Love, Rosie

This is my first review ever, specifically to WARN anyone who looks for some easy entertainment but still values some originality or lesson learned.

For the cute premise of best friends, "soulmates", and "the one who got away", the leads' acting and the chemistry is acceptable. They, especially Collins, are attractive, charming, and likable on screen. Same goes for the set and interior design choices-which I focused on heavily while watching, because something's gotta give.

Right at the beginning, you sense that the pacing is off. A lot of lazy and some confusing editing choices. The score is always too on the nose. Even through numerous major life events, the main and supporting characters stay shallow, one-dimensional, and unreal, making it hard to care about anybody. The dialogue and story of the script are entirely cliché, even for the lovely romance genre, as well as devoid of any nuance, subtlety, cleverness or originality. There is hardly any reason for the supposed "deep" platonic or romantic connection presented. After a teenager's worth of years, every character remained unrealistically childish. The characters' repeated, ridiculous choices made me root against them after a while for poetic justice as some kind of payoff.

And, weirdly, hardly any humor at all. The closer you look, the more annoyed you get at the details.

I appreciate movies for the escape from reality. This one, however, made me want to run back to my responsible, childless and single life, which, even during its most boring phases, is more alluring, revealing, lively, fun, exciting, surprising and romantic than this "creative" output. All in all, a very grating and regrettable viewing experience.

It was not bad. Some of the shots were either in weird lighting or slightly too close ups. The story line was good but honestly more scenes with Katie from both Alex and especially Rosie would have improved it. I mean for the most part she just pops up like of yeah she had a kid. Which to anyone with children or has cared for children knows that's not how life with kids is. Even being the godparent you're more involved than what the movie gave time for. The only interaction between Katie and Alex was towards the end of the movie which did do not make them feel close at all.

The acting was good, definitely no complaints with the casting. The location and set details were really good. The parallel between Rosie and Alex was a great visual aid in telling about their lives. The constant will they won't they was annoying but that's only because it's been overly done in ROM COMs. In this one however it was well done.

The near misses and all the cold feet moments felt true to life. Like that one moment everyone has experienced with they didn't just go for something they wanted. That was, in my opinion, the best part of this movie. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that captured those moments so damn well!

Love, Rosie's leads Lily Collins and Sam Claflin add strength to this adaption that struggles to convert its story from paper to screen. They both hide their love for each other instead of biting the bullet and opening up to each other. They spend 12 years in awkward oblivion (apparently it's longer in the novel). They keeps secrets from each other, Alex's being marriage and Rosie's is pregnancy. Amongst the hardships and the inconceivable privacy are two souls who look and feel normal, never sloping into the ludicrous, always down-to-earth. There is chemistry behind the acting. They push their affections to the front, more so than most rom-com partners pull off. The story doesn't stand-out, the performances do. This is a film to fill up those rainy days and delve into a relationship if only you take the leap.

I love a romantic comedy as much as the next girl. I go in fully expecting the cheesiness and I'm okay with that. But "Love, Rosie" was brilliant!

Not only was it heartwarming, romantic and funny, it was dramatic with great moral lessons about friendship, family, honor, trust and responsibility.

I came out of the cinema thinking "Wow, that was really worth my money."

Lily Collins and Sam Clafin were both brilliant leads and they had heaps of chemistry together.

I would recommend this film to anyone as they will love it. Girls, have no fear of your boyfriend complaining about being dragged to a romcom after this one. I think even HE will be rooting for Rosie and Alex to get together.

10/10 stars. Can't wait for the DVD!

Romance novelist Cecilia Ahern made a bit of a splash in chick-lit circles when her second novel, Where Rainbows End, was published in 2004. It was a tale of two people who were clearly perfect for each other but could never seem to find their way towards being in love, told in the form of e-mails, text messages and letters. The story itself was predictable, but the format was reasonably hip and refreshing at the time. Ten years later, the book has been turned into a slight but amiable romantic comedy for the silver screen. The film isn't particularly hip or refreshing, but boasts just enough charm and emotion to entertain - even if it isn't a film that will stay with you for long afterwards.

Rosie Dunne (Lily Collins) has been best friends with Alex Stewart (Sam Claflin) since they were kids. They've always meant the world to each other, but have never become more than friends. At their high-school prom, they ask other people to the dance. Alex moves to Boston to begin his studies in medicine, and Rosie must stay behind due to an unexpected pregnancy. Over the next several years, she raises a child on her own, and he gets married. Through all of life's changes and upheavals, they still pop up on each other's radar, connected via e-mails, text messages and a bond that one suspects can never really be broken.

That's pretty much it, really - the outcome of the film is never in doubt, however long it might take to get there. Indeed, one problem with Love, Rosie is that it does take a relatively long time to get to the point, even though it's tried to simplify Ahern's novel by merging characters and removing subplots. The longer it goes on, the harder it becomes to buy into the various situations, events and misunderstandings that conspire to keep Alex and Rosie apart - whether it's his marriage or hers, the rekindling of old relationships, or plain ol' geography. Their relationship is so heavily peppered with coincidences and mishaps that it could have made a decent dark melodrama about the dangerous effects of co- dependency.

And yet, for all its plot problems, Love, Rosie is a mostly charming affair. There's some real depth to the relationship between Rosie and Alex, one which transcends both friendship and romance in unexpectedly touching ways - whether it's her decision not to ruin his future by telling him about her pregnancy, or the comfort he selflessly gives her when she's struggling to stay afloat in the wake of a family tragedy. Thrown into the mix is the sweet chemistry shared by Collins and Claflin, who are both very cute and very committed to making their roles work. (Collins never feels or looks old enough to play the mother of a teenage girl, even one who had her kid as a teenager, but that's a minor quibble.)

Considering how predictable the story is, it's something of a minor miracle that Love, Rosie works at all. But it does, for the most part, whenever it manages to find the heart and humour of its characters and their almost painfully intertwined lives amidst its many narrative contrivances. It's not great art, or even one of the great romantic comedies, but it's a surprisingly decent diversion - one that should please Ahern's fans and perhaps win her a few new ones.