I'm Not in Love

A romantic comedy in the vein of He's Just Not That Into You and When Harry Met Sally but totally unique, I'm Not In Love brings in a different perspective which allows you to delve into the male psyche. How privileged are we to get a rare glimpse, to look at things from a man's point of view , not just the main character who is surprisingly sympathetic, but his friends each one representing a different type of man at a different life stage for things and people are not just black and white. The women aren't left out either. But more than just a romantic comedy, this film which sped by which is always a good sign shows the little things that make up our everyday life. The link to the childhood effect on how men and women live their adult relationships is often overlooked and it was unusual and refreshing to see this handled here in a lighthearted but effective way. It also brings out things that everyone experiences of the banalities andmundanities of true love when or if we even find it that people often don't talk about.. It touches on the challenges men and women face every day and what it means to be human.. The movie was over before I knew it even though I rewatched bits of it. Loved it.

Movie: I'm Not In Love IN A NUTSHELL:

Ah, romantic love. It's so much fun falling in love...the butterflies in the stomach...the exciting thrill of holding hands or kissing for the first time. This movie shows what happens after the comfort level, and even boredom, set into a relationship. Can you love someone but not be in love? How do you know if it's true love? Some might call this comedy an anti-rom-com because it paints a pretty bleak, realistic, yet still hopeful picture of relationships.

The story is about Rob, who is in his late thirties. He needs to decide if he wants to have a baby with his girlfriend Marta, but he's worried that he's fallen out of love with her. He asks his unhappily married friends for advice. They all tell him that he won't be able to do better so he might as well marry her. Over the course of two weeks, his friend Chris tries to set him up on a date, he meets up with the woman he thought was the great love of his life, he tries to get to grips with the idea of "settling", and attempts to resolve his issues. But when Rob eventually does propose to Marta, things don't go exactly to plan.

THINGS I LIKED: The opening credits that showed pictures of cast members as kids were creative and fun.

While the film is British, the cast is quite international, starring Al Weaver and Cristina Catalina.

You can get a true glimpse of how a guy will treat you in the future by how he treats his mother. The main guy in the movie is super rude and disrespectful to his own mother, revealing what a real jerk he is. Pay attention, girls!

It's fun to see everyday locations and life in England.

The film asks several interesting questions but never answers them. For example, one of the questions is if it's okay to date your best friend's ex. What do YOU think? Comment down below!

Watching the proposal was painfully delicious and Marta's reaction was realistic and heartbreaking.

There are some golden nuggets of wisdom in the movie, particularly about happiness and service to others. The lessons taught are very subtle but powerful. The protagonist goes through a lot of experiences that slowly reveal his character and desires to himself. For most of us, it takes a lifetime to truly understand ourselves. While the story doesn't "end", there is some satisfying resolution of character growth in the story.

The ending leaves you wondering what will happen next, which I thought was a smart way to finish.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Americans may find it difficult to understand everything that's said because of the thick British accents.

It makes me sad that all of the marriages that are represented in the movie are terrible. I'm so grateful my marriage isn't anything like the ones shown in the film. It would have been nice to balance the struggles of marriage with some of the joys. There are only a few split seconds in a montage that show anyone smiling with their partner. Life and marriage can be hard, so I wish the movie had illustrated some of the reasons why people stay together.

I didn't like the protagonist at all (Rob Lloyd) and wanted Marta to kick him out of her apartment during the majority of the movie. It was hard to see what she saw in him.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: This movie is inappropriate for kids, plus they'd be bored anyway.

Some profanity, crude language, and lots of F-bombs An unmarried couple lives together. Someone in the movie describes it like "Well, the shackles are on but you don't have the key." People try to hook up with a foursome in a hotel Lots of talk of sex

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This film offers something that I haven't seen in a long time - an honest invitation to journey with a character who, despite his flaws, is trying to make sense of what love is. It's funny that we really don't see many films like this - in attempts to generalize and gloss over it, or wishing for a sugar sweet finish, we can use romantic comedy as a way to escape our own questions, or fantasize our own better endings. This film invites us to look at ourselves, and uses humour and pathos to get there. At times uncomfortable, at times laughable, the characters bring us up close with difficult conversations about relationship, expectation and love. As a viewer, I found it an honest film - and that honesty, as well as the performances of the actors themselves, felt like an important gift that that brings the audience into maturity and honours a film tradition that demands engagement out of a friendship, or at least a kind of kinship, with its viewer.

A refreshing look at the question of 'the one' - some really sweet performances and a relief to see some different faces on the screen as well as some old time faves!

British film-making at its best... a world away from hackneyed Hollywood rom coms with saccharine plots and predictable endings.

This charmingly wry film captures what it can really be like to be a man in relationship - with the complexities, contradictions and messy nuances.

Fabulous performances from Al Weaver and the cast - under the deft direction of Col Spector.

A thoroughly enjoyable watch.