Review of Love Happens (2009) by Mike C — 01 Oct 2010

Well, I really wanted to like this. I like movies where characters deal with an inner pain. Unfortunately, all of this seemed very fabricated so it was hard to enjoy. Though it did once climb into a 6/10 possibility, it quickly settled back into the 3-4 range where it belongs.

The message boards are full of haters which makes me want to like this even more, but they're pretty right. It's a cookie-cutter movie. The key to a good drama is a sense of realness, both in story and in character. We've seen all these characters before. We've heard the story before. Throw in some CGI nonsense and a love affair with Qwest (what in the holy hell is up with that!?), and reality flies out the window along with any emotion the film is trying to evoke.

I'm kinda 50-50 on Eckhart. I think he plays the role well enough, it's just a shitty role. I've seen Aniston act before, but this is more or less her Friends character. The one we usually see. I get where they're going with the quirky hot chick, but that takes some of the truth out of all of it. They really try with the carpenter guy but that seems pretty fake and manipulative. Frances Conroy is always good, and I could listen to Judy Greer to slam poetry for three days straight.

When I bash a movie, I like to compare it to one that was done the right way. For me, that's Reign Over Me. Same struggle with grieving but better written, acted, and directed. C'mon, Adam Sandler at the height of his dramatic career with Springsteen's Drive All Night playing? Who can top that?? Certainly not a movie that plays it safe and borrows from stories we already know.