Review of “Love Happens” 2009 World Premiere

Spoilers are located starting in the middle, I’ll warn you.
Though I will NOT reveal the ending.

Hello everyone! Just got back from the premiere. You have no idea how exciting it was to be able to walk on the red carpet going into the theater. Especially the looks of the fans who couldn’t pass the barricades. Teresa and I decided to leave early and had some trouble with a bit of traffic but arrived at 6:36 pm. Right on schedule. Will call opened at 6:30 so we could pick up the tickets.
We arrived at Will Call after getting free parking at the UCLA parking lot to find a really long line to get the tickets. The line moved quickly however but still long enough to actually get out tickets at around 7:20. The Universal Studios employee greeted us and gave us our ticket. Then we posed in front of the theater for some photo’s that should appear on the Universal Studio page soon. I’m not sure which one though as they have a few of them. I’ll find out and add a comment below.

Then we crossed the street into the red carpet entrance of the theater. We found out door entrance on the left and picked up some free Popcorn and Soda. We took a seat in the oh so comfortable chairs and waited. I pulled out my Blackberry and took some hidden pictures as pictures were not allowed. Teresa was nice enough to get me another soda and we waited a bit more.

Then the curtain rose and showed us the screen. The Universal Studios theme song and logo appeared and the movie started.

Now let’s talk about the movie.

STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT A LITTLE BIT OF SPOILERS. I DON”T REVEAL THE ENDING THOUGH.

The entrance was interesting as we met our main character Burke (played by Aaron Eckhart). His job is a best-selling self-help guru who copes with the loss of his wife by helping others. Through our adventure we learn about the pain he feels and how other people ask for his help to cope with their losses. The worst case was probably about a man who lost his son in a construction accident. He felt so bad that it eventually led to his divorce and loss of career. I was touched with the scenes of him explaining the tragic story and how he felt.

We also learn about Eloise (played by Jennifer Aniston). She accidentally bumps into Burke and off starts a romantic interest. Lots of humor mixed into the story created a fun time watching the film. The story line was pretty good but you had to remember that this story was about Burke and NOT Eloise. It had a great ending that surprised everyone and left you feeling horrible for our main character but I won’t mention what it is.

The only thing I worry about is that I think that if Jennifer Aniston wasn’t in this film it wouldn’t get a chance at the Box Office. This isn’t a 10 point movie but I gave it a 7 because of the story. I also felt that some parts of the film moved to quickly, especially getting the first date together.

Overall it was a decent movie with touching moments and parts that made your eyes water, not because of the romance but because of the death themes. I was surprised at how close this was to become a dark film because of the amount of death involved but they had a pretty good mix of comedy in it as well. My rating: 8/10

P.S. They could have made the poster better. Teresa made me realize this. I actually discovered something interesting:

Revolutionary Road (01/23/09) Poster:
http://pacejmiller.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/revolutionary-road.jpg

Love Happens (9/18/09) Poster:
http://www.yourmoviestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/love-happens_290.jpg

Look similar? I thought so. Personally I agreed with Teresa that this poster would have made more sense with just his picture of with the picture of his book. However, they probably added her because, well, she’s a star! =)

If you see it let me know what you thought of the film!

Until next time!

Oscar