The Book of Love

With a pretty decent cast, this film has enough to keep you watching but never going to be good enough that you'll be talking about it after it's finished. Not surprising that I actually watched from one of those free channels apps that usually play "handed out" movies that don't get viewers elsewhere. Not a bad film by any means and both Sudeikis and Maisie Williams are thoroughly solid throughout.

The is movie about two strangers who have been left behind by the most significant person in their lives, and about how this bonds them as they engage in a bold project to sail from New Orleans to the Azores on a homemade raft.

Much of the wisdom is communicated by the voice-over commentary of 16 year-old Millie (Maisie Williams) who sounds like a deep south version of Christina Ricci's character in "The Opposite of Sex". The film is a little clumsy and Millie's accent is unnecessarily over-the-top but it is a good message and an overall pleasing effort.

Most profound is Millie's ambiguous statement about people dying when nobody is looking and living while nobody is watching. By which she is expounding on both their bold but by design unobserved rafting effort and on the human condition where many lives are lived without making a ripple in the fabric of society. And perhaps a third meaning, that the cool kids are so caught up in their clique that they have defined and made a cursory dismissal of everyone, blissfully unaware that awesome things are happening all around them.

There is a particularly interesting image early in the film, a shopping cart tipped over at the water's edge with a helium balloon trapped inside the inverted basket. Again this has lots of meanings, free spirit Penny trapped in the twisted metal of her wrecked car and unable to soar, Henry trapped by his grief, and Millie trapped by her defenses and unable to connect with anyone.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This film tells the story of a man who lost his pregnant wife in a car accident. He takes his late wife's incidental remark seriously, and help a local homeless girl. Together they build a raft to cross the ocean.

The plot sounds like it is a touching film about grief and healing. However, the reality is that it is more about irrationality and insanity. I can hardly believe a successful architect would abandon his job and embark on a clearly nonsensical project. The aim of the girl's maritime journey is a tools to the viewers, but in a fragmented and ineffective way. It does not make me feel that she has to go to the ocean. I don't understand what she has to gain to make that maritime trip, except to go on a suicidal mission. The worst part of the plot is that the causality of the events does not make sense. The person who caused everything should be doing the atonement, but it is not the case in the film. Hence, I unfortunately find the film making little sense.

"Most stories ain't true, and usually don't start where you'd expect." Henry (Sudeikis) is a boring husband who does everything by the book every though his wife tries to change him. After a tragic accident takes her like Henry is lost and has no idea what to do. When he meets the girl (Williams) that his wife was talking about he decides to help her complete her dream, and hopefully find himself in the process. This is a very good movie that really shows how heartfelt Sudeikis can be. There are very few movies that have come out recently that show true heart and how good people can truly be. This is one of them. The movie itself is, although very predictable and generic, good and very much worth seeing. After watching weeks and weeks of depressing movies like Manchester By The Sea, Nocturnal Animals and Moonlight this one seems like a much needed break. Although this is also very sad in some parts this one seemed to have what the others didn't…hope. Overall, worth seeing and I think its only a few years away from Sudeikis really breaking out and getting an Oscar nomination. I give this a high B.

Let's be completely honest and upfront, The Book of Love is not a good movie. It's not even a movie I would recommend to people. However, it's heart is in the right place. I know the film was made for people who are going through tragedies and are looking to move on. That's fine and all, but the execution is far from where it could have been with an idea like this. The Book of Love deals with two people, Henry and Millie, both with tragic pasts and looking for something to keep them going through difficult times. They share a bond together over tragedy, and decide to band together and build a boat to deal with their loss, and possibly go on an adventure of a lifetime. What follows is a serious of mostly convoluted events with several cheesy conflicts and dialogue that more or less lead to a B-movie version of Life of Pi meets The Way Way Back? Both are modern-day classics in my opinion, and The Book of Love has nowhere near the gravitas or emotional effect those films do, but I think that was certainly the tone they were going for. The problem is, the film never earns its emotional beats. Instead, it feels more like a glorified hallmark drama, just with great actors. The only major positive is Justin Timberlake's score, and yes I said Justin Timberlake. Why in the world I decided to watch this film, I'm not entirely sure, probably because of Maisie Williams, but it's not a film I will ever revisit.

4.4/10