Love Again

It takes courage and ingenuity to find the modern romcom formula within the operas of Gluck, sung well through SMS by Heughan and Chopra Jonas. It also stars Celine Dion.

An old-school, straight-faced studio romance featuring five new songs from Ms. Dion, writer-director Jim Strouse’s Love Again is all about such healing — to the extent that if it were a book instead of a movie, it would be filed in the self-help section.

Love Again, by ceding some space to the Queen of Feelings, has moments that play. I can’t say it was good, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.

I’m not going to say the ridiculous and off-putting romantic text-message dramedy “Love Again” is the worst movie of the year, but it might be the most implausible film I’ve seen so far in 2023, and I’m not necessarily excluding “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Cocaine Bear” and “65” from the competition.

It misses the painful performance of everyday life, or less Hallmark-friendly emotions, like anger or numbness.

It’s not much to examine at length, much less remember, but if you’re in the mood for a Hallmark card to revive your faith in gooey rom-coms, Love Again is not the one.

The film is nothing but a chintzy promotional tool for Celine Dion.

This is a wonderful movie! Excellent acting, good visual effects and masterpiece music. The director's work is good, the actors did a great job, and I would like to express great gratitude to the whole team that shot the film. There's some good humor in this movie. The plot of the film is simple, but very kind. The songs in this movie are just very touching music that is very catchy. Celine Dion is a great fellow, she did a great job! It's been a long time since there was such a good movie about love. If you are a fan of romantic comedies, then you will really like the movie. I recommend definitely watching the movie.

Love Again A predictable and cliché romcom with an improbable premise. Priyanka Chopra isn't convincing as a grieving lover, and her co-lead doesn't sell the music critic/writer persona, but the chemistry between them is believable and cute. It's jarring seeing how the movie is set in New York but filmed in England. The soundtrack of this movie redeems it. Using old and new songs by Celine Dion was very profitable, those that may not love the movie will surely sing along when Celine's familiar songs play. Celine Dion as an actress is laughable but still cute (acting is an endeavour she should retire). The scene between Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas (her real-life husband) was the best, it was effortlessly funny. Overall, Love Again is a cute rom-com but isn't memorable. 5/10

The story starts as children's book artist (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) watches her boyfriend get hit by a car. During her extended mourning period, she decides to text his old phone to express her sorrow. Turns out that a writer (Sam Heughan, who's best known as The Highlander) happens to have that phone now and finds the texts intriguing. He's also working on a story about Celine Dion, so she gets a few scenes of love advice from her. As with this type of romcom, the plot is completely predictable, so it's up to the writing, direction and acting to make it stand out. Chopra Jonas is attractive and concerned, but her character is rather bland. Heughan is not only dashing, but manages some sly comic moments. There are some supporting actors who add lively touches, but it's Nick Jonas, as a bad date, who's quietly hilarious (In case you didn't know, he's her real-life hubby). Despite all the trite trappings, the writing keeps the scenes brief so they never lag. The direction also keeps things moving. Overall pleasant but nothing special. NOTE: Sit thru the credits for a song moment from Dion, then another final surprise later in the credits. AND, since it wasn't a 555 number, I dialed it (917.167.5309) and got "cannot be completed," so 167 may be a new prefix for movies.

(Mauro Lanari) What more could a singer who, according to "Forbes", in 2019 was the third richest female music artist in the world with an estimated wealth of 450 million dollars, want from existence? One woman that, according to "Rolling Stone"'s Keith Harris, "stands at the end of the chain of drastic devolution that goes Aretha-Whitney-Mariah with a bombastic and defiant sentimentality rather than demure and retiring"? At 55, she can talk about the death of her manager husband René, their 3 children, the new USA tour and export her role as a love coach from the lyrics of her pop ballads to the cinema debuting as an actress who dispenses invaluable, infallible, prodigious romantic advices. Her stage is planetary, so the pair of lovebirds must extend from the Bollywoodian East with Priyanka Chopra to the Hollywoodian West with Sam Heughan (who wears a "Pixies"'s tshirt), the story has to be basic (falling in love, crisis by omission of truth, reconciliation and triumphant happy ending), and the gay friend cannot be missing (in other times he would have been played by Rupert Everett or Stanley Tucci). Those who have really suffered mourning or emotional disappointments will not find anything sincerely comforting, but a gigantic mockery.

Terribly ineffective and insubstantial. Weak and above all feeble. I know that many people can overlook a great many things in romantic comedies, mostly because of the illusion of romance, but is it possible to do so when most of its events feel so cringey and the leads don't share a shred of chemistry? I have to say no. Disaster.