Parker and Paris Hilton downright soothing.

Ryan Reynolds stars as ad writer Will Hayes, a soon-to-be divorced dad whose daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine) wants to know the story of how her parents met. Set up as Will's obliging tale of his young adulthood, the movie is mostly set in flashback to the early 1990s, when Will was an idealistic campaign worker for Bill Clinton and attracted to three women: his college sweetheart (Elizabeth Banks, last seen as J.D.'s baby mama on Scrubs); an unambitious fellow campaigner who turns out to be a good buddy (Isla Fisher, Hot Rod, The Wedding Crashers), and an exotic, brainy, British beauty (Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener) who's having an affair with her professor (a wonderfully seedy Kevin Kline).

Will spins his story, and Maya takes notes, trying to figure out which woman will turn out to be her mom. Clever Will has changed the names to add suspense, and the audience thanks him, although the secret, once out, isn't particularly surprising.

Maya is a tad too precocious to be believed; does anybody really want to hear a kid calling her father a slut more than once? Some of the gags are the cheap in-hindsight sort: Will earnestly tells his friend that Clinton ''gets'' women, and there's a Texas Rangers joke involving George W. Bush.

But the energetic scenes of Will's campaign work are hugely entertaining, and the film also deftly uses Will's dedication to Clinton and his eventual disillusion with his candidate to echo his dissatisfaction with life in general, which seems to expand the older he gets. Growing up is hard to do, Will learns, but telling his story puts what's important into perspective. Is this movie the best romantic comedy of the year? Maybe not. Do you walk out with a smile on your face? Definitely.

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline

Director/screenwriter: Adam Brooks

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner

A Universal release. Running time: 111 minutes. Sexual content, including frank dialogue, language and smoking. Playing at: area theaters.