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Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, John Carroll Lynch, Martin Sheen ... see more see more... , Judy Greer , Frances Conroy , Joe Anderson , Sasha Alexander , Clyde Kusatsu , Anne Marie De Luise , Panou , Tyler McClendon , Michael Kopsa , Michelle Harrison , Darla Vandenbossche , Tom Pickett , Patricia Harras , Aurelio di Nunzio , Danielle Dunn-Morris , Maxine Miller , Tim Henry , Ellie Harvie , Randall Newsome , Carol Hodge , Craig Anderson , Deejay Jackson , Brandon Jay McLaren , Rekha Sharma , Alessandro Juliani , Ellen Ewusie , Angie Scandale , Deirdre Blades , Monica Marko , Shaine Jones , Michael P. Northey

The directorial debut of Brandon Camp concerns a widower (Aaron Eckhart) who makes a living as an expert on grieving. During the course of teaching a seminar, he meets and begins to fall for a floral ... read more read more...designer (Jennifer Aniston), a discovery that leads him to face up to the fact he has not fully reconciled the loss of his wife. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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40% liked it

123,725 ratings

Critics

17% liked it

103 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: Brandon Camp

Release Date: September 18, 2009

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DVD Release Date: February 2, 2010

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Stats: 4,718 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,718)

  • BEACHBUNNI
    April 13, 2011
    BEACHBUNNI
    this film is the story of a man, Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart), who has made a career out of his denial after his wife was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Writing a self-help book which became a best seller, Burkes agent, Lane (Dan Folger) has scheduled him on a whirlwi... read morend tour around the nation which has, after three years, returned him to his hometown of Seattle and It is his return to the city of his loss that begins his healing.
  • romy861
    October 3, 2010
    romy861
    I think this one is scoring low because it looks like a romantic comedy from the cover. Even though Jennifer Aniston is in it, this is not some slight, fluffy movie.Of all the films I have seen her in, this is closest in tone to "The Good Girl". (Another excellent film).
    This o... read morene mainly follows Aaron Eckhart's character. He is a self help guru who has not yet come to terms with the death of his own wife in a car accident. He meets Jennifer Aniston's Eloise, who is a florist who has recently caught her boyfriend cheating on her again.
    Though there is a little romance in this film, and a few funny parts, it is not the gist of the movie, and those looking to enjoy a feel good movie are bound to be disappointed as this is more to do with overcoming loss and dealing with grief. Once you know what to expect, it is actually very well done and I even had a few tears in my eyes towards the end, which doesn't happen often, I can tell you!
  • movieguru12
    July 18, 2010
    movieguru12
    Another Jennifer Aniston movie that I love!!!!!!!! :)
  • LitelBluHli
    April 29, 2010
    LitelBluHli
    Not all that great, but decent to watch. I was expecting something more romantic, I suppose.

    Eckhart plays an author of a self-help book on how to deal with the death of someone you love. While in town, he meets Aniston, who plays a florist that provides flowers to the hot... read moreel he happens to stay at.
  • roygutteridge
    March 8, 2010
    roygutteridge
    In Jennifer Aniston's latest feeble romantic drama, almost nothing happens. Certainly not love or, indeed, much in the way of excitement.
  • LWOODS04
    March 6, 2010
    LWOODS04
    Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Anniston, Dan Fogler, Martin Sheen, Judy Greer, John Carroll Lynch

    DIRECTED BY: BRANDON CAMP

    Widower (Eckhart) whose book about coping with loss turns him into a best-selling self-help guru. On a business trip to Seattle, he falls for a woman (Anisto... read moren) who attends one of his seminars, only to learn that he hasn't yet truly confronted his wife's passing.

    I was settled in to watch what I thought was going to be a little funny drama romance comedy. Ended up being the opposite. It was actually a bit depressing. Most of the film is about grieving people and them coping with their loses. Jennifer and Aaron just didn't have the chemistry they needed to pull this movie off. Nor do I think it would have helped. Acting wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. Nothing special in this film. Although I did like John Carroll Lynch in this movie and thought his character's story was very sad. A few funny moments but nothing in this film will be memorable. I had to look at the DVD case to get the title of it cause I had forgotten it. So I guess that sums up this whole movie for me. Forgettable.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    February 10, 2010
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    I thought this movie was A-Okay!!! This movie is not only about love but about forgetting love one's in order to move on and achieve self-happiness. I think the acting on this film was very good and I loved very much the ending.

