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NOT YOUR STANDARD ROMANTIC COMEDY

 
Published Sept. 18, 2009

Right away, let's concede that Love Happens is a lousy title for a movie, especially one starring Jennifer Aniston for whom love famously hasn't.

An appropriate title would be Good Grief since death figures prominently in Brandon Camp's directing debut, which is better than expected. Love Happens sounds like just another fluffy rom-com trudging to a conclusion telegraphed in the title. For the most part, this movie is smarter and more somber than that.

Aniston is understandably the poster face of Love Happens, which is actually Aaron Eckhart's next step toward leading man stardom. Eckhart has kicked around for 12 years since a dynamic debut with In the Company of Men, in a string of roles ranging from overshadowed suitors to slimeballs, always solid but generally unnoticed until playing Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight.

Love Happens puts Eckhart's talents to good use as Burke Ryan, a media star in the self-help game. Burke's expertise is soothing grief after the death of loved ones, a topic that Camp and co-writer Mike Thompson take seriously. Scenes set in Burke's Dr. Phil-style seminars - especially those featuring John Carroll Lynch mourning his dead son - have a genuine tone that may, indeed, be helpful to viewers in similar situations.

Burke speaks from experience; his wife was killed in a car accident, and his best friend (Dan Fogler, adding comic relief) manages his rising career. A weeklong seminar in Seattle may lead to Burke's big break into syndicated TV and home shopping products. It may also be his downfall since that's where his wife died and her father (Martin Sheen, solid as usual) holds some kind of grudge against him.

Seattle is also where he meets Eloise Chandler (Aniston), a florist disenchanted with romance, as women usually are in such movies. Burke and Eloise don't swap third-draft banter; they speak like real people about real feelings. With each conversation the conventional touches - wacky sidekicks, musical montages, abrupt changes of heart - become easier to accept. Funny what just a smidgen of smarts can do for a movie.

The overall feel of Love Happens is probably what The Time Traveler's Wife aimed for and missed terribly; lingering loss leading to a rejuvenation of hope. Rather than time travel fantasy, Camp's movie approaches the theme from an angle we're all familiar with, or will be, making us a bit more comfortable about it.

Love Happens eventually reverts to standard operating procedure - madcap shenanigans, a treacly resolution - and would be wiser to leave the fade-out open-ended. Nonetheless, it's an uncommonly mature movie romance that would be a tough sell to audiences if not for Aniston and a bland, generic title.

Steve Persall can be reached at persall@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8365. Read his blog, Reeling in the Years, at blogs.tampabay.com/movies.

If you go

Love Happens

Grade: B

Director: Brandon Camp

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, John Carroll Lynch, Martin Sheen, Judy Greer

Screenplay: Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson

Rating: PG-13; mature themes of grieving, profanity

Running time: 109 min.