Love, Rosie, based on Cecelia Ahern’s best-selling novel Where Rainbows Fly, has all the familiar trappings of a rom-com, but stirs in enough personality and wit to step it up a notch. Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) have been friends on the cusp of something more since they were children. But when Alex flits off to America to attend medical school, the interference of life means that Rosie is left behind. It’s obvious from the start that we’re heading for a happily ever after, but Juliette Towhidi’s script pads that out for as long as possible with all the usual hijinks, from babies to countless missed opportunities. The narrative is rote at best, with only a handful of neat sides to liven things up, and Christian Ditter’s direction is coldly detached. But the chemistry between Collins and Claflin is unmistakable, and each do admirable work in spite of the myriad of clichés. It’s not a rom-com classic by any means, but Love, Rosie is harmless entry into the genre with two engaging, comical leads a sufficient helping of charm to boot.
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