''Telling You'', also known as ''Love Sucks'', is a 1998

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Robert DeFranco and starring

Peter Facinelli Peter Facinelli (born November 26, 1973) is an American actor and film and television producer. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox series '' Fastlane'' from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the ''Tw ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series ''Kids I ...

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in ''Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Punk ...

, and

Dash Mihok Dashiell Raymond Mihok (; born May 24, 1974) is an American actor and director best known for playing Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in the Showtime drama ''Ray Donovan''. Early life Mihok was born in New York City, the son of theater actors Andrea Mi ...

. It was distributed by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

. Its filming location finds place in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

. It was released on August 7, 1998.

Plot

Two college graduates find themselves back home in

Long island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

stuck behind the counter of a pizza parlor and frustrated about their life's perspectives, while their friends move on, struggle to find a new direction for their lives.

Cast

as Phil Fazzulo *

as Deb Freidman *

as Adam Ginesberg *

as Dennis Nolan * Andy Berman as Howard Gurtler * Robert DeFranco as Steve Fagan * Gary Wolf as John Foley *

Richard Libertini Richard Joseph Libertini (May 21, 1933 – January 7, 2016) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for playing character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents. His films include ''Catch-22'' (1970), '' The I ...

as Mr. P *

Gina Philips Gina Philips (née Consolo; born May 10, 1970) is an American actress. She had recurring roles on David E. Kelley's '' Ally McBeal'', as Sandy Hingle, and ''Boston Public'', as Jenna Miller. She is perhaps best known as Trish Jenner in the hor ...

as Kristen Barrett *

Jennifer Jostyn Jennifer Jostyn is an American actress. Early life and education Born in Boston, Jostyn attended Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts. Career She has appeared in many movies since the early 1990s, including ''House of 1000 Corpses'', ...

as Beth Taylor *

Frank Medrano Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

as Sal Lombardo *

Jensen Daggett Jensen Daggett (born June 24, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She has appeared in the films '' Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan'' and '' Major League: Back to the Minors''. She had a recurring role as Nancy Tayl ...

as Susan *

Shanna Moakler Shanna Lynn Moakler (; born March 28, 1975) is an American model, actress, and reality television star. She was the winner of the Miss New York USA pageant in 1995 and was the first runner-up at Miss USA 1995. After winner Chelsi Smith won the Mi ...

as Cheryl Tangeray *

Charlotte Ayanna Charlotte Ayanna (born Charlotte Lopez; September 25, 1976) is a Puerto Rican-American actress and former Miss Teen USA. Early life Ayanna was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but moved to Vermont at an early age. She had a troubled childhood, spen ...

as Allison Fazio (as Charlotte Lopez) * Marc Bossley as Tommy Spahn * Stephanie Brown as Michelle Itzo * Gerald Jennke as Michelle Itzo's Neighbor *

Michelle Burke Michelle Burke (born Michelle Gray; November 30, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Jodi Kramer in the 1993 Richard Linklater film '' Dazed and Confused'' and as Connie Conehead in the 1993 movie ''Coneheads''. ...

as Kristen's Friend (as Michelle Thomas) * Andrea Tiano as Maria (Sal's Sister) *

Mike Muldoon Michael D. Muldoon (April 9, 1858 in Westmeath, Ireland, to January 30, 1917) was a Major League Baseball player. Muldoon played for the Cleveland Blues and the Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball ...

as Jerry (Sal's Brother-in-Law) * Jack Rourke as Murph *

Rick Rossovich Frederic Enrico Rossovich (born August 28, 1957) is an American actor. Rossovich began acting in the early 1980s, first gaining recognition for portraying Ron "Slider" Kerner in the 1986 film ''Top Gun''. Rossovich's other movies include the thri ...

as McQueeney (uncredited) *

Jennie Garth Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom '' What I Like About You'' (2002–06). In 2012, she starred ...

as Amber (uncredited) * Lorin Eric Salm as Lettuce Man * John Bachelder as John Batchelder * Stephen 'Bundy' DeFranco as Bundy * Paul Anthony as Rough Stranger * Kerri Kleiner as Allison's Friend * Liz Reese as Telephone Montage * Jennifer Foley as Amy * Jon Cellini as the tough guy * Joe Crusco as the Police Officer

Reception

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 20% based on reviews from 5 critics. Nathan Rabin of

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

called it "really boring in an extremely earnest fashion." Rabin warned that it "is not, as its box would somewhat dishonestly indicate, a Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle. It is, instead, a laughless, irritatingly earnest comedy-drama about ..." the characters played by Mihok and Facinelli. Rabin said Hewitt and Lillard have little more than cameos but credits Lillard for giving the film what little spark it has. Kathleen Craughwell of ''The L.A. Times'' said it "is pleasant enough and the production values are as good as any studio film. But the characters and what happens to them...just aren't as interesting as these actors, and their audience, deserve."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt0120859 1998 films American romantic comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s romantic comedy-drama films CineTel Films films 1998 comedy films 1998 drama films 1990s American films