There are certain steps that one must take in order to cope with the loss of a loved one. While Burke, played by Aaron Eckhart, walks people through their grievances, he avoids facing his own – until he comes face to face with Eloise, played by Jennifer Aniston. From there he must deal with the sharp and unrelenting pain of facing reality over the death of his own wife.
What appears to be a soft, romantic drama and comedy of sorts turns into one huge sob-fest. From start to finish we are thrust into the most depressing topics amongst the backdrop of the sodden city of Seattle. By the end of the movie you feel as smothered and depressed as the lead character, wondering when you will finally get out of the movie and get some fresh air. Though the atmosphere reeks thickly of the melodrama, the plot still holds fairly strong. Wading through the entire step-by-step process of acceptance in Burke’s story, though, felt slow-paced. The most humorous part of all is the deception of what the movie is really about. Though the title does imply the typical dose of romance though discovery strung along with some comedy and drama, it aims to be the most misleading title that has been printed in a while.
Aaron Eckhart holds up the movie to a large degree, with his energy and charm shining through the clouds otherwise dimming the big screen. Without him as the lead, the film would have suffered massive bouts of depression. Jennifer Aniston provides the weaker part, barely showing any sort of enthusiasm for the light in Burke’s life, contrary to her depiction in the trailers. Aniston acts more like an anchor, dragging beneath the story whenever she appears onscreen. The supporting characters appear not only to be pillars for the house where the lead characters develop but provide comedic relief, yet they fall flat and are not really memorable at all. Martin Sheen’s cameo was the strangest of the bunch. Yes, the star’s appearance really is barely relevant to the plot, don’t bother trying to solve the mystery.
Brandon Camp has a great future in directing long shot landscapes, because that is what we see through about half of the movie. The cinematographer is so in love with the rainy and damp settings of Seattle along with Eloise’s shop that you thank him whenever you get a solid look at an actual character. Though the film settings do look beautiful and are well shot, the focus of attention shifts a bit too much.
In the end, Love Happens proves to barely stand on its own feet with the almost exclusive help of Aaron Eckhart. It does not really hold the sort of comedy that a typical romance film would depend upon to move out from under the high buckets of sorrow, which proceed to drown out whatever small flowers of love might have sprouted in this film.
