Definitely, Maybe is a perfectly pleasant, better than you'd expect romantic comedy starring Ryan Reynolds from 2008. You might have seen it, and you might not have, but either way you've probably forgotten it exists.
But I haven't forgotten it exists. I've held a mild grudge against Definitely, Maybe for over 15 years because of the way it blue-balled me and sent me on a wild goose chase looking for wireless headphones that looked so incredibly cool, but wouldn't exist for another 8 years.
View: https://youtu.be/WFFhd3ArDig?si=U9ulwE1tvewBzzDO
This is the opening scene of Definitely, Maybe. As you can see, Ryan is wearing what are essentially AirPods.The actual scene even starts a bit before this, you can see him take the buds out of a case that looks remarkably like what we use for these now (edit: I was wrong about this part, you don't see the case he takes them out of). Not only did this movie create these things, but they predicted the technology with startling accuracy! The only reason this looks dated is because Ryan is still listening to music via an MP3 player as opposed to a phone.
This really fucked with me when I was young. I saw these headphones and was like "yoooo, what the fuck are those?!". I scoured the internet and found nothing, eventually stumbling upon an interview with Ryan saying they were fake. I shit you not, I thought about these things constantly, as various lesser forms of wireless headphones came and went. When 2015-2016 rolled around and true wireless earbuds including AirPods released, it was basically a dream come true. Finally, Definitely Maybe could stop fucking with me! And you know what? They were everything I had hoped they would be and more.
But I still sometimes think about why an otherwise completely grounded, straight-faced rom-com felt the need to include this one bit of science fiction. It was so needless, it added nothing to the film, the scene, or Ryan's character, that regular old wired earbuds wouldn't have been able to accomplish. I would love to ask whoever conjured these up at the time why they did so. Must have been just to mess with me.
But I haven't forgotten it exists. I've held a mild grudge against Definitely, Maybe for over 15 years because of the way it blue-balled me and sent me on a wild goose chase looking for wireless headphones that looked so incredibly cool, but wouldn't exist for another 8 years.
View: https://youtu.be/WFFhd3ArDig?si=U9ulwE1tvewBzzDO
This is the opening scene of Definitely, Maybe. As you can see, Ryan is wearing what are essentially AirPods.
This really fucked with me when I was young. I saw these headphones and was like "yoooo, what the fuck are those?!". I scoured the internet and found nothing, eventually stumbling upon an interview with Ryan saying they were fake. I shit you not, I thought about these things constantly, as various lesser forms of wireless headphones came and went. When 2015-2016 rolled around and true wireless earbuds including AirPods released, it was basically a dream come true. Finally, Definitely Maybe could stop fucking with me! And you know what? They were everything I had hoped they would be and more.
But I still sometimes think about why an otherwise completely grounded, straight-faced rom-com felt the need to include this one bit of science fiction. It was so needless, it added nothing to the film, the scene, or Ryan's character, that regular old wired earbuds wouldn't have been able to accomplish. I would love to ask whoever conjured these up at the time why they did so. Must have been just to mess with me.
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