STORY: Based on best-selling author Cecelia Ahern's novel 'Where Rainbows End', Love, Rosie is the story of two childhood friends, Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin), who 'keep missing each other in love'. Long distance, failed marriages, even spats can't wear away the connection between the two people who always have other's back and turn to each other to seek solace. Do they end up living 'happily ever after'? Well, it's a rom-com.
REVIEW: In 1989, Harry Burns professed his love for Sally Albright in 'When Harry Met Sally...' because 'he knew whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and he wanted the rest of his life to start as soon as possible'. Two-and-a-half decades later, with a new crop of actors, Love, Rosie attempts the same with formulaic candy-floss romance from Nora Ephron's memorable film and is quite successful in warming the cockles of our hearts.
Playing childhood BFFs, Collins and Claflin bring forth an enchanting chemistry. It is a pre-requisite for any romantic comedy to bring on screen the tangibility of their romance. The actors make Rosie and Alex's bonding affable. Their familiarity forms the crux of their romance and their ability to take each other for granted has a relatable vein to it.
Disaster strikes when Alex moves to Harvard to study medicine and Rosie's unplanned pregnancy (not with Alex's child) separates them. She decides to withhold the information and, suddenly, their lives take starkly disparate paths. The story establishes them as two flawed characters who visibly complete each other. Director Christian Ditter brings this out beautifully through tender scenes, like the one where Rosie discloses the truth about her baby to Alex and he asks if he could be the godfather.
There are many hiccups in this drama. Using the track 'Push It' during a childbirth sequence is enraging, but the warm sunshine-filled lovable frames purge these flaws. The film's ribald humour, like a condom mishap and another S&M disaster provide good laughs(sans sleaze).
Love, Rosie is quaint comfort-cinema that makes for an amiable watch.
