Love Again

The makers of Love Again believe that it is an uplifting romantic tale of two lonely people in Manhattan who learn to love again after each have faced tragedy and heartbreak in their individual lives.  I personally saw the film as a tragic and cautionary tale of what can happen to a talented indie filmmaker when he is chewed up by the studio system, and forced to work below his usual level of intelligence.

In 2007, writer-director James C. Strouse made Grace is Gone, an underrated and honest drama about a grieving father struggling to inform his two young daughters that their mother has been killed while serving in combat.  It was a little film that not many saw and did not get a big push from the studio, but it certainly left an impact on anyone who saw it.  Compare that to this movie, in wide release, which also covers the subject of grieving and loss, but is mechanical, forced and stupid beyond belief.  It's the kind of contrived romantic comedy drama that is built around plot manipulations as old as the hills, and can't breathe any life into them to make them seem fresh.  This is partly because the two lead actors have zero chemistry whenever they share the screen, and partly because the movie is actually an advertisement for singer Celine Dion, who not only contributes multiple songs to the soundtrack, but has a supporting role as herself.

Dion is supposed to be this force that brings the young lovers together, but she plays her role as if she often doesn't want to be there.  Each time she's on camera, she looks like she lost a bet.  And yet, were it not for her presence, this movie probably wouldn't be playing on the big screen, as Strouse's script often sounds like a rejected Hallmark Channel Movie.  It focuses on two different lonely people who have given up on love.  Mira Ray (Priyanka Chopra Jones) is a children's book author and illustrator who has been having a hard time moving on after she witnessed the love of her life get run down by a drunk driver.  The film opens with this moment, and honestly, the way it's staged is the only moment in this "comedy" that actually got a laugh from me, due to how clumsily it's executed.  We also have Rob Burns (Sam Heughan), a jaded reporter for a Manhattan newspaper who no longer believes in love or fate after the woman he loved broke things off a week before their wedding.

Rob is given a new work phone which, would you believe it, just happens to have the same phone number that Mira's departed love used to have.  And wouldn't you know it, the same time he gets that phone, she starts texting the number as a therapy exercise, leaving personal messages to her beloved that Rob starts receiving.  Rob becomes determined to track down this mystery woman who is texting him, which coincides with him having to interview Ms. Dion for the paper.  She gets involved, trying to convince Rob that he can find love again and advises him on what to do with these mysterious text messages he's getting.  He soon learns through the messages that Mira is a fan of a certain opera that is playing in town.  He attends, hoping to meet her, and as soon as he lays eyes on her, he somehow knows that this is the woman sending the texts.

Turns out they have a lot in common.  They both like to wear casual and comfortable shoes to formal occasions, they both appreciate putting fries on top of burgers, and he even doesn't mind her various "would you rather..." questions that she likes to ask.  It's obviously love, despite the fact that the two actors have all the appeal of soggy bread when they're together.  Naturally, he doesn't tell her he's been receiving the texts meant for her old boyfriend, so the third act can be built around her finding out and walking out of his life.  Will they get to reunite in the middle of a fake looking New York City snowfall while a Dion ballad plays?  I wouldn't dream of giving away the ending.  The entire movie is as fake as that snow, as there's not a single scene or character that rings true.  Not the lovers, and certainly not the guy's gay best friend and heroine's sister who both act as comic relief.

Love Again is contrived and manipulative in every possible way.  Compare that to the director's earlier work, the previously mentioned Grace is Gone.  In that movie, John Cusack sold each emotion as a father suddenly struck with the news of the loss of his wife.  He doesn't want his young kids to know right away, so he springs a surprise cross country trip to a theme park on them while he figures out how to break the news.  During the journey, he periodically calls home so he can hear his wife's voice on the answering machine, and "talk" to her by leaving messages about what he's dealing with.  I believed in those characters and what I was watching.  This film often comes across as if it were made by aliens who were trying to understand our emotions of love, loss, and grieving, but haven't quite grasped the concept.

They often say the best way to criticize a bad movie is with a good one.  Writer-director James C. Strouse has managed to criticize this one with his own earlier work.  Both movies deal with similar subject matter, but this is the plastic and marketable approach.  I can only hope he regains his senses soon after he made this..

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