Ryan Reynolds, left, and Neil Patrick Harris, right. And if we had it our way, that skinny little white line sandwiched between them would be us.Photo: Getty Images
If any of you went to see Definitely, Maybe last night, or you know, have seen any of the ads for it, you already know that it’s basically the same premise as How I Met Your Mother. This has been covered pretty steadily since news of the film came out. But today on Live!, the awkwardness came to the fore. Neil Patrick Harris was subbing for Regis Philbin, and Ryan Reynolds was one of the celebrity guests. Reynolds stars as the handsome, likable dad in Definitely, and Harris stars as the despicable, hilarious Lothario Barney in Mother. Now, it turns out that Ryan and Neil are old friends: Neil even recalled having Ryan over to his house to discuss whether Ryan should accept a role on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (he did). But even their friendliness could not avoid the following moment, when Neil, Ryan and Kelly started discussing Ryan’s latest film:
Harris: Romantic comedy. [Preparing himself.] What’s it about?
Reynolds: It’s about a guy whose explaining his impending divorce to his daughter, and she wants to know how I met her…[pauses, probably remembers he had practiced a different way of describing the plot] uh … mom.
Harris: How I Met Your Mother. [Gleefully] INTERESTING.
Harris let it go at that, but we consider it a small victory on behalf of the cast and fans of How I Met Your Mother everywhere.
