Love Happens (2009)

Simply Perfect

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I assumed this was a romantic comedy, it does sound like the kind of film that may be, especially when you have the leading actress involved, but it wasn't quite what I expected, but at the same time it was, because of the low rating from critics. Basically Dr. Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) is a best selling writer of the A-OK self-help book for people grieving, his motivational speaking about how to deal with grief makes him a minor celebrity as well. He himself had to deal with grief when his wife was killed in a car accident, and he is now in Seattle for a week long workshop for healing, and that could bring a major multi-media deal. While there Burke meets local florist Eloise Chandler (Jennifer Aniston), who has recently broken up with a boyfriend, but she is unaware that he has not completely got through his own grief, being a closet drinker and having mood swings. He tries his best to keep his personal feelings of loss to himself to take her to dinner, and they form a good friendship, but it is unsure whether he can move on from the memory of his wife and have a close relationship with her. Burke's sessions see him trying to get his group of fellow grievers to conquer some fears and prove that they will not beaten in things and can move, this includes for example walking across hot coals. In the end Burke decides to follow his own self help advice tips and in front of an audience to promote his work he confesses that it was actually him driving the car when his wife was killed, his Father-in-Law (Martin Sheen) comforts him saying it is alright, and Eloise and he get closer. Also starring Volcano's John Carroll Lynch as Walter, Frances Conroy as Eloise's Mom, Dan Fogler as Lane, Judy Greer as Marty and Joe Anderson as Tyler. Eckhart does his best to be the man with personal problems that you can feel sorry and hopeful for, Aniston is her usual feisty and nice self, and Sheen in his moments gives good support. I did not feel a strong romance going on between the lead characters, the story struggles to pull you in with originality and depth, I will confess for the majority I found it either too depressing, in need of more lighter scenes, and rather boring, a disappointing romantic drama. Adequate!

Love Happens is a movie about a young widower who delivers seminars to other bereaved people to help them to get on with their lives. He succeeds very well with them but not very well with his own grief, which is buried in hustle and bustle and whirlwind tours. His handlers are trying to squeeze every ounce of money they can out of his superstar status and he goes along with this but only with passing interest. Aaron Eckhart is the superstar of the bereaved who runs into hotel rooms grinning broadly as he bounds up onto the stage to deliver his inspirational message. He is a household name but under it all, he is a lonely guy who never really made the transition from the grieving widower to some semblance of normality, even after three years. Jennifer Aniston is a florist in Seattle who happens to be in a hotel when he gives one of his motivational shows. The two strike up a relationship that leads to love but her role lacks depth. The far more effective actors are in the supporting roles: Dan Fogler, Martin Sheen and John Carroll Lynch. The three actors give the movie the real punch with Fogler supplying an extra dose of humour. Eckhart has the persona for the leading role and shows the nice guy he really is under the trappings of the showman. John Carroll Lynch gives a great performance as a bereaved parent, who at first is reluctant to even try to help himself. Martin Sheen is the father in law who sees through the charade. Sheen is a great actor who has taken on so many roles over the years and whose life is more about the man than the celebrity; he makes this role all the more believable. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and recommend it.

This film is like a less funny, more heartfelt version of Along Came Polly. I'm not sure why Jennifer Aniston wanted to play an even more underdeveloped second banana in another story about a guy dealing with his emotional issues but if you loved the first edition, you'll like this inferior doppelganger. Basically, if you gave Along Came Polly an "A", you'll give Love Happens a "B-".Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) is a guy who's become a media star by writing a book on dealing with grief. On the verge of launching himself as an international corporate brand, he returns to his hometown of Seattle to host a week long seminar for folks still dealing with loss. There, he's struck by the beauty and quirkiness of a florist named Eloise (Jennifer Aniston) and asks her out. She responds by pretending to be deaf, though they eventually go out on a few dates in the evening while Burke continues to help people at his seminar during the day. But both Burke's seminar and his relationship with Eloise are undermined by a secret. Though he's become famous counseling other people on their grief, Burke remains emotionally paralyzed by his wife's death 3 years ago.Let's be clear about something. Despite its title and its marketing campaign, Love Happens is not a romantic-comedy. It does have some decent humor and rudimentary romance. As previously mentioned, it's also structurally similar to Along Came Polly, which was an actual romantic-comedy. However, Love Happens is really a mildly amusing story about the power and burden of grief. I can only imagine the studio feared people wouldn't be interested in paying money to watch a mildly amusing story about the power and burden of grief, so they've tried to fool everyone into thinking it's a rom-com. Which is a shame, because this is a decent movie that is appealingly different from a generic chick flick. It takes the subject of grief seriously, both how it can cripple people emotionally and the ways in which people can deal with it. Burke's honest and deep wish/need to help folks get out of the very trap he's stuck in makes him quite sympathetic. His struggle to help a guy named Walter (John Carroll Lynch) come to grips with the death of his son, while Burke can't bring himself to do the same with the death of his wife, defines him as both noble and relatable.Jennifer Aniston doesn't have much to work with in Love Happens. Eloise as a character isn't anything more than a collection of rom-com clichés and some arbitrary quirks that are never explained or elaborated upon. She's gorgeous, of course, and the lack of depth to Eloise seems to allow Aniston to give a performance just a bit beyond the genre standard. Instead of being stuck with the contrived mannerisms of heartsick lonely girl, Aniston plays Eloise as a grown, functional woman who's just made some bad relationship choices. That extends to the romance with Burke, which isn't much of a romance. These aren't two people falling in love at first sight. They're grown ups who are only trying to get to know each other. The story doesn't force them together, which makes their attraction more believable and engaging.Love Happens does have some laughs, though it doesn't try and wring humor out of everything in the story. It also has a big emotional climax that ends with one of those slow speed standing ovations. You know, where one person starts slowly clapping and everyone else joins in? That's such a stupid and insultingly manipulative rom-com cliché, it's actually quite surprising to see it in a 2009 film. It's like having a pie fight break out during an episode of 30 Rock.This is an okay film with two likable stars and a story that doesn't follow the same formula you've experienced many times before. I think that makes it worth seeing. But if you though Along Came Polly was awful, I can't imagine you'll enjoy it more a second time around with fewer jokes and more tugging at your heart strings.

Not flawless, but a solid movie dealing well with serious subject matter. I noted a reviewer didn't like this movie because it deals with someone's "passing"; perhaps if there had been more euphemisms in the movie and less confrontation of grief (i.e. acknowledgment of human mortality), then they'd have liked it better. (If you've ever been forced to deal with grief, you may appreciate this directness. Also, I think a film dealing with one of the most fundamental of human experiences should not be canned simply for trying to tackle the subject.) Anyway, this does a decent job and throws in whimsy and romance. The romance is light, tying the male lead feeling his own humanity by relating with the female lead. It's mostly talk (with maybe a light kiss), like in an old movie, and entirely appropriate to the movie's tenor. It's nice. The 3 main characters give 8 out of 10 performances. There are one or two cheesy moments in the film, but they're short, and everything else was fairly good to very good, so I rate this film an 8.