I should have known that a film with a humdrum title like Love Happens would not be a winner. I should have listened to the critics who said this romantic comedy fell flat. But the critics have been wrong before. And titles have been poor before. And I am still flying the Team Jen flag, have been since Brangelina were still guilty lovebirds and not exhausted parents of the year.
It turns out that the critics were right in this case. I saw no sign of love at all in Love Happens. There was a stultifying lack of chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. She played an eccentric flower shop owner who walks through hotels inking obscure vocabulary words behind paintings, but she never quite pulls off the quirky quality, and comes off as stiff and wooden.
Aaron Eckhart's character is a grieving widower turned inspirational speaker who still guzzles vodka in secret to dull his pain. His character works both in grief mode and in exalted speaker mode. Jennifer Aniston is the first woman he's been interested in since his wife died, and his attraction is completely credible. It's just whenever he and Aniston get together that the movie doesn't jibe.
I'm still flying my Team Jen flag, but I'm really hoping that her next movie is not about an aging girl hoping to meet the right guy. It's time to try a new genre.
2 comments:
From the trailers, this movie looks like it could go either way. Based on what you said, I think I'm going to wait for it to come on HBO.
I'm all for Team Jen too. Especially now that Brangelina seem to be more collectors of children than parents. What type of household needs 4 nannies to function?
Oh shucks, disappointing. I will still watch it of course.
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