The sudden departure of a wife trying to find herself, leaving her mid-life crisis suffering husband and lovesick son to fend for themselves, starts off Love Hurts, an often painfully forced comedy attempting to explore the concept of different generations finding new perspectives on love. This is one of those films truly doomed by its writing and direction, as the actors deliver performances far above what the script deserved. As for director Barra Grant, she takes the film from point A to B without ever trying anything clever or innovative which would have gone a long way toward spicing up the proceedings and making it a bit more bearable.
It would seem Ben Bingham (Richard E. Grant) turned a blind eye to the degradation of his own marriage, so when his wife Amanda (Carrie-Anne Moss) announces one morning during a routine breakfast that she’s leaving him to take some time alone, Ben goes into a spiral of drinking, weeping, and reminiscing. After a couple weeks of self-pity, Ben wanders down to the living room one evening and converses with his son Justin (Johnny Pacar) and his friends who decide to help him get back on his feet and discover love as a younger generation knows it (date lots of people and have fun 24/7). Ben begins down this path, dating many women at once (Jenna Elfman, Janeane Garofalo, Pamela Mattioli & Paula Mattioli), embracing a different side of his once neglected personality with each, and realizing day by day why his marriage went south. Meanwhile, Justin gets involved in a different, more traditional romance (with Olga Fonda) only to find that his father’s new cavalier approach to romance and life makes him less than a sympathetic ear as he hits roadblocks with his new love interest. Ben’s revelation on love comes just in the nick of time to visit his wife once more (staying with her friend played by Camryn Manheim) and plead his case, their case, in a last ditch effort.
The saddest part of the film’s resolution isn’t the element of bittersweet truth revealed by the son’s romance, but by the concession of Amanda to give their marriage one last try, not because she really wants to but because it would be a waste to do otherwise. The film seems to argue that divorce is the willful denial of any happy memories a relationship might have generated – yet that conflicts sharply with the lesson Justin learns, that you can fondly remember the brief but incredible moments of romance that existed before a relationship dissolves. Love Hurts seems to propose contradictory messages of how we should value love, and it does so within the film’s final moments.
Ignoring the Love Hurts’s inability to decide on a single cohesive approach towards how we should value love and what it generates over the span of a relationship, we can at least take some pleasure in the performances the film yields. Carrie-Anne Moss, for the little time she’s on screen, delivers a solid few minutes and prevents her character from becoming some hollow shadow of a woman that would otherwise have come across as an irrational shrew unwilling to concede that some real change has occurred in her husband. However, the majority of the film’s screen time is dominated by Grant and Pacar who have entirely different ways of earning our respect. Grant lays on the charm that both he and his brother are known for, making what would have been a painfully clichéd plot of an older man recapturing his youth mostly bearable. Pacar on the other hand doesn’t aim so much for charm as he does outright sincerity, perhaps giving the best performance of the film as he’s longing after the girl of his dreams and then gathering the courage to pursue her.
As was stated, these performances saved the film. Within the first minute of dialogue we hear characters deliver lines that only an independent film hack could think sound natural, and it never really improves. Luckily the characters rise above it and we’re just barely able to overlook all of the formulaic moments and dialogue to see what the film should have been.
DVD Bonus Features
Your basic behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interviews make up the extras, but there’s nothing too special about either. Although, the leading cast prove as amiable as ever, even if the footage isn’t intended for the screen.
"Love Hurts" is on sale January 11, 2011 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Drama. Written and directed by Barra Grant. Starring Camryn Manheim, Carrie Anne Moss, Janeane Garofalo, Jenna Elfman, Johnny Pacar, Richard E Grant.