    Burke is a motivational speaker who's book abou... read moret dealing with grief is a best seller. His wife died in a car accident three years ago. He's in Seattle to lead a week-long workshop on healing and to negotiate a major multi-media deal. But something's amiss: he's a closet drinker, he won't ride elevators, his moods swing, he's estranged from his wife's father, and he's very much alone. In a hotel hallway, he bumps into a woman arranging flowers, tries to chat with her, and gets the brush-off. She's Eloise, a local florist who's just broken up with a boyfriend. He's persistent and they eventually go to dinner - it goes badly. What's blocking Burke? Can the physician heal himself.
  • jennifxu
    October 11, 2009
    jennifxu
    In â??Love Happens,â?? Aaron Eckhart â?? of â??The Dark Knightâ?? fame â?? plays Burke Ryan, a smarmy self-help counselor encouraging everyone to follow a grief management system he developed after his wife's death. Burke ends up conducting a three-day seminar in Seattle, assurin... read moreg participants that everything will be â??A-OK!,â?? as the title of his book proclaims.

    On the other side of things, there's Jennifer Aniston (TVâ??s â??Friendsâ??) who plays Eloise Chandler, a flower shop owner getting over a string of cheating musician boyfriends. She is also presumably accustomed to deflecting the advances of self-help counselors like Burke. The two meet, they squabble and they only have 72 hours together. Even still, they fall for each other, and love happens. At least, this is what the movie description â?? not to mention the title â?? tells us.

    Based on the title alone, one would expect a slightly sappy romantic comedy that's funny and predictable but heartwarming all the same. Instead the audience is treated to two hours of a self-indulgent Burke bawling about what a hypocrite he is because he didnâ??t actually get over his wifeâ??s death. In this sense, Eloise becomes less of a leading romantic figure than a supporting one, prodding Burke along in his tortuous journey toward recovery.

    Expectations aside, the movie is a mess. Its vague attempts at humor are painful. The emotional intensity of the film could be held in a teaspoon. There is a scene filled with people slow clapping that will make audiences physically embarrassed for the extras forced to perform in it. And the ending, where Eloise and Burke inevitably get together, seems grafted on. There is scarcely a scene where these two were talking about something even tangentially love-related.

    In short, this film has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a satirical film critiquing brand names and big corporations? Is it the Lifetime Channel Weepie of the Year? It's certainly not a generic romantic comedy, despite its halfhearted attempts to mime one. In this way, "Love Happens" becomes less of a predictable Hollywood film and more of an identity-crisis-stricken Sybil of American cinema.

    The excellent cast should have rescued the film, but it failed to live up to its potential. Aaron Eckhart, fresh from the pathos of Harvey Dent and the sleaze of Nick Naylor from â??Thank You for Smoking,â?? paired with Jennifer Aniston, Americaâ??s sweetheart, should have sent sparks flying. Something really good could have come from this. Instead, viewers are treated to shots of Eckhart looking morosely to the side, drinking Grey Goose. And then there are the interminable scenes of the grief seminar, which ring of superficiality.

    Unexpectedly, Jennifer Aniston might be the saving grace of this movie â?? or at least the closest thing to it. She breathes some much-needed life into the bland-as-beans character of Burke, faking sign language to escape his come-ons, reading him memorable notecards saved from years of flower deliveries and borrowing a telephone truck to watch a Rogue Wave concert. Deftly, she suggests there might be some semblance of romantic chemistry brewing underneath, but these moments are way too few and far between.

