When Rob (Sam Heughan) and Mira (a very convincing Priyanka Chopra) meet for the first time in Love Again, just like every other romantic film, there’s slow instrumental music playing in the background, and they’re standing in front of the grand opera wearing show-stopping garments. There’s nothing new with Mira saying, “Hi, I’m Mira Ray,” and Rob introducing himself in return. When their eyes lock, we might be reminded of scores of other similar scenes in rom-com history. But the way the conversation ensues, a brilliant piece of music is used to underscore the emotions, and the convincing performances, show the intent of the makers was to make it one of the most romantic moments in recent rom-com history. There are also interesting subversions that make Love Again non-formulaic. Take, for instance, the meet-cute scene once again, and immediately after they exchange greetings and part ways, the music abruptly stops as Mira bumps into a couple, and the audience erupted into laughter. Unexpected humour is the strength of Love Again, which is an equal parts romance and comedy, with a side order of engaging entertainment.
Director: James C Strouse
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Sam Heughan, Celine Dion, Sofia Barclay
Love Again revolves around Mira, who loses her boyfriend John in an accident. Two years after the tragedy, she tries to get back into the dating game. Her method of catharsis is to text her late boyfriend’s number, making her feel like she’s still in touch with him. But, here’s the twist, the number is now owned by Rob, a despondent music critic, who has recently gotten his heart broken. How they meet and fall in love, forms the rest of the story.
Love Again does not take much time to set the scene. A brief conversation between John and Mira establishes how much they love each other, and almost immediately after, he meets with an accident, right in front of her eyes. All of this happens within the first four minutes. And yet, thanks to the well-written dialogue, it is proof enough to make us buy the grief she experiences throughout the film.
The best parts of the film are Celine Dion’s performance as herself, and Nick Jonas’ extended cameo. Post their wedding, Priyanka and Nick have only made one onscreen appearance in the Jonas Brothers’ Sucker song video. Although he appears in a brief role, the snooty and very compelling Nick, makes us want him to play a full-length lead opposite Priyanka. Manifestations are in the process…
Similarly, Celine Dion, the singer, plays a very important, and witty role as herself in Love Again. Rob’s struggle with romance post his heartbreak is brought to light by Celine. For example, in a scene, Celine says, “You obviously know nothing about it.” And as we along with Rob wonder ‘what’ he doesn’t know about, she replies, “Love.” His realisation of love also happens with Celine’s classic ‘All By Myself’ playing in the background. Her songs are used in several places to help elevate the romance part of the film.
While it is usual to find romantic cliches in a rom-com, some need definitely need to be avoided. One such is having Rob’s colleagues and best friends, Liza and Billy, be black and gay, respectively. This representation feels more tokenism than actual representation because these characters have nothing to do with the overall scheme of the narrative.
An element that is commonplace in most rom-coms is, the couple getting intimate immediately after they confess their liking for each other. I believe this would have been unconvincing in Love Again because they are beating several odds to be together. Thankfully, Mira and Rob do not get physical immediately and allow comfort with each other to come before anything else. The makers throw in a scene where Mira unintentionally falls asleep to Rob’s voice to establish that she feels safe and trusts him. Commercial romcoms often miss out on exhibiting such emotions, which are salient to make romance relatable.
As the film takes too much time in establishing Mira’s grief, we don’t really know much about Rob. Yeah, we know Rob is a music critic, loves basketball, and is in love with Mira. Even Mira’s character traits, except for the fact that she loves ‘Would You Rather’ questions, are not clear to us even by the end of the film. While Mira and Rob’s relationship does feel dreamy and utopian, the relatability factor goes for a toss. When Dion says, “I don’t really care if you and Rob get together,” it seems like she’s speaking our hearts. If only, the makers focussed more on the lead characters, than on making this film a Celine Dion tribute (no complaints there, though), Love Again would have had the potential to become something more than just funny and entertaining.
With delightful yet cheesy comedy, and a realistic romance at the centre of it all, Love Again, an adaptation of Sofie Cramer’s German novel Text For You, is a worthy watch. There is a lot more novelty on offer in Love Again. It reminds us that our soulmates might just about be anywhere… You may bump into them, even when walking out of the theatres, with light instrumental music playing in the background.
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