No Stranger Than Love

This is not going to be to everyone's taste, but still, I am a bit taken aback by the low rating it has. It certainly is different, but I found it quietly charming and enchanting.

People all have their own ideas when it comes to love, but Love with a capital L is far more elusive and can slip through our grasp without us even knowing it.

The men in the village chase after their "ideal" love in the form of Alison Brie. She, it turn loves none of them, not even the coach who finally breaks down her resistance and falls into a hole in her living room for his trouble.

Meanwhile a mysterious stranger arrives to further muddy the waters.

The dialogue is quirky and amusing and adds to the enjoyment.

This film tells the story of a beautiful woman in a small town, who is the centre of attention of all men because of her beauty. One day, the man she has a rendezvous with falls into a hole that mysteriously appears in her living room. She struggles to rescue her date, ad eventually the whole town knows about this mysterious hole.

The plot is a simple one, but "No Stranger Than Love" is actually quite entertaining. Alison Brie plays the beautiful woman who tries to ward off the many potential suitors, and she is so natural and charming while she does that. It is quite funny to see how numerous men try to win her heart, and it is even funnier that the hole just appears in her living room. Hilarious things happen in the film, but there is a touching message at the end. It is a sweet but different romantic comedy. I enjoyed watching it.

Guys in Spot Valley have a crush on popular school teacher Lucy Sherrington (Alison Brie). She has an affair with married football coach Clint Coburn (Colin Hanks). When she finally says "I love you", a hole opens up in the middle of her living room and Clint falls into the dark abyss. He's left floating somewhere deep inside and she struggles to get him out. Rydell Whyte (Justin Chatwin) is looking for Clint. He's a goon working for Clint's bookie.

It's actually kinda boring to have every man repeatedly hit on her. It's a funny idea that isn't that funny in its execution. That's my general feeling about this movie. The idea of this dark screwball comedy with Alison Brie is fun but it's dead pan flat for the most part. Chatwin tries to be quirky funny but can't get beyond quirky dark. Brie should be more flustered but she's too deer in the headlights. There is an obvious easy way to lie about the hole to his wife but Clint does it poorly. There is the theme of love but it's somewhat muddled. There is nothing overly objectionable but this doesn't engage me.

It's a pity the hole has no closure. This story is a bit quirky, moves to being satirical but in the end is quite simply sweet. Well cast, reasonably delivered and fun to watch. Worth taking a chance on.

I was kinda hyped to this one. It felt like the right when I first heard of it. The cast, the posters, the trailer, even the mysterious plot about a hole that just appears in the middle of the living room of some girl and swallows her boyfriend. I was sold, I wasn't expecting for nothing like a runner-up to the award season, but I was sold to a little indie funny and cute rom-com.

Well, high expectations has its downsides... The shitty thing, I can't be apologetic towards this movie... I tried hard to like it, but the movie wasn't able to hit the right nerve in no moment, and dude, I watch movies with an open heart...

The movie doesn't actually delivers any of the expected cuteness, comedy or quirkiness of the story that actually sounds lovely, funny and pretty intriguing. The cast, mostly Brie and Chatwin, as protagonist, aren't able to work all they can, and proved in previous works, 'cause the characters are pretty much flat, even more when the expositional dialogue tries to state the opposite. The supporting characters, unfortunately, are as much as shallow.

The movie does not tackle none of the big points it brings. It feels pretty much like the writer Steve Adams just had a good idea to a movie, but wasn't able to put it in the right way in the script, and the director Nick Wernham, in his feature directorial debut, just stuck with it 'cause it was what he had.

The movie failed to be one fine rom-com, and turns out just as a silly cautionary tale, that waste the chance to make great statements, about art, love, sex, fidelity, and people.