Movie Review – Love, Rosie

There is always an awkward tension bestowed upon young best friends of the opposite sex. Will they date? Do they like one another? When’s the wedding? It’s a lot of pressure if the relationship is completely platonic, but that’s not the case with Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart. The common thread throughout their friendship is love, they mutually love one another wholeheartedly but somehow, just aren’t able to articulate or even acknowledge it.

Starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin, the chemistry is palpable as we watch these two friends “feel” each other out, with neither willing to lay their heart on the line necessarily, but there are a lot of forlorn glances. Rosie is vivacious, confident, and beautiful. Collins brings the character (based on the “Where Rainbow Ends” by Cecelia Ahern) to life in a way that makes you love and hate her. Alex’s love for her is a bit more obvious in the beginning of the story. He is more shy and dependent on Rosie. They are both 18 and are navigating the likes of boyfriends/girlfriends, university selections, and the future itself. The entire film is built on one failed miscommunication after another, the pinnacle of the collapsed base that is their relationship, it is in the very beginning of the film when the two of them kiss at a club. The next day Rosie professes that she wishes to forget the entire evening. It was her 18th birthday, so she was completely plastered and did not, in fact, remember the evening, but Alex took that to mean that she regretted the kiss. From this point in their timeline on, their auras can never quite mesh. One of them is in a relationship, while the other is not and vice versa.

In one quirky conspiracy after another, the two of them sort of cancel each other out time and time again. Alex starts to date a girl in their class (Bethany), Rosie has sex with a boy in their class (Greg). During their school dance Rosie has incredibly awkward sex with Greg, resulting in an accidental misplacement of the condom leaving her to call on the one and only Alex, to take her to the hospital. Love, Rosie is certainly not without laughs.

Eventually Alex goes off to the states to attend Harvard, insisting that Rosie come with him at which Rosie is pleased. But because things never go according to plan, Rosie finds out she is pregnant with Greg’s baby. Years pass in increments as we see Rosie’s life veer significantly away from Alex’s. Each experience a marriage, being cheated on, and being unhappy without the other. Alex has stayed in the U.S. and misses his best friend who understands and appreciates his weird dreams. Rosie pines for the guy she didn’t appreciate when he was in her life. We as the viewer, are stressed that this duo can’t get it together.

The charm of Love, Rosie lies in the truth that is life. Things don’t always work out the way we plan them, in fact, they rarely do. As people age, they make mistakes (sometimes the same one over and over again) and go their separate ways. Technology makes it easier to reconnect with one another, but it’s not the same as being with that person. Watching the relationship between Rosie’s daughter, Katie (age 10, now) and her best friend Toby, very much akin to Rosie and Alex is adorable and fun to watch. Observing the children serves as a mirror and a potential wake up call for the duo – but is it too late? By the end of the film, you really don’t know if the friends (now in their early 30’s) can work it out. With a total of 2 cheating spouses, 3 divorces, biting words flung, and an entire ocean between them, the last 15 minutes will have you crossing your fingers that their love finally syncs.

Love, Rosie opens February 6th at Cinema Detroit.