Early in writer-director Jim Strouse’s Love Again, music journalist Rob Burns (Sam Heughan) receives his latest assignment: a profile on Celine Dion as she embarks on a new tour. When Rob, a defiantly unsentimental Scottish bloke, scoffs at the gig, his editor (Steve Oram) fires back by declaring that Dion is in the midst of a “Celine-aissance.” The legitimacy of that statement is debatable, but Dion is at least experiencing something of a cinematic boomlet, between the gonzo fictionalized biopic Aline and references in films as diverse as Turning Red and Queens of the Qing Dynasty.
In any case, Dion is the selling point of Love Again, with the Canadian pop superstar executive producing, performing new songs for the soundtrack, and co-starring as herself. The central narrative of this syrupy-sweet romantic-comedy, however, follows the romantic entanglements of Rob and grieving children’s book illustrator Mira Ray (Priyanka Chopra Jonas). Two years ago, Mira’s loving boyfriend, John (Arinzé Kene), was run down by a car right before her eyes—a moment that plays out in abrupt, and unintentionally hilarious, fashion in Love Again’s prologue. As a coping mechanism, Mira begins intimately texting John’s old cell number again, only now it’s been serendipitously reassigned to Rob’s new work phone.
Set in a sanitized movie version of New York City, the film proceeds to go through the rom-com motions. Rob quickly tracks down Mira and the two begin a whirlwind romance sparked by shared affinities (a penchant for sneakers and putting fries on burgers, his willingness to indulge her habit of asking “Would you rather?” questions), eventually opening them both up to the renewed possibilities of life and love. Hovering over all of this, of course, is the most tiresome trope of all: the Big Lie. Rob naturally doesn’t tell Mira that he’s been receiving the texts to her dead boyfriend, all to set the clock in motion as to when his duplicity will blow up in his face.
Love Again, which is adapted from Karoline Herfurth’s 2016 film Texts for You, would be indistinguishable from what you’d find on the Hallmark Channel if it weren’t for the Celine Dion factor, which makes it at least initially intriguing as a vanity project. Transforming implausibly from celebrity interview subject into Rob’s personal love guide, Dion’s role essentially boils down to parroting her songs’ signature lyrics as aphorisms to inspire him to win Mira’s heart.
If anyone could make the unbridled schmaltz of Love Again go down smoothly, it’s the queen of the power ballad herself. Yet, Dion is so conspicuously and awkwardly shoehorned into the story that it exposes Love Again as nothing more than a chintzy promotional tool for the singer.
It doesn’t help that Dion’s sage advice becomes suspect at a certain point, as she ultimately tells a despairing Rob that, despite the fact that his relationship with Mira is built completely from a troubling place of deceit, love means that “you work through it.” She then illustrates this point with an odd anecdote about how her late husband and manager, René Angélil, lied to her early in her career in order to keep her from dating anyone else. The power of love, indeed.
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Thank you for your review. This is a bold move for Celine Dion. Well done to her for having the courage to do this. looking forward to the next step for Celine Dion.
I enjoyed the movie. Thank God it isn’t another kill each other or bully everyone or Disney and Marvel characters beating each other. We desperately need more lighthearted movies to take us away from the tragedies we face everyday. Certainly it wasn’t a blockbuster, but in made me smile 😃 You should try it sometime.
Well thank you for your critique. If you hated it and gave it only half a star, I’ll defiantly
Go and see it.
After a long day teaching high school students, it was relaxing to watch a love comedy that included one of the greatest singers of our times-Celine Dion! My husband and I loved the movie despite your review.🥰
To assign a movie a half star suggests that either you have not watched very many films or you are a lazy and dishonest critic. Are we to believe you’ve truly never experienced a worse script, storyline, film? The fact is many romcoms are premised on an innocently or not so innocently conceived deception “Big Lie” perpetrated by one flawed character on another. The characters are ultimately redeemed by love. Seriously, have you never watched a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie? And do you really believe there aren’t plenty of guys out there who could rationalize their actions under similar circumstances? Silly, absurd, unimaginative? Perhaps, but then let’s talk about Guardians, shall we? lt’s what some people call entertainment and others not. You should try a little harder.
Love Again was a lovely heartfelt rom-com movie. Critics have no heart 💔 all you do is criticize and are blatantly mean.
Well your name says it all doesn’t it? Slant. Fortunately I don’t need, nor do I want a cynical critic telling me what I should or shouldn’t watch. Critics opinions are likec assh.les,, everyone has one. With the nastiness we’re dealing with now it’s nice to go see a sweet movie that’s a great escape. Your opinion holds no value to me, in fact it makes me want to go see it for a third time. Have a great day if you’re able but I have my doubts.
This was a long overdue lovely sweet romantic 💘 movie embraced with the beautiful music 🎶 of Celine Dion as she shared her story, I absolutely loved this & plan on taking more friends to see it again!!! Sam & Pri gave a heartfelt talents performance 🎭! So I give this movie 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! Your a bitter angry sad critic… this lite hearted movie leaves one with Hope & a song in the heart ❤️.
Wow, nothing like a fun critic having a flatulence tantrum. sounds like me leaving a bad wine review.. Seriously,lighten up and accept their is a place for light hearted romantic movies. Now I’ll definitely watch it.
Agree with all comments above. Critic seems to be a nasty little man. Mve was fun to watch. Actually enjoyed the lack of violence. Personally I prefer this to the violence show which sets a nasty situation when young people watch them and buy into the trash. This critic needs to quit.
Love Again exceeded my expectations and was embellished by Celine Dion, not used as a promotional tool. I don’t believe that she needs this kind of promotion. I attended the viewing with marginal expectations and was pleasantly surprised on the upside. Well done!
If you are going to criticize, please get your facts straight. True, Celine is a draw, but for many, Sam Heughan is the draw. Plus, Sam is from Scotland but Rob was from England. I agree there were weakish spots in the writing, but it was a great rom com. It wasn’t supposed to be Shakespeare. #loveSamHeughan
I agree with the critic. I walked out.
Given that most reviews on this site attract no comments, it seems safe to conclude that all the contrarily laudatory posts on this thread are from Dion fans who have not given the film much thought beyond the fact she’s in it.
I know a rom-com typically has 3 parts–a getting-to-know-you part, complication to the budding relationship part, and a happy ending. In general the film did well on part one, but I noticed how the secret that needed disclosure wasn’t getting disclosed. As Mark indicated, this is painfully trite–a truly lazy slump into the familiar. When Mira went into totally predictable outrage, I realized the writing was an automatic pilot, and I turned off the film. What Strouse needed to do was simply stare at the wall until he saw his way to a more original part two.
Love ❤️ this movie. Possibly the editor never been in love, or lost their soul mate. This movie touched my mind, heart, and soul !!!! I thought this movie was based off of Celine Dion experience with grief. ⭐️