Directed by Christian Ditter, “Love, Rosie,” also known as “Rosie Dunne,” is a cliché British romance film set in present day England and an adaption of the novel “Where the Rainbow Ends” by Cecelia Ahern.
The film opens with the rhetorical question, “What do you get when you fall in love?” As viewers we begin at a wedding reception, wealthy guests milling about, and Rosie sitting at the wedding party’s table with a sad expression, because this is not her wedding.
Throughout the film, multiple flashbacks of Alex and Rosie’s friendship are shown in contrast to present day. We see that the two have had a romantic spark, but both are unwilling to pursue each other. We see the consequences of their flings with each other and others, as poor emotional communication hurts their relationship more than once.
Both Lilly Collins and Sam Clafin, playing Rosie and Alex respectively, are appealing actors who have shown audience members their amazing acting abilities throughout previous projects. They both portray their characters well, despite unconvincing age transitions from late teens to early thirties that awkwardly take place in the movie. The two make a good couple.
Unfortunately, the long period of time it takes for the two characters to become an official couple was unnecessary, it already was made clear from trailers that it’s a love story about the two.
We see Alex date another girl, supposedly getting her pregnant only to find out that it is not his child and then immediately get married to a former high school fling, Bethany Williams.
For Rosie, she gets pregnant after her senior dance then chooses to keep the child a secret, becoming a single mother. She eventually gets married to the father of her child, then divorces him when Rosie discovers him cheating on the night of their wedding anniversary.
I enjoyed the movie’s flirty and fun plot, but there are many annoying romance clichés about the film that I disagree with, such as the the constant “will they, won’t they” scenarios, and the belief that people can have a misunderstanding that has lasted years and yet be able to set things right with one single conversation. If life were that simple, I am sure many countries and groups of people would get along better than they do.
Despite the idea that Rosie and Alex are meant to be together, the two become involved with people that are clearly wrong for them. We see Rosie’s pretty-boy date get her pregnant and Alex ends up dating lifeless blondes.
Director Christian Ditter does add artistic touches to the film, such as the lighting during scenes of the cast walking in the sunlight, or the light from the lamp in Rosie’s room.
While a cute movie, it is not something I’ll see again anytime soon.