Love, Rosie

Love, Rosie (2014) is adapted from Cecelia Ahern's novel Where Rainbows End, a book written entirely in letters, emails and messages. Rosie and Alex have been closest friends since they were five. At eighteen they plan to go to America together. Then Rosie finds out she is pregnant and says nothing. Alex leaves, Rosie stays, and for twelve years they keep turning toward each other at exactly the wrong moment. That is the point of the film. It is not that they fail to love each other, it is that they never manage to love each other on time. Every attempt is derailed by a few weeks' delay or one sentence left unsaid. The novel's epistolary structure does not fully survive the adaptation and the edit sometimes jumps. What it has instead is the chemistry between Lily Collins and Sam Claflin, and that turns out to be enough. Where it separates from the usual romantic comedy is that the happy ending has a price. Twelve years really are lost, and the film does not give them back. It runs 102 minutes. Good for: romantic comedy, friends to lovers stories, and book adaptations. Less good for: there are crude sexual jokes and a teenage pregnancy. Skip it if predictability bothers you.