Some people have a way with words. An inability to articulate how you feel about someone doesn’t diminish a connection, and someone else may be able to communicate your affection better than you can, on paper at least. Love Language explores how one woman who couldn’t seem to find the right person for her is able to capture the sentiments brides and grooms have for each other, enabling her to distract herself from her own romantic troubles by beautifully penning declarations of love on behalf of other people.
Lou (Chloë Grace Moretz) has just been dumped ahead of her wedding and she is not in a good place. Her friends Tilda (Billie Lourd) and Gus (Lukas Gage) try to be supportive, pushing her to give Tilda’s cousin Dash (Anthony Ramos), who is clearly into her, a chance. Though she’s a mood killer, Lou does write Tilda’s vows and ends up getting hired by others to do the same. One client, Olivia (Isabel May), invites her to an event to meet her fiancé, who turns out to be Warren (Manny Jacinto), Lou’s old friend from college who was absolutely a major crush. Writing Olivia’s vows proves challenging, especially as Lou starts to think that maybe Warren is more right for her than she is for Olivia.
This is the second feature from writer-director Joey Power, whose first film, After Everything, was also relationship-focused. The setup of this film feels in many ways like a typical romantic comedy, with Lou unlucky in love and just waiting for the right opportunity to knock on her door, blinded by her own misery to realize that she doesn’t have to look far for it. There are additional layers and subplots, however, that help make this film feel distinct and fresh, a variation of something like The Wedding Planner with a relationship-adjacent profession that allows its protagonist to be close to romance too often not to catch some of it. But it’s not as if Lou is trying particularly hard to improve her situation, and her lack of any positive effort when two options present themselves adds to the entertainment value, even if audiences know that there’s no way things will end neatly.
It’s fun to see Moretz, who has been acting for over two decades, in the leading role in this comedy, showing that she can be quite funny when she wants to be. She gives Lou an appropriately resigned personality, and there’s something about how she eats a burrito – Lou consumes at least a dozen onscreen during the film – that communicates her unenthusiastic interaction with the world around her. Ramos and Jacinto are both endearing romantic possibilities for her who have solid chemistry with Moretz, and May taps into a very different energy that doesn’t jive at all with anything Lou does (Olivia’s claim that they’re friends from Pilates is particularly transparently false). Lourd and Gage are perfectly cast as Lou’s best friends who want to push her in the right direction but also can’t stand her constantly bringing them down.
Those who have recently been through a harrowing breakup may not find this the most inviting film to watch, but fortunately it feels like more than just a romantic comedy, capturing worthwhile snapshots of its supporting characters’ lives and wondering how someone who infamously failed at getting married can so eloquently create something enduring for other people’s weddings. Part of the fun is watching Lou learn about herself as she makes numerous mistakes, especially since her friends are well aware that she’s headed down the wrong path but have gotten tired of trying to help her when she doesn’t seem to want to help herself. Thanks to a solid script and a superb cast, Love Language is an enjoyable, funny film about knowing what to say and when (and how) to say it, and the missteps we all go through along the way to a hopefully happy ending.
Movie Rating: 8/10
