Herewith, Robin Thicke’s new video for “Get Her Back,” the latest charge in our dude’s all-out war to have his estranged lady, Paula Patton, back in his lovin’ arms again. The girl in the video isn’t a creepy look-alike, exactly: It’s more like she’s shot vaguely enough — presumed aesthetic inspiration: Minority Report precog visions — to suggest whatever we want. You know what would have been a better move, Robin? Chopping up leftover footage from Baggage Claim! Or, wait, no: Better would have been not being quite this blatant about the whole thing in the first place.
In direct inversion of the slinky little track (which I think just got stuck in my head for at least until the end of Netherlands-Chile), Thicke’s whole life these days is about trying way too hard. But how open and vulnerable is a dude really being when he’s going around screaming LOOK AT ME BEING OPEN AND VULNERABLE??? The back-and-forth texts — “i cant make love to you anymore”; “how could you do that to me” — certainly hint at something specific. But you know what would really take balls here, RobinCop? If, indeed, you cheated, admit you cheated. Also, with all due respect to whoever this video crew’s Chief Visual Dreamer was: The imaginary texting interface here pales in comparison to the Liam Neeson classic Non-Stop. What’s that? Oh, yes. You’re right. Everything everywhere pales in comparison to goddamn Non-Stop.