''Love, Rosie'' is a 2014 romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Christian Ditter Christian Ditter (born 1977) is a German director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films, television and commercials. He is best known for his films ', (2009) ''Love, Rosie'' (2014), and ''How to Be Single'' (2016) and the Netflix se ...

from a screenplay by Juliette Towhidi, based on the 2004 novel ''

Where Rainbows End ''Where Rainbows End'' (also known as ''Love, Rosie'' or ''Rosie Dunne'') is the second novel by Irish writer Cecelia Ahern, published in 2004. The entire novel is written in epistolary structure in the form of letters, emails, instant messages ...

'' by Irish author

Cecelia Ahern Cecelia Ahern (born 30 September 1981) is an Irish novelist, known for her works like '' PS, I Love You''; ''Where Rainbows End''; and '' If You Could See Me Now''. Born in Dublin, Ahern is now published in nearly fifty countries, and has sold o ...

. The film stars

Lily Collins Lily Jane Collins (born 18 March 1989) is a British and American actress and model who is known for her work in several films, including ''Stuck in Love'' (2012), ''The English Teacher'' (2013), and '' Love, Rosie'' (2014), comedy ''Rules Do ...

and

Sam Claflin Samuel George Claflin (born 27 June 1986) is an English actor. After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2009, he began his acting career on television and had his first film role as Philip Swift in '' Pirates of t ...

, with

Christian Cooke Christian Louis Cooke (born 15 September 1987) is an English actor. He is known for playing Luke Kirkwall in '' Where the Heart Is'', Luke Rutherford in ''Demons'', Dorian Gaudain in ''Trinity'', Freddie Taylor in '' Cemetery Junction'' and Len ...

Tamsin Egerton Tamsin Olivia Egerton (born Tamsin Olivia Egerton-Dick; 26 November 1988) is a British actress known for her roles as Chelsea Parker in the 2007 film ''St Trinian's'', Holly Goodfellow in the 2005 film ''Keeping Mum'', and Guinevere in the 2011 t ...

Suki Waterhouse Alice Suki Waterhouse (born 5 January 1992) is an English model, actress and singer. She began a career in modelling at the age of 16, and she would go on to model for several major fashion labels. Her first feature film as an actress was a min ...

, Jamie Beamish and

Jaime Winstone Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in '' Kidulthood'', '' Dead Set'', '' After Hours'' and her portrayal of Barbara Windsor in ''Babs''. Early life and education Winstone was born in Camd ...

in supporting roles.

Plot

Alex and Rosie have been best friends for almost as long as they can remember. During Rosie's 18th birthday party, Alex kisses Rosie, who is drunk, and he realizes that he has romantic feelings for her. The next day, while nursing a hangover and having had her stomach pumped, Rosie regrets having got drunk, and tells Alex that she wishes that the night had never happened. Alex interprets her words as Rosie just wanting to be friends. Greg, the "fittest guy in their year", asks Rosie to the school dance. While she originally intended to go with Alex, she accepts Greg's offer when she learns that Alex is thinking about going to the dance with a girl named Bethany. After the dance, Rosie has sex with Greg, but the condom slips off inside her. Rosie aspires to one day run her own hotel, and applies and gets accepted to a

hotel management ''Hotel Management'' magazine is a trade publication produced by Questex, LLC. History and profile The magazine ''Hotel Management'' was established in New York in 1922 by Ahrens Publishers. It absorbed or merged with various other hotel managem ...

course at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

. She rushes to tell Alex but finds him having sex with Bethany, which causes her to vomit. Rosie discovers that she is pregnant but refuses to tell Alex, fearing that he will forgo his chance to study at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to help take care of her. After Alex leaves for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, she gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Katie. Alex learns of Rosie's pregnancy from Bethany and becomes Katie's godfather. Five years later, Rosie visits Alex in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and they spend a night together talking and visiting places. The following morning, she discovers that his girlfriend, Sally, is pregnant. She understands that Alex's living situation was not proper and tries to discuss it with him but he rebuffs her, saying that at least their child will have both parents. Infuriated, Rosie leaves Boston immediately. She reconciles with Greg, who had initially fled to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

