Chloë Grace Moretz finally graduates to her most juicy leading role to date in a humorous new love story titled Love Language. She plays Louisa (Lou), an aspiring YA book writer torn between two men in a rom-com that feels fresh and original at the start, only to succumb to an ending that feels like it was meant to please general audiences more than the determined character Mortetz plays.
Louisa is a well-written young professional. She works as a social media marketer, but finds her passion and talent in life is actually writing other people’s wedding vows, a gig for which she earns a significant amount of money for.
When a new client, Olivia (Isabel May), hires Louisa to write vows for her upcoming wedding, the plot thickens when Olivia’s soon-to-be husband turns out to be an old friend of Louisa’s from college named Warren (Manny Jacinto).
This film opens with the bond between Louisa and her friend, Tilda (the energetic Billie Lourd), which develops when Louisa is broken up with by her deadbeat boyfriend. Tilda wants to look great at her wedding, and has enlisted the excellent writer, Louisa, to write her vows. Those vows turn out to be perfect, and Louisa starts getting clients at a rapid pace as a result.
A major problem with this film is the character of Dash, played by Anthony Ramos. He enters the movie unexpectedly and becomes a major love interest for Louisa just when it seems Warren is the one that could win her heart over.
This movie develops Louisa quite well. In one section of the movie, she searches for Warren on LinkedIn and she denies doing so when potential lover, Warren, finds out. However, the cute elements of the movie are overshadowed by the more conventional ones that invade the movie’s third act.
Love Language is more interested in being a love triangle than being true to the layered character it creates in Louisa. Chloë Grace Moretz has never been better, so it seems like she’s going along with the script in terms of what man she ultimately chooses, but it’s hard to believe she would really choose who she chooses at the conclusion of the movie.
This film’s setting, Chicago, is a major part of the movie’s backdrop. City life helps bring the movie’s characters to life, and the characters are individually well-written.
Moretz is the best part, but Jacinto and Ramos aren’t bad at all. It’s easy to pick which man the viewer will want Louisa to end up with, but not easy for the film to make the same decision most audiences will want it to make. This movie has the easiest conclusion possible so that every character is virtually satisfied, but life doesn’t work out that simply, unfortunately.
Love Language gets the realities of city life right on the money for so much of the film that it seems like it’s leading the viewer to the right ending. However, the movie makes choices that sadly undermine the picture’s integrity.
It would have been much better if the ending wasn’t so happily ever after for its eventual central couple. Of course, giving away the ending would be wrong so that’s all that can be said.
Moretz has never been better than in her scenes in the first half of Love Language. She has the character of Louisa down to a science, and audiences will fall in love with her ingenuity.
It’s Manny Jacinto who excels more than Anthony Ramos where the characterizations of the love interests are concerned. Ramos is good, but he doesn’t dig deep inside his character the way Jacinto does.
That being said, there is plenty to like about Love Language. Authors will appreciate the creative way it shows how a writer could make money other than going through the traditional book publishing route. Writing people’s wedding vows is a risky proposition, though, and not for the weak, as this movie demonstrates through its plot development.
Love stories are a dime a dozen, but Love Language has the charisma of Moretz backing it up, making the film a more polished effort than say your typical Hallmark love story. This is an “R-rated” film, so it never feels like a Hallmark movie, but the safe ending definitely felt like a disappointment.
It’s a close call, but Love Language needed a braver third act instead of taking the easy way out.
Love Language is now streaming for digital rental or purchase and is available on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube
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Thomas Duffy
Thomas Duffy is a Critics Choice member who has written film reviews for most of his life, starting at age 11 when he crafted his first full length movie critique on the film, "Roxanne," a Cyrano story featuring Steve Martin. As a result of that review and other movie obsessive writing, Thomas was awarded a creative writing award in sixth grade. Thomas is the proud author of nine books, including two highly acclaimed novels, "To Never Know" and "Social Work." Thomas can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) or at a New York City movie theater watching the latest hit or independent movie. You can also run into him at Tribeca or at the New York Film Festival.