DVD Reviews

Love Happens - DVD Review

By June L. Feb 2, 2010, 14:13 GMT

Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart star in the romantic drama Love Happens. When self-help author Dr. Burke Ryan (Eckhart) arrives in Seattle to teach a sold-out seminar, he unexpectedly meets florist Eloise Chandler (Aniston), the one person who might be able to help him help himself. But will two people who may have met the right person at exactly the wrong time be able to give love a chance? If ...more

In this age of self-help seminars for every aspect of human life, Love Happens is the story of Dr. Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) - a famous grief recovery specialist who is unable to mend his own broken heart. A chance meeting with Eloise Chandler (Jennifer Aniston), a feisty florist, sets in motion events that might make a difference in his life.

Love Happens is an unusual love story. It is primarily a drama, about the death of loved ones and overcoming the suffering brought on by grief. In spite of this grim framework it is a story with funny moments, most of which occur as people are simply being themselves.

Just as life never gives us all grief or all happiness, so Love Happens mixes emotions that display the strengths and weaknesses of humans muddling through life. The hero of the film, Dr. Burke Ryan lost his wife in an automobile accident, and as therapy for himself, he wrote a guide to living after a tragedy. It was “discovered” by a publisher, and now he has a mammoth career as a motivational speaker, leading seminars to help others break free of their grief.

He is not a charlatan, he really cares about this work and wants to help people return to their lives. He either thinks he has mastered his grief or believes that by helping others he will finally be able to overcome his loss. As a consequence he hides his insecurity under the façade of confidence and has developed a driven, over-achieving manner.

Meeting Eloise the florist is like having a window suddenly opened in a stuffy room. Her approach to life is straightforward, and even though she is dealing with some bad decisions in her life and the repercussions, she is living each moment fully.

She is wary of Dr. Ryan at first, but soon sees what no one else does, that he is a wounded soul, trapped in guilt and grief. Will Eloise be able to lead Burke to a place where he can accept his life challenges and move on.

Love Happens is presented on single disc in widescreen format with a running time of 1 hour and 49 minutes. Audio and subtitles are available in English, Spanish or French. Special features for the DVD include deleted scenes and a feature commentary with the filmmakers.

There is a featurette “Giving Romance a New Look” which gives audiences a chance to see how visual effects were used within the film to enhance scenes or set the mood for the actions.

Both Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart give wonderful performances in this film. Mr. Eckhart captures the depth of unrelenting grief that Dr. Ryan feels but pushes down, hiding from the rest of the world. Jennifer Aniston gives such heart and comprehension to Eloise, that the viewer feels confidence in the character’s strength and ability to do what is needed.