Love Happens

Are we supposed to take the title Love Happens as a positive or a negative? On the one hand, it sounds whimsical and magical like any time you are walking down the street you can run across a handsome man and true love at first sight can strike like lightning or cupid's arrow (especially if you look like Jennifer Aniston). Of course, it could also mean love hits you like the flu and makes you want to die after staying in bed for a few days with an upset stomach. Your reaction will determine if you want to see Love Happens, or pass by the theater in search of a horror movie or something with loud explosions.

Aaron Eckhart stars as Burke - a self help guru rising to fame and on the verge of becoming the next Dr. Phil. He finds himself in Seattle, which is a lovely city, but the last place on earth he would rather be. The trip is starting to become a disaster, and he has an attendee at the seminar, Walter (John Carroll Lynch), who isn't buying into the whole program. However, Burke finds himself facing his biggest fears and his secret past when a new woman, Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), captures his eye and heart, but he isn't sure he has gotten past the death of his wife.

Will Burke and Eloise find true love or will they remain sleepless in Seattle?

Can Walter find peace?

Will Burke finally put his past to rest?

While Love Happens is the prototypical big studio weeper, it still has some impact on your funny bone and heart. However, it's important for people to understand this is not primarily a love story.

All of the ads and trailers you have been seeing heavily promote the story between Eloise and Burke and make you think Love Happens is nothing more than a cute romantic comedy, but it's deeper than that. Writer/director Brandon Camp and co-writer Mike Thompson explore many themes of love, loss and moving on, which will tug at some heartstring deep in your soul, no matter how bitter and angry you might be.

Yet, Camp and Thompson also rely on all of the old standbys. Eloise and Burke must have the hots for each other because their relationship starts as one where they hate each other and yell at one another. Eloise has a sassy friend. Burke has a borderline skuzzy friend who has a heart of gold underneath the showboating and testosterone. Someone will make a massive romantic gesture that could never be accomplished in real life without someone getting arrested or losing their job, and the couple faces a massive melodramatic break up towards the end. Yep, you've seen this before.

However, Eckhart and Lynch make it worth it. Sure, Aniston is more than competent as Eloise, but Eckhart is the true star of the show. He has one of those wonderful understated styles I enjoy watching on screen. For Eckhart, it's not about the big screaming moment. He's the anti-Al Pacino, who brings quiet soul, expression with his eyes, a slump of the shoulders and more. Eckhart is one smooth dude.

Then, you toss in Lynch, who is one of the better supporting actors out there today as he takes a character that could easily become mockable and clichéd, and makes him into a real, flesh and blood man with pain we feel due to his acting, not just because the script calls for it.

Camp and Thompson allow the movie to become too long and drawn out as we slowly (very slowly) move towards the conclusion­­­­­, and they insert enough absurd moments and lines of dialogue to make you giggle at the ludicrousness, but I did hear a few ladies swoon (it helps when you look like Eckhart), so mission accomplished.

Love Happens is rated PG-13 for some language including sexual references.