Movie Reviews

Movie Review: In “Book Of Love,” An Uptight English Writer Meets The Mexican Translator Of His Book On A Book Tour In Mexico And Sparks Fly


 

Sparks fly between an uptight English writer and a Spanish translator who rewrote his failed book into an erotic novel.

This film is pure cotton candy and bonbons and hot chocolate by a fire on a cold day. It is fun. It is funny. It is predictable. It isn’t great. It may even be forgettable but it is a film for our times. It is a movie we need right now. It is a romantic comedy not so different from the old Doris Day and Rock Hudson films in which the plot centers around boy meets girl, boy and girl don’t get along and fight, then, finally, boy and girl fall for each other and live happily ever after. Well, we never know for sure about the “happily ever after” part, but we always hope.

In this entry in the romantic comedy genre, Sam Claflin is an uptight English writer promoting his latest book, ‘Sensible Love,’ with minimal success, until he finds it has been translated into Spanish by an unknown translator and it becomes a huge success in Mexico. Therein lies the problem. His book is no longer uptight, but he still is! Claflin looks, dresses, and carries himself just as the character, Henry Copper, might. Even his hair looks uptight. My only criticism here is Claflin’s Henry channels almost perfectly another English actor, Hugh Grant. Grant is, unfortunately, a bit long in the tooth now to play Henry, but in another day, another time…we might have had the real cigar. Meanwhile, I would really have liked to see Claflin’s Henry, not Grant’s.

Verónica Echegui is exactly Henry’s opposite and they mix like oil and water from the first meeting. She is a secretly aspiring writer and her “translation” of ‘Sensible Love’ is only loosely based on the book she dismisses as “boring.” “Nothing happens,” she complains, and with that in mind, she not only translated, but she also transposed as well so the plot takes on a different focus and a different, very wide, and effusive audience.

These two principals pair well together and keep interest up, though much of the plot is pushed successfully forward by Echegui with Claflin as her foil. As noted, the film is predictable. That’s what made it fun for me. Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, sometimes, as in “Book of Love,” it just takes us down a lovely, fun road we forgot existed. Plan some time to just have fun and don’t expect more.

 

Available to stream on Amazon Prime Friday, February 4th

 

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Mildred Austin

I can remember being a girl fascinated by the original CINDERELLA and trying to understand that the characters weren’t REAL?? But how was that possible? Because my mom was a cinema lover, she often took me with her instead of leaving me with a babysitter. I was so young in my first film experiences, I would stare at that BIG screen and wonder “what were those people up there saying?” And then as a slightly older girl watching Margaret O’Brien in THE RED SHOES, I dreamed of being a ballerina. Later, in a theatre with my mom and aunt watching WUTHERING HEIGHTS, I found myself sobbing along with the two of them as Katherine and Heathcliff were separated forever. I have always loved film. In college in the ’60s, the Granada in Dallas became our “go-to” art theater where we soaked up 8 ½, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, WILD STRAWBERRIES and every other Bergman film to play there. Although my training is in theatre and I have acted and directed in Repertory Theatre, college and community theatre, I am always drawn back to the films.

I live in Garland and after being retired for 18 years, I have gone back to work in an elementary school library. I am currently serving as an Associate Critic for John Garcia’s THE COLUMN, an online theatre magazine and I see and review local community theatre shows for that outlet. I’m excited to have the opportunity to extend my experiences now to film and review for IRISH FILM CRITIC. See you at the movies - my preferred seat is back row!