Love Happens

Well, I had the choice of seeing this movie and Jennifer's Body.So from word of mouth I decided on viewing Love Happens because well it seemed somewhat interesting.

I haven't seen many of Aaron's films either so I wanted to see how he blended in with Jennifer Aniston.

The movie,yes a romantic one..perhaps and a little comedy,,minimal of a few laughs I found to be a little boring.I thought Aaron did a good job and got into his character,but somehow I lost Jennifer Aniston.I don't know if words can describe how I felt after the movie.I mean it was very touching to see Aaron's character open and tell his feelings and I think most people can relate to that part of the movie.

I thought the movie was OK.I thought Aaron's character was interesting.However,Jennifer's was just blah.

If you are fan of either I am sure you will be more amused than I was.

Awful waste of time during which not once was I emotionally invested in the characters - it was difficult to exercise empathy when the scenarios were so entirely clichéd, recycled and the characters so predictable, wooden, underdeveloped and devoid of any real charm. I am usually the first to cry and laugh at a good Rom Com and Love Happens only succeeded in making me cringe and pity Jennifer Aniston and wonder what happened between the Break Up and here. She seems to be playing out the romantic tragedies in her own personal life on-screen but to a cliché-ridden script. And, the vast number of product placements were horrifying. To be avoided at all costs, especially for genuine believers of love, like me! The 3 is for all the efforts put into the movie but not for the overall outcome.

Burke (Aaron Eckhart) is a successful self help guru dealing with the lost of his wife in a car accident. He has come to Seattle for a group seminar for people dealing with their own lost. Florist Eloise (Jennifer Aniston) literally runs into him in his hotel. He tries to ask her out but she pretends to be deaf.

As a romance, it fails. Both Aaron and Jennifer are likable actors but they just don't have the chemistry. Add to it the tough subject matter, it's too hard of a place for romance to blossom. As a character growth movie, it had some moments. Aaron is playing a character going thru some tough stuff. But then he does a silly thing like stealing a bird. It just feels stupid to have comedy there.

The premise of this movie held a lot of potential but unfortunately, Love Happens doesn't deliver as... not much happens in this movie.

Aaron Eckhart, who seems to struggle not to be type-casted as your average guy in light romantic stuff plays... Burke, an ordinary dude trying to overcome his wife's passing by becoming a modern-day guru for people who have lost loved ones.

Jennifer Aniston, who basically embraces her career of being typecast as a romantic interest in romantic flick plays herself once again. This time, she goes by the nickname Eloise but she'll still be that same single woman who's had a string of bad relationships and is till looking for "the one".

Director/writer Brandon Camp doesn't give the character of Eloise much substance, and seems content just to let Aniston do her usual work. He seems to have focus mainly (in the script and on screen) on Burke. In the first few minutes, it seems to work; Burke is an interesting character. The self-help speeches are well-written, the pressure on Burke's shoulders is felt.

Unfortunately, much of the movie revolves around the relationship that develops when Burke and Eloise bump into each others and begin to know each others. Their interest for each others is uninteresting and lacks credibility, in part because Eloise is so poorly sketched and also because, as we learn to know Burke's real issues, it just seems... wrong.

And as the film goes on, it just gets worse as it seems Brandon Camp doesn't understand the topic of mourning very well, and also seems to send the message that using people as emotional crutches, getting involved in relationships when you are not fully ready are good things. Many scenes are almost surreal. Releasing domestic pets into the wild, breaking and entering at your former in-laws, lying, magically curing your sense of loss by shopping at Home Depot... I like quirky stuff, but the mix of comedy, romance and the intense drama underneath wasn't done very well.

To top it off, the whole movie is wrapped in a sort of romantic relationship that never happens, and played out with two actors who have little to no chemistry together.

Aaron Eckhart is a gifted actor that should have no problem finding roles, but as far as a lead, he's been slightly unlucky and needs to select projects a bit more carefully or risk being type-casted in that type of flicks much like his co-lead.

For Aniston, this is the latest in a string of duds. As for Brandon Camp, this isn't his first project tackling grief as he wrote the poor Dragonfly (2002) and I shudder when I look at his next project, Steinbeck's Point of View, which also seems to deal with issues of life and death.

I have nothing against writers who focus on certain issues, as long as they master those issues well, which isn't the case for Camp.

The merit of this movie is that confronted grief, and tried to do so seriously. We know that in daily life, it is hard for any human being just to grief or talk about loss. When I read the critics I see that they have praised this fact but have mentioned that the movie didn't know if to be a comedy or a drama.

Grief, life and humor are intertwined in real life. I am no saying that Jennifer Aniston ruined a masterpiece about grief or that the movie didn't have other faults but wherever she is "being herself" (which is Jennifer Aniston over and over) with her fidgeting, her usual getting stuck to pronounce words or express herself,the usual movements of her head like saying hello?? Her superfluous acting, her not getting deep in any emotions, when all this happens any other efforts are cheapen out. She makes everything around look light, silly, frivolous. And for more than others feel what they do and believe their characters , she doesn't seem to have any fiber on her. The only movie when I saw a different performance of JA was "The good girl" but nothing else after that.

I was moved by a concept conveyed here: "all these counselors and people that tell us what to do and they haven't examined themselves". That is important. Or the guilt issue which always accompany any grief. When Walter said "I couldn't hold him" this might seem very simple but convey these little details that stay with people when they lose someone and start thinking what they might have done different. And there is little comfort. Aaron Eckhart has this warmth about him that makes him believable. I understand if people don't like the movie, but I think that they tried and the casting of JA didn't help in this effort.

It is worthwhile to mention Martin Sheen and John Carroll Lynch as very convincing and effortless performances.