Love Happens, A Misleading Title?

Do bloggers know no bounds in what they write?  Do I know no bounds in what I write?  I am not sure if fellow bloggers have faced a similar situation.  At times, in a friendly catching up occasion, my friend would suddenly turn to me and ask, “You wouldn’t put that into your blog, would you?”  The dilemma of wanting some friends of mine to know – or not – that I have a website.

Of course I know the boundary.  And so, Mr. TK, if you are reading this, our little episode is safe with me.  Though we will likely to laugh over this for years to come.  And until I do the same thing you did, then we would laugh at each other for years to come.

Our band’s drummer wanted to watch that Michael Jackson film.  So I mobilized the Movie Review Squad in the morning.  TK suggested “The Hurt Locker”, a war film (which I promise to loop in another friend, Ng,  to watch).  Cynthia suggested “Love Happens”.  If it was up to me, I would love to pick “My Girlfriend Is An Agent”.  I love watching girls kicking asses.  In retrospect, I thought “Love Happens” is “NewYork, I Love You”.  Since all of us seemed happy about “Love Happens”, “Love Happens” it was.  (Still quite amazed that TK could decipher my morning SMS: Love happens today or tomorrow?)

I think the movie title “Love Happens” is misleading.  If it was to be branded not as a romance movie, it would have attracted lesser criticism just on the title itself.  I walked into the theater thinking it was another show, so obviously, I have little expectation on the outcome.  If we take away the notion of romance, and look at Jennifer Aniston’s role as helping Dr. Burke Ryan (played by the talented Aaron Eckart) – together with everyone in the workshop of how-to-get-over-the-loss-of-your-loved-ones hosted by Ryan – to come to terms with the loss of his wife, it is quite a decent movie to watch.  Some scenes are emotional.  Some are somewhat inspiriting (like taking the ‘stairs’ to see things in a different perspective).  The little word games Eckart and Aniston played onscreen makes the film interesting (to be honest, I know none of the three English words they use).  Cynthia and I have been a big fan of Aaron Eckart since the days of “Thank You For Smoking”.  And acting-wise, I think he delivers.

It is unrealistic – in my opinion – to expect a man to fall madly in love with another woman before he has even come to terms with the loss of his beloved partner three years ago on an accident that he blames himself upon.  In as such, the lack of the elements of romance or the presence of a glimpse of what is to come is only appropriate.  Unfortunately, the movie title and the excerpts suggest that “Love Happens” is a romance story.  Personally, I would prefer the filmmakers to use the title of “Brand New Day”, a variation of what the working title was.