"As long as you don’t go in expecting a Picasso, Love Again will provide a heart-warming trip to the pictures."
BY ALEX GILSTON MAY 18, 2023
Scam texts are a big issue in the real world, but if you get some messages that are vaguely strange in a romantic comedy you could be looking at words written by your one true love. Love Again is an English language adaptation of the 2016 German film SMS Für Dich which is itself based on a novel from 2009 written by Sofie Cramer.
Mira (Priyanka Chopra) is still reeling from the loss of her fiancé John after a few years. After Mohsen (Omid Djalili), the proprietor of her favourite bar, opens up to her about talking to his dead loved one she decides to text him to help cope with the weight of him not being there. Little does she know that music journalist Rob (Sam Heughan) is receiving these texts on his new company phone. Rob - who is unlucky in love - decides to track down this mysterious texter and woo her using the knowledge he’s gained from the texts.
There’s a comforting predictability to Love Again. It’s the kind of story you’d expect to see on the Hallmark channel around Christmas; but despite the probability of knowing exactly what’s going to happen from the word go being tremendously high, there’s a sickly sweetness at its core that’s just too hard to resist.
The best change made to Love Again - and one that could probably only be afforded by a Hollywood remake - is Rob being a music journalist, and in turn writing a profile on Céline Dion. Yep, you heard that right, Céline Dion slaying the day as herself. She acts as love guru for Rob, helping him put passion back into finding love and into his work. Some of her iconic tracks mosey around and they’ll become earworms long after you’ve left the cinema. Her own story of love and loss - with her late husband René Angélil - are weaved into the story in such a beautiful way which leaves for Love Again’s most compelling moments.
There are issues of course. The dialogue can borderline on cringey, and even feel hollow. The plot is so paper thin that if you tried to apply any kind of logic to it, it’d rip down the middle. Ninety percent of the actors are British yet it's set in America. But alas, these films aren’t meant to be masterpieces; as long as you don’t go in expecting a Picasso, Love Again will provide a heart-warming trip to the pictures.
STAR RATING