upon learning of her pregnancy, and the two eventually marry in 2009. Later, Rosie learns that Alex split from his girlfriend after discovering that the baby was not his. She bumps into Bethany, now a famous model, and suggests that Bethany look up Alex on an upcoming trip to the US. Another five years pass. Rosie's father dies. Alex attends the funeral, where he reconciles with Rosie. At the same event, Greg behaves immaturely, causing a scene. This later prompts Alex to write Rosie a note saying that she deserves better and that he can be that better man. However, Greg intercepts the note and hides it from Rosie. Later, Rosie discovers that Greg is cheating on her and kicks him out. While disposing of his things, she finds the letter from Alex. She calls him, but discovers that Bethany is living with him now and that the two are engaged. They invite Rosie to be the "best man" at their wedding. Rosie plots to interrupt the wedding, but fails, as the church ceremony is over by the time she arrives. At the reception, Rosie gives a speech, telling Alex that she loves him as a friend. Her daughter, Katie, brings a friend named Toby with her to the wedding, in a friendship that is reminiscent of Rosie and Alex when they were children. During a dance, Toby suddenly kisses Katie, but Katie pushes him away and runs outside. Rosie and Alex follow her. Alex then goes to Katie to comfort her and relates the situation to him and Rosie, and how he regrets pushing her away after they had their first kiss. After a moment, Toby finds Katie and apologizes for what he did. As he asks her to forget what just happened, Katie interrupts him with a kiss. In that moment, Alex learns that Rosie does not remember the kiss that they shared on her 18th birthday. He realizes that he had been mistaken in interpreting her desire to forget that night as her wanting to stay platonic. Using her inheritance from her father, Rosie finally fulfills her ambition to start her own hotel. Alex is her second guest. When he arrives, he tells Rosie that he ended his marriage with Bethany, and shares with her a recurring dream he has had about the two of them being together. Finally, they kiss.

Production

Filming began in May 2013 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

before moving to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

Cast

as Rosie Dunne ** Beau Rose Garratt as Rosie (6 years old) **

Lara McDonnell Lara McDonnell (born 7 November 2003) is an Irish actress. She starred as the alternating titular role in the West End production of '' Matilda the Musical'' from 2015 to 2016. She has since landed roles in a number of films. McDonnell appeared ...

as Rosie (10 years old) *

as Alex Stewart ** Tighe Wardell as Alex (6 years old) ** Tom John Kelly as Alex (10 years old) *

as Sally *

as Bethany Williams *

as Ruby *

as Greg *

Lily Laight Lily May Laight (born 22 December 2001) is an English actress, singer, dancer from Devon. Laight is known for acting in '' Love, Rosie'', '' In Secret'' and ''Frequencies''. Career Laight comes from a theatrical family and made her stage deb ...

as Katie Dunne ** Rosa Molloy as Katie (5 years old) * Matthew Dillon as Toby (12 years old) ** Aaron Kinsella as Toby (5 years old) * Nick Lee as Herb * Nick Hardin as Joe American * Jamie Beamish as Phil *

Art Parkinson Art Parkinson (born 19 October 2001) is an Irish actor from Moville in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ireland. He began his professional acting career at the age of seven. He is best known for his role as Rickon Stark on the HBO series ''Game of ...

as Gary Dunne

Reception

''Love, Rosie'' received negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 57 critics, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's consensus states: "Lilly Collins and Sam Claflin are appealing, and they give it their all, but they're undone by ''Love, Rosie''s silly, clichéd storyline." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 44 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Donald Clarke of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' described Collins as "perfectly charming", but felt that "entire film is weighed down by such sloppy storytelling and by equally disordered characterisation" and gave the film one out of five stars calling it awful, but pretty.

References

External links

* * {{Christian Ditter 2014 films 2014 romantic comedy-drama films 2010s British films 2010s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s German films 2010s pregnancy films British coming-of-age comedy-drama films British pregnancy films British romantic comedy-drama films Coming-of-age romance films Constantin Film films English-language German films Films based on Irish novels Films based on romance novels Films set in Boston Films set in England Films shot in the Republic of Ireland Films shot in Toronto German coming-of-age comedy-drama films German pregnancy films German romantic comedy-drama films