Book of Love

This movie fails to give us a believable romantic comedy.

The main problem of this film is the script, there were parts where it seemed that the film had finished and another began, reflecting the lack of creativity and ingenuity of the writers to maintain a single story throughout the film, this change is very noticeable and annoying, since it seems that nothing we saw in the first half served for the second half of the plot. Even though the first half convinced me, the second half of the movie is very incongruous and goofy, it even creates a flat antagonist that doesn't make much sense to be there, just like everything feels very sudden, the whole third act is very bad since it seems very different from what we had seen in the first half. The development of the characters is not the best, as well as there are some to spare and they do not change the plot much, the romantic relationship is poorly developed and seems very forced, thanks also to the lack of chemistry between the leading actors, many things turn out ridiculous and illogical. The comedy is very goofy and most of the jokes feel very forced, the acting is not the best but the actors try to do a good job, the dialogue is very awkward to watch as well as the conversations seem very forced. Although it does not show all the beauty of the places where the story is located, it does show decently the architect of those places.

It's a shame that an interesting idea was wasted in this unmemorable and poorly written story, it had everything to be funny and entertaining, but it just wasn't.

Book of Love is the type of romantic comedy you want to like more than you actually do. They cast Sam Claflin, and then can't do anything else right. He's like a 35-year-old boomer. He knows nothing about social media, complaining about young people "these days", and is generally out-of-touch and mostly cranky and a little misogynistic.

Maria is worse. Every single joke is a variation of her turning his book into erotica. He's mad and she doesn't understand why he isn't thanking her for turning his book into a "masterpiece". The movie and every character in it has confused "popular" with "good". I'm sure E. M. Forster would love to have Howard's End re-written into 50 Shades of Gray. The boomer Henry from the beginning of the movie is not going to forgive and then fall in love with Maria so quickly. And they also have no chemistry.

An interesting premise that builds to a predictable climax and provokes a few laughs and a tender tear along the way. Sam Claflin does ok but Verónica is a delight who steals every scene she is in, even with her back to the camera. I look forward to seeing her again.

A lot of reviews are chastising this film for not being original. There are so many films being made these days, original is hard to come by. What matters is how a story is told and the characters. I loved how this story was told and I loved the characters. It was interesting seeing both characters unfold. The Mexican setting was charming and lovely. The supporting characters provided refreshing humor. I was entertained from start to finish.

It's the CUTEST idea, the acting was okay, as written, I'm sure. But that's where the problem is, there's no chemistry really written in the movie and their attraction comes out of nowhere really, even though I do like them. It needs better writing.

I just can't get over this really adorable idea not being written to its fullest.

Love the British and Mexican agents. Great personality!!