The concept of AI writing movies and TV shows has been at the forefront of much discussion in the past few weeks, and the latest studio rom-com Love Again seems to follow that trend.
There was an intense reaction after major Marvel player Joe Russo claimed that AI could be a helpful tool in screenwriting. One of the current items that studios and writers are bargaining over in the ongoing WGA strike is the concept of AI replacing human writers’ work. Well, it turns out that Love Again is timed perfectly to prove that AI should not, could not, and would never replace living, breathing writers.
It’s not that Love Again has a script so marvelous that ChatGPT could never replicate it. In fact, we’re looking at the exact opposite situation here: Love Again is a rom-com so uncharming that the film’s dreadfulness can only be attributed to human error. No AI would mistake Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” calling it “My Heart Still Goes On” instead. ChatGPT would get that title correct, whereas Love Again brutally misnames the singer’s hit while also misusing her talent.
The film’s concept is actually quite enticing. Writer-director James C. Strouse adapted Love Again from the German film SMS für Dich. When it begins, it’s been two years since the death of Mira’s (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) beloved boyfriend John (Arinzé Kene), and she still isn’t over him. Understandable! She seeks advice from the chef at her favorite burger restaurant (not her sister, nor her parents), who advises her to set a glass of wine out for Rob every night and tell him about her day. Mira is weirded out by this. She opts to send long-winded texts to his old phone number instead.
On the other side of New York City, Rob (Sam Heughan) is in the throes of a nasty breakup. “Love isn’t real!” he tells anyone who will listen to his cynicism, including Céline Dion, who he’s been assigned to profile at his New York Times-esque job. (Note: Rob hates Dion, though his female coworkers love her. So why is he being assigned to cover what his boss calls “the Céline-assaince?” As a journalist who loves Céline Dion, I am appalled!)
Unrelated to his new assignment, Rob’s boss demands he now use a work phone. Almost immediately, Rob starts receiving bizarre, lovestruck texts from an unknown number—messages like, “I miss sleeping next to your naked body,” and, “I’m going on a date tonight, but I’m still not over you.” Though Rob’s coworker wisely suggests he delete the texts, which they presume is phishing, he doesn’t.
Instead, he falls in love with the anonymous author, who, of course, is Mira. Rob relates to the emotions she expresses over text; though he hasn’t witnessed the death of his lover, Rob’s ex effectively left him at the altar. They have collective trauma. When the mystery sender shoots Rob a message saying that she’ll be going on a date at a hipster bar in Brooklyn, he races to the spot to see if he can finally talk to her. Unfortunately, although Mira is uncertain about her date—a cutesy appearance from Chopra Jonas’ real-life husband, Nick Jonas, who plays gym bro Joel—she elects to go home with him, leaving Rob at square one.
Thus begins the movie’s cat-and-mouse pursuit. But Love Again can’t decide if the chase should take up the entire runtime (a la You’ve Got Mail) or just the first act, so that Mira and Rob can build their chemistry. Instead, it goes on for an hour or so, an odd choice that doesn’t contribute anything to the couple’s tension. Rob finally confronts Mira at the opera, but doesn’t tell her that he’s been receiving the texts meant for John’s phone. Instead, he goes for a more “star-crossed lovers” appeal, acting as though he only recognizes Mira because they were always meant to be together. Thus, their dull relationship in person begins. There’s not enough time for them to develop any kind of bond that the audience would root for, but there’s also almost too much time, because every conversation feels overlong and awkward.
Céline Dion is perhaps the only charming aspect of Love Again. Still, her recurring presence is as stilted as the rest of it. When Rob struggles in any aspect of his relationship with Mira—confessing he’s “John,” or convincing her to get over the real John—he seeks help from Dion. She offers bits of advice from her relationship with the late René Angélil and explains her lyrics to Rob, who is still suspicious of love in the first place. While it’s certainly nice to see her face and hear plenty of her tunes played throughout the movie, the lack of purpose for her character ultimately becomes a waste of her talent.
Though the plot is stale and the performances mid-tier at best, Love Again might still be worth watching. It is a frothy, bumbling mess of weird texts, Céline Dion, and Nick Jonas doing push-ups in the bathroom. The tone ranges from melodramatic to slapstick, as Jonas misinterprets the phrase “maybe we should take things more slowly” to mean “make out in a sluggish manner.” These facets do not make Love Again a fulfilling rom-com, but to watch something so silly and contrived (and also, not to mention, full of beautiful faces) on the big screen is a bit of a treat.
Love Again is full of human blunders—and all are perfectly fine mistakes for the film to make. It’s our right to watch such terrible rom-coms. Though there were points of Love Again that nearly bored me to sleep, I could never really shut my eyes knowing that the next bizarre text could be sent at any minute, or that Céline Dion could appear with some cheesy quote about love. If we surrender formulaic stories like rom-coms to AI, they’ll never be quite as exasperating as Love Again. That’s a bigger sin than any of the mistakes made over the course of Rob and Mira’s story.
Liked this review? Sign up to get our weekly See Skip newsletter every Tuesday and find out what new shows and movies are worth watching, and which aren’t.
