Review: ‘Love Happens’

What is a romantic comedy, exactly? I’ll attempt to answer that briefly by explaining how I define a romantic comedy. Of course, there has to be romance and there has to be comedy, but more importantly the story needs to be primarily focused on the development of a romantic relationship. So, why do I bother to bring this up when it seems so obvious that LOVE HAPPENS is a romantic comedy? Because it’s not.

So the film has romance and it has comedy, but the primary focus of the story is NOT the romantic relationship between Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston, as the marketing of the film would have you believe. LOVE HAPPENS is a much deeper story than the average rom-com, but for the sake of reviewing the film, we’ll just assume it fits nicely into my abnormally strict definition of what make a romantic comedy.

The rom-com movie is a tricky thing. These films are sort of like a relationship, that is an 85-120 minute relationship anyway. We go into the relationship with all the best intentions, we sit patiently (most of the time) throughout our time together and in the end, we find ourselves feeling one of two basic ways… we either feel cheated, or we feel enlightened. LOVE HAPPENS is no exception to this rule.

I have to admit, I enjoy “good” romantic comedies because if they succeed at what they intend on doing, you leave the theatre feeling really, really good… like, someone spiked my Diet Pepsi with ecstacy good. Well, not THAT good, but you get my point. On the other hand, when a rom-com fails, it becomes one of the most miserably dreadful 85-120 minutes a person can spend stuck in one place. Fortunately, first-time director Brandon Camp (who also wrote DRAGONFLY) understands this principle.

Burke Ryan (Eckhart) is a writer who’s moving up in the world of high-profile self-help media messiahs, but he finds himself struggling with the prospect of seriously bankrolling off a book he originally wrote simply as a tool to help himself recover from the loss of his wife. As it turns out, it’s Burke’s friend and manager Lane Marshall (Dan Fogler) whose taken the popularity of Burke’s book and ran with it, creating a nationwide sensation.

While touring to promote his book, Burke reluctantly agrees to make a stop in Seattle, Washington. Haunted by the memory of his wife’s death, which took place in Seattle, Burke is able to hold himself together while in public but begins to show his internal weakness while by himself. It’s not until he meets a florist named Eloise (Jennifer Aniston) that he begins to show true signs that he could still be happy again. However, Eloise is bitter about her relationship history, assuming all men are dogs and makes it difficult for Burks to pursue he at first.

As I already mentioned, there is plenty of romance between Burke and Eloise, but the film isn’t bogged down with an excess of sappy, cliched moments that hold no purpose in moving the story forward in an intelligent direction. LOVE HAPPENS is a misleading title. I’m not suggesting that it doesn’t (eventually) happen, but merely pointing out that the story is much more rooted in the themes of loss, guilt and recovery from emotional trauma.

Hang on. Don’t go running off just yet. LOVE HAPPENS may deal effectively with these themes, but it’s not at all depressing. I promise. The film has a few moments that jerk at your tear glands and make your through knot up, but mostly the film is charming, fairly honest (although you have to expect Hollywood would add a little of their fantasy formula into the mix) and most importantly, we actually find ourselves caring about Burke, his pain and his struggle to overcome the very things he teaches his readers to overcome.

Aaron Eckhart is a fine actor and I wish he’d do some smaller, more challenging roles to prove this point. I’m not too masculine to say that he’s an attractive man, but at times it would help if they didn’t try so damn hard to make him look like a Ken doll, because the believability of the story suffers as a result. Jennifer Aniston only gets a casual thumbs up from me, as she plays herself once again, which isn’t saying a lot. Personally, her best performance at playing herself so far was back in 2002 as Justine Last in THE GOOD GIRL.

In fact, to be completely honest, Judy Greer (THE GRAND, VISIONEERS) was far more entertaining than Aniston. Greer is cute, sexy, funny and wild as Eloise’s friend/employee at her flower shop. Dan Fogler (FAN BOYS, HYSTERICAL PSYCHO) is hilarious as usual, playing his part to near perfection. Martin Sheen also serves up a small but stellar performance as Burke’s father-in-law, especially in the final scene.

I also feel the need to commend John Carroll Lynch (ZODIAC, GRAN TORINO) for his performance as Walter, one of Burke’s workshop and lecture participants. Lynch’s performance may not stand out for everyone, but I felt he tackled a difficult role and managed to pull it off extremely well. Walter was a character that we absolutely had to believe for it to be successful and was the catalyst for a crucial turning point for Burke. Kudos!

The film isn’t going knock any critics off their feet or garner any kind of artistic or technical awards, but I will simply say that some of the cinematography in LOVE HAPPENS is impressively accomplished, in a high-end travel photography sort of way. I’ve rarely seen images that make Seattle look that damn appealing! Even more delightful to my ears than my eyes, the film boasts a surprisingly good soundtrack, especially if you’re into indie rock.

Check out this Original Motion Picture Soundtrack:

“The Time of Times” by Badly Drawn Boy
“Dream” by Priscilla Ahn
“Fresh Feeling” by Eels
“We Will Become Silhouettes” by The Postal Service
“Your Hand in Mine” by Explosions in the Sky

Plus, two songs by Rogue Wave (one of them live) and an old school addition of “Have a Little Faith in Me” by John Hiatt.

Overall, LOVE HAPPENS and so does life, but the film attempts to take a more meaningful approach to the romantic comedy genre and I appreciate that. I’ll be completely honest and admit that the same story would have likely had an even more profound effect had it been a smaller film with a less recognizable cast, but given the standard operating platform within which Brandon Camp had to work, it’s a breath of fresh air and I recommend LOVE HAPPENS as small but significant step outside the box of the typical rom-com.