Delayed Reaction: Love, Rosie

The Pitch: So, it's Gilmore Girls except they're British, and it's a movie, and Lorelei and Christopher are a good couple and not a disaster. Oh, and it's not his kid.

Two lifelong friends keep missing their opportunities to be together.

I guess I'm supposed to dislike this movie. The Rotten Tomatoes score is pretty low. Even the much more forgiving audience score in middling. The Metacritic score is propped up barely by a lack of reviews and one solidly passing grade. And it's the kind of story that I specifically made my One Big Leap test for, repeatedly relying on poor timing, back luck, and the refusal of the leads to have a human conversation. I'm certain that most of the complaints I had about One Day could be applied to this as well.

Here's the thing though. I actually liked this movie a lot. It's a dumb RomCom in the most traditional sense. It's two attactive leads (Lily Collins, Sam Claflin), blissfully unaware of how attractive they are, who are destined to be together and do in fact get together by the end. But, RomComs are resiliant. All they really need are leads with chemistry. That's it. That's the entire formula. If you break down any RomCom, it's "a bunch of stupid stuff happens, and Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant smile at each other". Well, Lily Collins and Sam Claflin smile at each other nicely. I liked other bits and pieces too. The humor got bawdy in a few unexpected places. There are a couple good zingers and a sweet speech or two. It's a very insular world in which the only bad things that happen are because of something the characters do to themselves. It's the perfect setting for some no-stakes movie watching. But mostly, Colins and Claflin are charming together and apart.

This has an absurdly contrived story. The bad timing of the two leads is laughable. The movie never really convinces me why they wouldn't admit their feelings to each other sooner. So, I don't think this will have the unexpected, enduring appeal that What If? has had with me. It's more of a second choice movie. It's the movie you see if you just watched the one you really like last week, so you watch something similar instead. It won't be as good, but it will be close enough.

[Editor's Note: I have already rewatched this movie. I'm smitten and not ashamed.]
 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend