All Critics (102)
|
Top Critics (24)
|
Fresh (18)
|
Rotten (84)
|
DVD (3)
Aaron Eckhart is commanding as a deeply flawed man in Brandon Camp's compelling dramedy, 'Love Happens'
Is this a movie or a feature-length advertisement for Qwest? We're not just talking one product placement; this brand name is nearly omnipresent.
Hang in there Jen. You can do better.
Other stuff happens too, all of it strained and dull.
The film is part romance, part drama, part Seattle travelogue, with Washington emerging as the only true winner. Along with the benefactors of the movie's copious product placements, that is.
Love happens. Doesn't it, though? So do other, less pleasant fragrances. This much is clear in the well-acted fraud co-written and directed, woozily, by first-time feature filmmaker Brandon Camp.
...the movie finally packs a surprisingly resonant emotional punch...
While there is no doubting the appeal of Eckhart and Aniston as a screen couple, their scenes together come over as decidedly slight when compared to the weightier issues raised by the movie as a whole.
This very underwhelming rom-com spends far too much time on the not-so-interesting theories of the hypocritical self-help hero.
Not content with being a romcom that's trite and shallow about love, it's gone one step further - it's trite and shallow about death, too.
Both stars seem bemused in their parts and it is left to Martin Sheen and a pet parrot to emote. The parrot, in fact, is the best thing here.
The film is sentimental and deeply embarrassing... There isn't a laugh or an honest emotion in the whole picture.
click for the full review
Love Happens is more about catharsis than chemistry. It's not a terrible film, but like skydiving lessons, you'd better know what you're getting into beforehand.
Gooey, banal and manipulative rom-com-dram.
Falls between romance and drama without really satisfying either.
The sorrowing widower is a great subject for film romance; but the point is to let the girl have a proper crack at cheering him up. And, as always with love, a GSOH would help.
As a romance story, Love Happens is nothing special, with the spark between Eckhart and Aniston almost non-existent. But as a drama about grief, it's much more interesting, though the blend of both does not always sit easily.
Lovers of therapy-speak with its "closures" and "I'm in a good/bad place" will probably warm to this film.
Everyone is trying to re-invent the rom-com at the moment and the makers of Love Happens are no exceptions. The formula they've come up with is to remove all the comedy, which is a bold choice.
How can we, as a species, tolerate Jennifer Aniston with her blurry expression of emotional bravery?
It's not a comedy. It certainly isn't funny.
A glossy, meandering wallow of a film with personable stars and predictable storylines. Blandly forgettable even with Aniston at her most winsome.
More Critic Reviews
63%
85%
71%
Top Critic
