Love Story

I had been avoiding watching 'Love Story' because I thought it would be another one of those corny sugarcoated love story with excessive melodrama. After hearing a friend's recommendation, I decided to give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a simple film in terms of everything: execution, performances, background score, direction, dialogues...The writing is incredibly great as the dialogues are creatively and amusingly witty. The movie stays focused on Jennifer's and Oliver's relationship that is portrayed with the utmost simplicity. A movie like 'Love Story' could have easily gone wrong but kudos to director Hiller for his fine execution and for pulling all the ingredients together so effectively with the help of whimsical cinematography, impressive soundtrack and fine actors. The chemistry between O'Neal and McGraw sizzles on screen. Both actors complement each other brilliantly and convincingly portray the 'opposites that attract'. Hiller has done a commendable job by bringing these two actors together and a strong rapport with them to enhance their work. Of the supporting cast John Marley and Ray Milland stand out by their strong presence. Overall, I liked the film a lot for its subtlety, ambiguity and simplicity that makes it feel more genuine. Clearly it stood the test of time as there are hardly any more movies being made these days that could reach anywhere near the level of this classic.

Superb acting, wonderful stars, a great story, very funny jokes and very real tears. If you're looking for a romantic yet soppy movie, this is the the best deal. Love Story is the finest in it's kind.

I somehow saw this in the theater during it's initial release as it must have been the allure of Ali McGraw and I've seen it probably three times since over the years to make sure I didn't miss something about this film but I don't think I did. How could this small film have been nominated for eight Academy Awards? It was nominated for most of the biggest awards in Best Picture, Best Director for Arthur Hiller, Best Actor in Ryan O'Neal, Best Actress for Ali McGraw, Best Supporting Actor for John Marley and Best Screenplay for author Eric Segal as well as Best Score and Best song for Francis Lai. Well, Lai was a deserved nomination and in fact won those two Oscars but the rest of the nominations were a cinematic joke. The novella story by Segal never had enough material to be a full length feature film. He could have at least added a mindless car chase or a flying saucer scene to the screenplay to give the film some depth. This was McGraw's only third film and her follow up role in The Getaway with husband Steve McQueen was a far better performance. After that her career stalled and she never made of film of note again. Ryan O'Neal had made a couple of minor films before and was most noted for his television roles and he like McGraw turned in a stiff, wooden performance here and there was no on screen chemistry between them. John Marley and Ray Milland were good in supporting roles. Director Arthur Hiller had made the leap from television to feature films with a string of mediocre movies until moderate success with the Out of Towners before Love Story and after would see more moderate success in comedies in The Hospital, The In-Laws and Silver Streak but any success he ever had were in comedies. This as a serious film tries to be so serious it goes overboard. I would give this a 6.0 for good music and set direction and for sentimental reasons for once having had a teen aged crush on Ali McGraw.

Everyone dreams of that love of a lifetime, which is perhaps why this film was so phenomenally successful. It features a young couple in love--in unabashed love--without a hint of that then-trendy lust or flaky passion. These college kids are not beatniks or rebels; they have family members who disapprove, but they forge ahead with their marriage plans while not seeming too reckless. At least not to us. We see that they have the kind of desire for each other that is so well-meaning it's practically G-rated (only some of Ali MacGraw's tart language keeps the film from being so). It's a moving film, not particularly warm or fuzzy (and by that, I don't just refer to the chilly Eastern locales). The couple face cynicism and tragedy, and director Arthur Hiller (doing his only truly great work behind the camera) is wise not to shift too much away from these two. The audience ends up hanging onto their every word in preparation for what's on the way. No wonder that final line of dialogue ("Love means...") is so legendary: the entire picture rests on it. *** from ****

Oliver is a Havard law student Jock type who's father is a millionaire and Jennifer is a poor Radcliffe student working her way through college. When they meet they develop a relationship that eventually turns to love. When they decide to marry, Oliver is cut off by his father and the two are forced to become poor as they try to study and work at the same time. The two find that their love is strong enough to stand even the biggest tests of life.

A massive hit and Oscar winner in the 70's it is easy to forget this film now, simply because it is so dated, flawed and unrelatable that I found it amusing but never emotional or moving. The plot is a straightforward and goes just where you expect it to. However that is not a major problem if the film had managed to be emotionally involving and powerful – neither of which I found it to do.

The biggest reason for this is the characters and the actors. Oliver is a spoilt rich kid who has `issues' with his multimillion father only wanting the best for him. It doesn't help that O'Neal can't act and delivers even the most touching scene like he was made of wood. Meanwhile Jenny is rude and pretentious and quite an unpleasant person. McGraw is pretty but I couldn't have cared less if a bus had hit her character in the first 10 minutes, such was the empathy that she made me feel with her.

The music is awful – it is shamelessly tearing jerking and written to create emotion where none is forthcoming from the action onscreen. It runs constantly and got to the point where it grated on me. The film is not without merit though, bits of it are funny and the basic love story had potential to be a professional weepy.

Instead it is flat and uninvolving and is simply a Hollywood bit of fluff that left me cold despite a few chuckles or smiles. It may have done good box office but if recent summers have taught us anything, it's that that is not an indication of a good film.