Love Happens
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 18, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
15
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
Although the film begins promisingly, it proves to be little more than a soap opera. Read full review
60
Washington PostDan Kois
More thoughtful than its cookie-cutter marketing campaign implies, and better than its awful title promises, "Love Happens" is the rare Hollywood romance concerned with emotions other than love at first sight. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyMelissa Anderson
Eckhart has even less chemistry with Aniston than he did with fellow narcissist Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2007’s "No Reservations," going soft and gooey only when he and Martin Sheen, as Burke’s father-in-law, share a big cry. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
An incredibly lazy movie -- but not an unbearable one, thanks to Aaron Eckhart's charm. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Love Happens announces itself as a romantic comedy but doesn't speak the language of love. Instead, it trades in the slogans of self-help procedural. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
Excise the love story, and there's a pretty good movie buried within Love Happens struggling to get out, mostly to little avail. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
One of those sticky dramas. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Aniston's constituency will enjoy seeing her again in Love Happens . She's lovely and fun to be with, as always. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Love Happens is an oddly upbeat title for a movie that is surprisingly sad. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Delivers all the pain, melodrama and redemption that fans of the genre demand. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The vital signs in Love Happens, a movie that feels likes a laboriously padded outline, are faint. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The film contains almost no rough edges; thanks to decades of previous use, just about every shot and sequence is as polished as a riverbed stone. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
The title is a good indication of this movie's blandness and predictability. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
That this superficial romance between a successful self-help author and a nurturing florist is also a film about overcoming the tragedy of losing a loved one only makes its clichéd insipidity that much more irksome. Read full review
40
NPRMark Jenkins
If that's the best Hollywood screenwriters can do, maybe they should sign up for a self-help seminar. Nothing focuses the mind like a little firewalking. Read full review
40
EmpireAnna Smith
Falls between romance and drama without really satisfying either. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
I wish the movie made emotional sense, because it’s all about getting in touch with whatever’s holding you back, but it doesn’t. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Is this a movie or a feature-length advertisement for Qwest? We're not just talking one product placement; this brand name is nearly omnipresent. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Structurally, this is as by-the-numbers as rom-coms get, right down to the wacky best friends, played by Judy Greer and Dan Fogler. For a while, it's low-key enough to be tolerable. Read full review
30
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Some may wonder why Jennifer Aniston keeps taking projects about single women unlucky in love. But the bigger question in Love Happens is why, with her pick of scripts, she chose one so utterly uninspired. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The dialogue is often grating, and some of the situations are distastefully cute, although John Carroll Lynch (Fargo) has a strong supporting turn as a grief workshop client. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
No authentic emotion of any kind happens in this damp, Seattle-based romance, a fizzle for both stars. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It might sound intriguing to root the saying, "Physician, heal thyself," in the plight of a hypocritical self-help guru, but the romantic drama Love Happens suffers from acute irony deficiency. Read full review
20
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's a limp romantic drama that occasionally lifts its drowsy head to attempt a wan smile, a picture that starts out being harmlessly dull and ends, somehow, in a place that feels insultingly manipulative. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Love Happens? It depends on your definition of “love.” And “happens.” There isn’t much of either in this predictable, putzy drama. Read full review
12
New York PostKyle Smith
Love Happens is a weepie about the grieving process, mainly my own. Read full review
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