Hateship Loveship

The storyline of 'Hateship Loveship' does not feel particularly revelatory or original on the surface but by the time the credits roll it proves itself to be something of great worth.

Kristen Wiig plays Johanna, a carer starting a new job looking after Nick Nolte and his rebellious granddaughter Sabitha. Wiig is devastating to watch. Her character has lead a sheltered life and looks on the verge of tears a lot of the time. She is very gentle and tentative, and able to express a multitude of emotions just from a tilt of the head or twitch of the mouth.

Her casting in this film could have fallen quite easily into the 'comedy actress trying to be serious in a movie' camp, but it rises above that in favour of something far more truthful.

Johanna's introversion is challenged when after falling victim to a prank she is paired together with Sabitha's recovering addict father Ken played by Guy Pearce. The combination of her complete innocence with his world weary, compulsive behaviour make for some fantastic moments of mundane realism, and bittersweet comedy.

The film contains themes of love across three generations, loss, and family responsibility, and although they are all sentimental ideas due to the high quality of acting and direction involved it never becomes mawkish about it. Uplifting without being preachy. I never felt like I was being told what to feel, but just being allowed to witness a set of very relatable, charming characters negotiating the situations they find themselves in.

Days later Kristen Wiig's performance is still lingering in my mind.

I was able to view to this movie via PPV before it hits theaters. I had no prior knowledge of the movie, and honestly pretty low expectations based on the description given, but I thought wth, I'll give it a try. I am SO glad I did. This movie was an unexpected beauty. I loved seeing both Kristen Wiig and Guy Pearce in very different roles than they typically play. This film is understated, it's slow going yet the pace feels perfect. There may not be any HUGE moments, but there are a couple "really good" ones. This film starts out with an almost sad feeling, but totally goes in an unexpected direction, and is so much more than it's description. It offers amazing yet gentle insight into various relationships, real-life scenarios, and excellent acting. I loved Nick Nolte in this. All around, this film left a good feeling inside my heart. It's about embracing imperfection, loving people for who they are, yet showing them how much more than can be if someone believes in them. At least, that's what I took away from it. So much more than I expected, love it! I am quite picky about movies, especially slower-moving independent films..but this- I loved. Well worth the money and time. 9/10

This film tells the story of a lonely woman who works as a live in carer for elderly people. She falls in love with a man after a cruel trick player on her.

"Hateship Loveship" borders on being a romantic comedy, but it's more bitter than sweet. Johanna is a caring and loving woman, and yet she is at the receiving end of a very cruel joke. She gets much of my sympathy, even though she hangs on to the man despite the man's numerous shortcomings. The way she is treated by the man is truly despicable and shocking, yet she hangs on for the wrong reason. It's quite a tragedy that makes me heart heavy. I think Johanna's robotic appearance is due to her working as a carer since teenage, and as she says, it's the only world she knows. She doesn't know what love and affection is, which makes me even more angry at the way she got exploited.

It's a sad romantic film, which is not a usual combination. I enjoyed watching it.

This film, even though it is a slow burn art-house film, really has a lot going for it. The casting is perfect! I never expected to see Guy Pierce as an Americana low life, but he totally pulls it off. Kristen Wiig was perfectly cast in the completely understated role. Sometimes she is drawn inward so much, that you almost wish she had a moment of warmth that was more than just nuance. I wanted her to have a little outward joy on film to help ease some of the difficulty in watching the character trying to cope with herself in the world.

But I really loved some of the sweet moments of warmth in the film, however, reserved they happened to be. I was touched by several moments, especially the moments between Hailee Steinfeld and Kristen Wiig.

Over all, this movie was my cup of tea, I just wish it had a little more range for Kristen's character to help swing the needle up and down a bit.

Being funny on the screen seems effortless to Kristen Wiig. Her comedic clowning skills are on a par with Lucille Ball and Shelly Long. Sincerity, however, doesn't come as easily — especially when her character is plain and charmless.

HATESHIP LOVESHIP sat on the Thriftway DVD rental shelf for several weeks. I took note of its great cast: Wiig, supported by Guy Pierce, Nick Nolte, Hailee Steinfeld, Christine Lahti, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. What could go wrong there? My memories of GIRL MOST LIKELY (which was supposed to be a comedy, but whiffed miserably) prevented me from taking the chance. Wiig's performance as said GIRL lacked any charm whatsoever; she was drab, homely, and totally unappealing. So, what was she going to do with this, her first dramatic role? It didn't look promising at all.

Finally, I took HATESHIP LOVESHIP home. And, I'm so very glad I did. What a splendid collaboration between star, cast, screenwriter, director and crew in this adaptation of Alice Munro's short story. Ain't no heroes here. These are real, extremely flawed human beings. They might live next door to anyone. They might be anyone.

Wiig's Johanna is a caretaker. That's what makes her life make sense. And, that's her odd beauty. She also finds herself attracted to bad boy Ken (Pierce) a drug-addicted user with delusions of accomplishing something that will finally give him independence.

But no one in this story seems to feel entitled to anything. They've all been wounded. So they protect themselves.

No one is hanging from a cliff. No clock is ticking. No fuse is burning down. Yet, somehow watching Johanna scrub a long-neglected bathtub filled me with worry, hoping she wasn't setting herself up for disaster.

The sex scenes, while not showing any nudity, are luscious and beautiful. I hope to see more of Liza Johnson. She is one gifted and inspired director.

Yeah, maybe Ken will never change. But it won't be for Johanna's lack of patience, and devotion. The story leaves us rootin' for the dude — and loving her. The doormat has won his respect and admiration. And ours. She deserves it.