    â??Love Happensâ?? is poignant without the pathos, and it's a chick flick without the romance. The movie transcends mere hackneyed Hollywood romance because it canâ??t even do generic right. And even so, two screenwriters are filing a billion-dollar lawsuit against this movie for the rights to the story because they claim they thought of it first. Why anyone would declare responsibility for this tedious mess of a movie is unexplainable.
  • moonrivers
    September 26, 2009
    moonrivers
    self-help guru eckhart has a secret: he's the one who most needs his own advice, and he ain't listenin'. a shocker. ain't i supposed to say "spoiler alert" first? oh dammit. eckhart roughly manages to engage as a soul in torment while trying to be upbeat, while aniston regret... read morefully continues to languish as merely the projector screen for the lust of america (and she's better than that...i hope. i would face her off against sandra bullock in a something like "all about eve", now THAT would be hot!) dan fogler and john carroll lynch prove that solid character work is what holds many a film together. and a parrot almost steals the movie, say no more.
  • fb796967648
    October 19, 2009
    fb796967648
    First, a hypothetical. Let's say you're the only person sitting in the theater watching the slick, shitty LOVE HAPPENS. What does that say about you? Well, enough about me. Let's talk (as little as possible) about this truly well-made piece of crap. Two beautiful, charming, ... read morelikeable stars (I'd give them each 1 star bringing the total to two here, but I'm deducting a quarter star from each for saying yes to this). A couple of supporting actors (including the wonderful you'd-know-who-he-is-if-you-saw-him John Carroll Lynch, ditto Judy Greer and Martin Sheen (the frickin' president!)) who are slumming. And a cliche-ridden, insultingly, gratingly, heart-pokingly trite screenplay that prays on an audience's feeling sad for people who are working their way through grief and that just flops along handsomely, because millions of dollars were put into churning out this detritus. Which brings me to my opening question, which I think I can answer: even I might think less of me for seeing it.

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Critic Reviews

Joe Baltake
September 27, 2009
Joe Baltake, Passionate Moviegoer

Aaron Eckhart is commanding as a deeply flawed man in Brandon Camp's compelling dramedy, 'Love Happens' Full Review

James Berardinelli
September 22, 2009
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Is this a movie or a feature-length advertisement for Qwest? We're not just talking one product placement; this brand name is nearly omnipresent. Full Review

Stephen Cole
September 18, 2009
Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail

Hang in there Jen. You can do better. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
September 18, 2009
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Other stuff happens too, all of it strained and dull. Full Review

Adam Graham
September 18, 2009
Adam Graham, Detroit News

The film is part romance, part drama, part Seattle travelogue, with Washington emerging as the only true winner. Along with the benefactors of the movie's copious product placements, that is. Full Review

Michael Phillips
September 18, 2009
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Love happens. Doesn't it, though? So do other, less pleasant fragrances. This much is clear in the well-acted fraud co-written and directed, woozily, by first-time feature filmmaker Brandon Camp. Full Review

Ty Burr
September 18, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Not that the grieving process shouldn't be addressed in a movie, but this one feels increasingly cooked up. Full Review

Kathleen Murphy
September 18, 2009
Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies

There are no sparks, not the slightest sign of chemistry, between Eckhart and Aniston. They might be Hansel and Gretel wandering endlessly through tame thickets of feeling. Full Review

Kyle Smith
September 18, 2009
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Love Happens is a weepie about the grieving process, mainly my own. Two hours of my life have been brutally stolen from me, and I need closure. Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek
September 18, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

A limp romantic drama that occasionally lifts its drowsy head to attempt a wan smile, a picture that starts out being harmlessly dull and ends, somehow, in a place that feels insultingly manipulative. Full Review

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    • Eloise: If you had a brain in either head, you'd know that I'm doing what's best for both of us.
    • Burke: Funerals are important rituals. They're not only recognition that a person has died; they're recognition that a person has lived.
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Love Happens Trivia

  • In the movie Groundhog Day, what does Bill Murray have to say in order to finally end the repeating of Groundhogs Day?   Answer »
  • In the the Elvis movie, "Change of Habit", he played an inner city doctor who falls in love with one of his nurses who happens to also be a nun. Can you name the character?  Answer »
  • From which movie are these famous last lines? "Love conquers all. Every cloud has a silver lining. Faith can move mountains. Love will always find a way. Everything happens for a reason. Where there's life, there's hope. Well, they gotta tell you something."   Answer »
  • One tagline for this 1991 family comedy film read, "Love is wonderful. Until it happens to your only daughter."  Answer »
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