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:

A-poster-of-Love-Rosie

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.