The Book of Love (2017)

It was totally surprising just how great this movie is. I watched and now I want the movie. Outstanding performances Jason, Maise, and Jessica.

If I needed something to help me get over a tragic event, or wanted to help out a troubled young person, I could take a load of old planks and furniture and bits of my house and make a ladder that stretches up to the moon, and that would be justified by the nobility of the quest, right?And of course it could be done without anybody taking notice or raising the alarm, without the intervention of the police or other authorities and so on.And I could eventually climb my moon ladder with my young companion and never be seen again...In "Book of Love" or whatever else this film from Bill Purple calls itself, the central premise is scarcely less ludicrous than this, and it does involve a bereaved widower (played by Jason Sudeikis) and a troubled teenager (played by Maisie Williams - for whom a worthwhile vehicle was presumably needed, content not especially important).The wife livelier and lovelier than her husband is played by Jessica Biel, but she sadly dies before the real madness kicks in, though of course she is one of the reasons behind it.Ultimately, the Sudeikis-Williams pairing is reasonably persuasive, and both have a pretty good crack at a New Orleans accent, the challenge of that being all the greater for the young British actress.So this film has its value (and one or two clever and touching plot twists not to be revealed here in any way), but it's also a bit on the WEEEIIIIRRRRD side, to be honest. So the basic question remains, why maroon good actors acting reasonably well on a raft of implausibility? The plot actually thickens a bit further given that New Orleans was ready to fund this film, even though the portrayal of the city still evidently reeling a bit from Katrina is not too positive. Admittedly, there is an eco-message there about not developing the area's remaining marshes, and that is wise enough given the way the hurricane would have done even more harm had they not been in place. And perhaps New Orleans just likes keeping up its slightly eccentric, free-spirited image? Given there is also a surprisingly blunt recommendation to use drugs in the piece, that explanation seems to ... hold water (if you'll pardon one further pun).There is a bit to be got out of this film, but the why of it can't be submerged entirely, so nothing here is really ... plain sailing.

I chanced upon The Book of Love while channel-switching, saw Maisie Williams, looked for the repeat and watched it. I very nearly didn't because the synopsis made it look like a Hallmark production (bereaved architect heals himself by helping troubled teenager build a raft to sail round the world) but I thought, "What the hell, it's Arya" and watched it. I'm glad I did, because although it contains a slew of "heartwarming" clichés, it plays around with them in a very quirky way, to the extent that it's almost but not quite a satire on the genre. But there's more than playing around with clichés: the relationship between the two main characters is lovely, and there are some thought-provoking moments, though it's easy to skip over them.

Maisie Williams is a superb actress in everything she does,including this & Jason Sudekis does an excellent drama role. It's a wonderful movie, put together well,explaining how these 2 different people, 1 teenager& 1 adult came together through his wife & built a raft together so the girl could continue her fathers voyage. Could have done without Jason's 2 handyman, or at least the nickname for one (dumbass) & the fact that one doesn't speak any English, but other than that it kept my interest and that's a good thing 😊 It had a little bit of everything in my opinion..comedy,drama, adventure....it was happy,sad,made me laugh & cry. I recommend it! Not everyone will have the same opinion. Just give it a try.