Two Ninas(1999)

Submitted by Tornado Dragon

SHORT VERSION:
Marty ultimately chooses Nina Cohen over Nina Harris because:
1) They have a lot in common
2) She read his unpublished novel in its entirety and enjoyed it, and most importantly
3) She told him that she loved him.
However, when Marty attends a party that Dave hosts two weeks later, an error on his part results in both of the Ninas showing up there, and after they realize that he had been dating them both simultaneously, Cohen dumps him.

Some days later, after Dave finds out from Cohen’s best friend (and his new girlfriend) Carrie that Cohen is still in love with Marty, he persuades her to give him a chance to speak to Cohen in her apartment, telling her that he wants to try to set things right between Cohen and Marty. After he gets inside, Cohen decides to give him just two minutes to say what he has to say. He first explains to her that Marty did not set out to date her and Harris at the same time; it just happened, and he dumped Harris the second he realized how he felt about her. He then tells her that Marty never meant to hurt her at all; he was just trying to find out what was right for himself, and he asks her if she can really blame a guy who was so desperate for love and was so desperate to find someone who believed in him that he was willing to go to any lengths to find it. His time then runs out, and he departs, leaving Cohen to think.

A week later, Dave has Marty come and meet with him at a bar, and Marty soon tells him that Cohen still refuses to talk to him whenever he calls her. Dave urges him to go to her apartment building tomorrow and apologize to her in person for once, hinting to him that maybe there will be a different outcome if he does. Marty does just that, and despite a subsequent argument that he and Cohen have regarding what he has done, she ultimately decides to give him another chance, knowing that they had a really great thing going on between them and they owed it to themselves to try to work things out. The movie ends with them going on a drive together.

LONG VERSION:
While hanging out at his favorite bar one night, Marty (Ron Livingston) tells the bartender Mike (Jill Hennessy) all about how he hates his job, how his family wants him to move back to Maine and go into the family business, how he has written a book that nobody wants to buy, how no literary agent is willing to take a chance on him, and especially how he is dating two Ninas at once and likes them both but they both want a commitment. When he talks about how he feels that no one believes in him, especially when it comes to his novel, she asks him if he has ever asked the two Ninas what they thought about it. He replies that he has already given each of them a copy of the manuscript to read, but he has never gotten their opinions on it because he is a little afraid of what they have to say. Mike tells him that maybe one of the Ninas believes in him, so he needs to stop being so scared of hearing something that he might not want to hear, ask them about his novel, and then see how they answer, and maybe that will help him decide which Nina he should be with. She then asks him how he feels about these two women, and he replies that he has a lot in common with Nina Cohen (Cara Buono) and he thinks that she loves him, and while he doesn’t have much in common with Nina Harris (Amanda Peet) and she never told him that she loved him, she still makes him feel good and the sex is the best that he has ever had. After Mike excuses herself moments later, a man who overheard the conversation approaches Marty and introduces himself as literary agent Barry Litzer (John Rothman), and he tells him that he would like to read his novel. He asks Marty to submit his manuscript to him tomorrow morning and promises that he will read it over and get back to him, and he adds that he agrees with Mike’s suggestion about getting the two Ninas’ opinions.

Marty meets with Harris first and asks her about his novel, and he finds out that she has not read the whole thing. She also tells him that she believes in him, but she says it in a way that comes off like she is just telling him what he wants to hear. However, when he meets with Cohen later on, she tells him that she has read the entire novel and thinks it is great, and when he asks her if she believes in him, she replies that she doesn’t need to read the novel to do that. She then tells him that she loves him, and he returns her love. Now knowing that Cohen is truly the one for him, Marty dumps Harris the next time they go out. However, while talking with his friend Dave (Bray Poor) about the breakup later that night, he tells him that he finds himself wrestling with the decision over whether or not to tell Cohen that he was dating another Nina, believing that she will find out about it from somebody else if he doesn’t admit to it, and Dave replies that it would be wise for him to keep quiet about that. He also tells Dave that Litzer read his novel and told him that he enjoyed it.

Two weeks later, Dave decides to hold a party at the Rodeo Bar just to get drunk with his friends, and Marty invites Cohen to it. On the morning of the party, he calls whom he thinks is Cohen in order to give her the time and place for the party, and when she fails to answer her phone, he leaves the information on her answering machine. Cohen calls him later on, and she oddly tells him that he forgot to leave her the address for the party and didn’t get his earlier message, so Dave gives her the address and they agree to meet there. Shortly after Cohen arrives at the Rodeo Bar, Harris shows up; it turns out that Marty had called her by accident and she has come here hoping to reconcile with him. Cohen and Harris exchange greetings, since they knew each other long before either of them dated Marty, and after they both explain their reasons for being there (but without mentioning Marty’s name), Cohen continues to look for Marty while Harris goes to get a drink and then catch up with her. Moments after Cohen finds Marty and kisses him, Harris appears, and after some brief chitchat between the three of them, Cohen figures out that Marty had been dating her and Harris simultaneously. They both subsequently hit him in the face and storm out.

In the days that follow, Marty is inconsolable, and Cohen doesn’t return any calls that he makes to her. Dave was in the doghouse with her best friend Carrie (Linda Larkin) – whom he has been dating – for a short while for knowing about Marty’s double-dating experiment, but he fixed that issue quickly. Carrie eventually tells Dave that, despite the fact that Marty hurt Cohen, she was still in love with him, and while she herself kind of understood why Marty did what he did, she still had to remain loyal to her best friend. Dave soon persuades her to give him access to Cohen’s apartment so he can speak to her and vouch for Marty in the hope of setting things right between them, and after he enters Cohen’s apartment, she ultimately decides to give him just two minutes to say what he has to say. He first points out that she and Marty didn’t start off on the right foot, and then he suddenly met Harris and found himself dating them both. However, even though it took him a while to make this decision, he stopped dating Harris the second he realized how he felt about her. She tells him that that doesn’t excuse what he did, but Dave responds by reminding her that nobody is perfect. He then explains that Marty never meant to hurt her at all; he was just trying to find out what was right for himself, and he asks her if she can really blame a guy who was so desperate for love and was so desperate to find someone who believed in him that he was willing to go to any lengths to find it. His time then runs out, and he departs, leaving Cohen to think.

A week later, Dave has Marty come and meet with him at the same bar where Marty met Litzer. Marty tells him that he quit his job a couple of days ago, but he doesn’t know if he is going to move back to Maine yet, and Cohen still won’t talk to him whenever he calls her. Dave urges Marty to go see Cohen at her apartment building tomorrow and apologize to her in person for once, hinting to him that maybe there will be a different outcome if he does. The next day, Marty pays Cohen a visit just as she is about to leave for somewhere, and he again apologizes to her, telling her that he never meant to hurt her and that he didn’t plan on dating her and Harris at the same time, and he adds that, if he could do it all again, he would’ve done it differently. Cohen yells that he treated her badly, and even though he always wanted someone to believe in him, he didn’t believe in her. He replies that he loves her, and he knows that she loved him last week, so that means that they almost have something really fantastic going on, and he knows that he screwed up and he will never forgive himself for his mistake. He then says that they owe it to themselves to at least try to work things out, but she replies that she doesn’t owe him anything. He tells her that she is right because he didn’t believe in her, but he believes in her now.

She gets in her car and drives off, leaving Marty to sit alone on the sidewalk. However, she loops around the block and pulls up in front of him, then tells him to get in the car. Once he does, she asks him where they are going, and he suggests that they just drive around. The movie ends moments later, and we are left to assume that their relationship will continue.