MOVIE
REVIEW: LOVE HAPPENS

09/11/09

Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) is a successful, writer, motivational speaker and as far as appearances go, he has it all. He’s about to become the next Dr. Phil if all goes right and you get the feeling that this guy deserves only good. Why you might ask? Well, through his book “A-Okay” and inspirational seminars he helps many deal with loss and grief. He’s well versed in what needs to happen to be able to get your emotions back, be able to feel again, to allow yourself to back into the world and live. Ah, but does he practice what he preaches?
Eloise Chandler (Jennifer Aniston) is a free spirit who loves flowers and nature. She has her own shop and spends her days arranging flowers at a local luxury hotel. She has a penchant for unusual words and cheating men. Burke and Eloise bump into each other in the hall of the hotel, literally and so a new start begins, although not smoothly.
The visuals in this movie are awesome but not in an obvious way. The film opens with a close-up of lemons as Burke’s voice talks about making lemonade when life gives you lemons and I got a strong sense that someone had a design goal of taking the most mundane objects and making them beautiful such as hardware (you’ll see what I mean).
I must also mention that I pride myself on being able to identify a city with a view as tight as a street corner and Cine Marcos can attest to that. In this film it only took me a moment. The corner sign said “Pike Place” and I knew we were in Seattle! You see, my favorite morning beverage is Starbucks’ Pike’s Place brew - in honor of the market place where Starbucks was founded. Unbelievably, this movie made rainy, muggy Seattle seem like a magical place, not on purpose, but wow!
This is a romantic film and, yes, I guess a chick flick but not in an in your face kind of way. There is truly so much attention given to the rebirth of the human spirit and the mending of relationships that count that the love story seems to be just a small piece of this.
Dan Fogler as Lane “God damn” Marshall, plays Burke’s best friend and business manager and was truly a breathe of fresh air. I must tell you I saw his face and immediately thought “oh no, Good Luck Chuck”! I was wrong and am not too big to admit it. There is also a lovely turn by Martin Sheen as Burke’s grieving father-in-law, not only grieving because of the loss of his daughter, but for the loss of his only son-in-law. I loved the writing. I adored the message and was just in tears by the sense of renewal. Go see this film if you want to feel good, go see it if you need to deal with loss but, just go see it.
Review By Priscilla
priscilla@smartcine.com
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