Love, Rosie

Director: Christian Ditter
Cast: Lily Collins, Sam Claflin, Tamsin Egerton
Length: 102 minutes
Country: UK

How does one create a romantic comedy for a society that doesn’t believe in love?

That’s a question which filmmakers around the world are still struggling to answer. Hollywood regularly dishes out star-studded productions dripping with luxury and the presence of Katherine Heigl, but whilst many are commercially successful, they’re often panned by critics. Love, Rosie, despite the presence of  Lily Collins,an American actress, is actually a British production, and that is perhaps partly what makes it stand out from the often overly glossy American fare. It’s a warm-hearted, if not exactly mind-blowing, film which attempts to acknowledge the increasingly complicated love lives found in modern society. Despite this, it still packages its less-than-conventional story in the rom-com staples which have made the genre one of the most perennial in Hollywood.

Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) have been best friends since childhood. He inspires her to look beyond their dead-end home town (like Disney’s Belle, he wants adventure in the “great wide somewhere”) and apply to America for university. Although they both have unacknowledged romantic feelings for one another, they end up going to their school prom with different dates. When Rosie’s first time with her date, Greg, goes awry, it looks like Rosie’s going to be saying farewell to college and hello to unplanned, teenage motherhood.

 Lily Collins shines. It’s clear that she has the acting chops to go quite far in the industry, especially if she was offered some better roles. As Rosie, she is exactly the right mix of awkwardness, vulnerability and feisty strength to make her an appealing heroine.

With Clary Fray (from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) cuddling up to Finnick (from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)the posters for this film come across as a battle of the tween franchises. But almost as soon as this film started, I was convinced by the casting. Lily Collins is no stranger to taking the lead in Hollywood fare, often of dubious quality (The Mortal Instruments and Tarsem Singh’s overstuffed Snow White update both spring to mind). However, Collins’ performances, taken separately from the doubtful artistic merits of her material, have often been very strong.

Here, with fewer special effects, Shadowhunters and rouge dwarfs (don’t ask) to distract the audience’s attention, Collins shines. It’s clear that she has the acting chops to go quite far in the industry, especially if she was offered some better roles. As Rosie, she is exactly the right mix of awkwardness, vulnerability and feisty strength to make her an appealing heroine.

The camaraderie between Rosie and Alex, which has supposedly been in development since the two were children, didn’t feel forced in the slightest. This is testament to Collins and Claflin, who shared an easy repartee and comfortable, good-humoured ribbing which easily made you believe the two had known each other for years. Sam Claflin underwhelmed me in Catching Fire and was totally forgettable in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean instalment (though, to be fair to him, most of that film was forgettable). However, in Love, Rosie he demonstrated enough charisma and presence to make him solid leading man material.

The film’s main problem is sustaining conflict for the full duration. Initially, the “will-they-won’t-they” dynamic works because the two characters are insecure teenagers (despite the fact that Collins and Claflin are clearly older than their characters’ eighteen years…we’ll call it willing suspension of disbelief). The older they get, the more difficulty the film has coming up with convincing reasons to keep the two apart.

The film increasingly focuses on external obstacles – misunderstandings, hidden letters and Alex’s never-ending stream of blonde bimbo girlfriends – rather than on the two leads’ conflicts, which in my opinion would have been more interesting. When Rosie makes a dash to the airport in a last ditch bid to stake her claim on Alex’s affections, it feels like the filmmakers are giving up in desperation rather than anything else.

What saves Love, Rosie from the crass, unlikeable fate which so many rom-coms fall into is its lack of pretentions. Perhaps it’s the self-depreciating British humour, or the talents of its leads, but there’s just something likeable about this film. It’s a generous and warm-hearted story, and although once its third act gets into gear it’s fairly predictable and unrealistic, it has enough charm to suck you into its rose-tinted finale.

Love, Rosie is nothing extraordinary or fresh and you shouldn’t watch it expecting to learn something new about love in the modern age. However, it is extremely likeable and, if nothing else, showcases the acting talents of its two attractive leads. More mature than a lot of the recent examples of its genre, this film at least acknowledges that love, and life, can be complicated, messy and frustrating.

Image Source: Lionsgate UK