Lovesick
LOVESICK (2014)
Starring Matt LeBlanc, Ali Larter, Adam Rodriguez, Chevy Chase, Ashley Williams, Kristen Johnston, Rachael Harris, Jennifer Rhodes, Elizabeth Ho, Kate Gorney, Louise Griffiths, Debra Garrett,Connie Sawyer, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Raymond Ochoa.
Screenplay by Dean Young.
Directed by Luke Matheny.
Distributed by Gravitas Ventures. 100 minutes. Not Rated.
Lovesick starts off with a potentially intriguing, sort of subversive premise.
What if the handsome, charming, sweet but unlucky-in-love guy in a romantic comedy can’t find true love because it turns out he scares off every perfect woman who crosses his path with his almost pathological jealousy? Can an audience root for a man who is borderline-psychotic to find true love?
It’s kind of a funny idea, because if you get technical, aren’t pretty much all guys in romantic comedies sort of crazy? I mean what kind of break from sanity does it take to physically run on foot across a major metropolitan area to try to beat someone from getting on a leaving plane? Or to declare your undying true love to a woman you barely know in front of dozens of strangers?
So why not take this romantic mania to the obvious extreme? Maybe the Mr. Right making the grand, dramatic romantic gesture is just doing it because he is so delusional that he does not realize that he is acting cray cray.
However, this is where Lovesick makes it’s biggest miscalculation. They have all the characters in the film seem to think that Matt LeBlanc’s crazy neediness is kind of cute. It’s not like he’s a dangerous psychopath, he’s a cuddly one. They also seem to expect the audience to agree. He’s doing some pretty seriously messed up stuff, but he’s doing it for true love, right?
After all, stalking just shows you care, right?
Umm… no….
And what could have been a very funny black comedy ends up being a slightly odd and overly sitcom-feeling rom-com in which every audience member thinks the woman should run – not walk – fast and far away from this crazy man.
This madman in love is Charlie Darby, a handsome, sweet 40-something elementary school principal who is universally beloved by everyone – except for the women who inevitably dump him flat.
His married best friends (Adam Rodriguez and Rebecca Naomi Jones) can’t understand why he can’t just settle down with a nice girl. (They don’t quite get the fact that he imagines each of his lovers is having affairs with TV reality show stars.) His crazy next door neighbor (Chevy Chase) thinks he should just stay home, eat cereal and watch porn.
The new lady in his life is Molly (Ali Larter), a pretty dancer whose nephew goes to his school. Once he starts dating her, he becomes irrationally jealous of: A) a hotel concierge, B) an old high school buddy, C) an Italian male nurse and D) Dr. Mehmet Oz. He follows her (not just locally, he even flies 13 hours from San Pedro, CA to Tuscany, Italy), searches her luggage and her parents’ house, and uses his professional position to pump Molly’s sister (Ashley Williams) and 9-year-old nephew (Raymond Ochoa) for information about Molly’s life.
And this guy is making a living taking care of children? Scary stuff.
However, Molly’s parents, her sister, her nephew, her grandmother, all her friends and all of Charlie’s exes think that she should ignore all the red flags about the guy and just give in to the love she feels for him. After all, he is a nice, quiet guy. Keeps to himself. He’s either the perfect man or a serial killer.
Now in fairness, LeBlanc is such a likable actor that he makes Charlie much more bearable than he has any right to be. It is through his charisma alone that Lovesick almost sells its tricky premise. However, it is hard to root for a happily ever after for a couple when you can’t help but have a sneaking suspicion that someday she will end up in a shallow grave out back.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2015 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: February 5, 2015.
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