Love Happens

Love Happens

Synopsis

A widower turned best-selling author of a self-help book about coping with loss visits Seattle for business, only to find he falls in love with a woman who attended one of his seminars. The problem is, has he really gotten over his wife passing to finally able to move on.

Official Site: www.lovehappensmovie.com

Singapore Release Date: 29th October 2009, Thursday

Running Time: 109 minutes

Ratings: PG

Genre: Drama | Romance

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston

Crew: Director (Brandon Camp), Producer (Scott Stuber, Mike Thompson, Nath V.G.), Writers (Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson), Music (Christopher Young), Cinematography (Eric Alan Edwards) and Editing (Dana E. Glauberman)

The Trailer

The Review

Will Hollywood ever make an original rom-com movie. Alright I’ll settle for just wittiness, but I was truly disappointed after watching Love Happens. The movie was just pathetic in my opinion.

The story is about Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) who wrote a bestseller ‘A-Okay’, which helps others cope with their loss. The book was based on his own experience of dealing with the death of his wife in a car accident which happened three years back.

But here’s the thing, Burke is a hypocrite in action as he in fact has yet to fully confront his own loss. Instead of finally coming to terms that his wife is gone, he kinda sidesweep and ignore the matter. And it’s this issue that’s preventing him from approaching Eloise Chandler (Jennifer Aniston), a florist who was at his seminar, and whom he has taking a liking to.

Hot on his heels is his father-in-law played by Martin Sheen, who sees Burke as an opportunist milking his situation for money and fame. But don’t worry, Sheen is at most a little annoying and serves little purpose in the movie.

Jennifer Aniston plays the other lead role as the female protagonist. Being Jen, she’s like in all her other movies, flat out the same all around. I couldn’t really tell the difference in her roles from one to the next.

The chemistry in the movie was not convincing nor engaging, you could tell it’s a pretty boring relationship lacking the wittiness. It’s not even funny overall. The only saving grace for me was the overweight manager Lane (Dan Fogler), who doubles as a comedy sidekick and Walter, played by John Carroll Lynch.

The ending is predictable and it’s one movie you should have no problem forgetting after watching.

The moral of the story is that one has to face their problems and demons, before one could move on. Acknowledge your mistakes, rather than lead a life of denial.

The Good

• A light drama
• John Carroll Lynch (plays Walter) is convincing in supporting role
• An ok date movie

The Bad

• Palpable chemistry
• The trailer is misleading
• Lots of clichés

Editor’s Ratings