MOVIE REVIEW: Love Happens

Burke (Aaron Eckhart) is a celebrated author of the self-help book ‘A-Ok!’, a title which doubles up as his official catchphrase among the hundreds of fans who have joined him for a seminar in a San Francisco hotel. Although his book is about dealing with bereavement, Burke is haunted by the death of his own wife and finds his life empty. That is until he meets Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), a free spirited flower arranger who makes him see the virtues of moving on with his life. But can he let go of the past and go on with his life?

Despite the terrible title, the film starts off well enough. We see a likeable, charismatic person in Burke, with enough mystery surrounding him to keep us interested. The opening exchanges between him and Eloise are nice enough, too, if a little predictable. As the films moves on, the plot becomes sadly predictable, with the heartstrings being tugged so often the more emotional romantic scenes seem to lose their impact when they follow a scene where someone copes with loss. This sliding scale descends into an embarrassingly corny climax, complete with every single melodramatic cliché in the book.

Aaron Eckhart’s career suggests he should be in meatier roles than this. Anyone who’s seen him in ‘Thank you For Smoking’ or ‘The Dark Knight’ will know he’s more than capable of handling serious drama, but here it’s the standard leading man fare, a pale reflection of those previous roles. Ditto Aniston who, despite being big on the posters of her films, tends to take on much smaller parts than her status would suggest. Here it’s much the same - generic ‘love interest’, similar to her ‘Along Came Polly’ character but with a slightly more serious tone. The pair have good chemistry but with such a serious issue as dealing with loss you would hope for a bit more depth.

Martin Sheen pops up, looking as bewildered as he did in his cameo role in ‘Imagine That’, but that really is the only surprise in this rather ho-hum romantic drama. It’s funny and dramatic in spurts, but lacks the moving element that this sort of film should have in spades. Disappointing considering the talent involved.

Love Happens is out October 9.

Jennifer Aniston on set