A Romcom Whose Heroine Sells Wedding Vows, Minus the Jokes
In Variety's review of Love Language, Chloë Grace Moretz plays Louisa, a perennially blocked writer who chances into an unexpectedly lucrative side hustle writing other people's wedding vows, all while failing to articulate her own messy feelings for two men. That is a premise with ample potential for wit, and the review's complaint is that the film doesn't spend it: it is cozily, even sentimentally romantic, and neglects the comic half of the equation.
Where the film does land something, per the review, it is at the expense of Louisa's prose: her style is a bit Hallmark by way of Rupi Kaur, but the vows go down a treat. Word gets out at the wedding that she ghostwrote them, and total strangers start asking her to write their own dewy-eyed dedications. Borrowed sincerity sold back to strangers is the sharpest idea the movie has, and the review's verdict leaves it as potential rather than payoff — the sentiment kept, the comedy left behind.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
A palatable, attractively assembled film that becomes a comfort watch for under-30s is a perfectly good thing to be. Not every romcom owes anyone a jokes-per-minute rate.
Granted — except this one is sitting on a premise with ample potential for wit, and a romcom that declines to be funny is choosing the harder defence. Warmth is not a substitute for the comic half; it is what you serve when the comic half hasn't shown up.