Movie Summary of Love Happens by Michael The Moviegoer
LOVE HAPPENS = ***
“And So Do Funerals”
What’s wrong with “Love Happens”? For starters, it’s being widely marketed as a “star” vehicle romantic-comedy pairing two of Hollywood’s most attractive stars Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. And that’s the only thing wrong with it. It’s not what it appears. Hey, don’t judge a movie by its poster.
The flood of bad reviews are from critics who thought they were seeing a different movie. Instead, what’s up on the screen, is a heavy drama about a group of people paralyzed by grief over the tragic loss of a loved one. It’s also a psychological character study of the grief group’s counsellor played nicely by Eckhart. Aniston is just one of many characters he encounters during a week of self-help seminars at a hotel in Seattle. In fact, it’s Eckhart’s movie and Aniston is only in about one-third of it.
Other large chunks of the movie are devoted to other characters most notably John Carroll Lynch who has nearly as much screen time as Aniston yet steals the entire film with his searing performance as a man who lost his young son in a construction accident. Eckhart’s character is grieving over the death of his wife in a car accident.
If you haven’t grasped it yet, this movie is all about death and grieving. That makes it an awful romantic comedy, but really not such a bad film if you’re attracted to the dark subject matter. If the movie were released with the title “Life Happens” it would be viewed by many as a much better film even without needing to change a single frame.
Clearly the suits in some marketing department figured there is a wider audience for a romantic comedy, so they decided to package this as one. Nevermind the fact that it isn’t one.
DVD Double Feature: What is it about rainy Seattle that attracts filmmakers to set their death-related romance dramas there? 1993’s “Sleepless In Seattle” starred Tom Hanks as a widower with a young son who turns his dad into a celebrity bachelor by getting him on a call-in radio talk show. Meg Ryan hears his voice and love happens.
Michael The Moviegoer
