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Love, Rosie review: This is groan-inducing rather than affecting
Even by the woeful standards of current young-adult love stories, this will-they-or-won’t-they confront their feelings about each other piffle is unduly wearisome.
Love, Rosie
Direction:
Christian Ditter
Actors:
Lily Collins, Sam Claflin
Rating:
1/5
Even by the woeful standards of current young-adult love stories, this will-they-or-won’t-they confront their feelings about each other piffle is unduly wearisome.
Evidently released as a cash-grab during the Valentine weekend, Love, Rosie is groan-inducing rather than affecting. Adapted from a bestseller by the Irish novelist Cecilia Ahern, the narrative unfolds via a series of flashbacks and neatly arranged contrivances.
Best pals since childhood the friendship of a young British couple (Collins-Claflin) is strained over the course of a dozen years by their decision to seek love separately. However, the two keep in touch despite misunderstandings, embarrassments and even marriages. After some 100 minutes of soul-searching, their see-saw relationship culminates in a brazenly formulaic clinch.
Making his English-language debut, German director Christian Ditter fails to elicit any empathy for his bland protagonists who, to make matters worse, share none-too-compelling chemistry.
As unromantic as it gets,…Rosie doesn’t merit one’s acquaintance.
