''Love, Rosie'' is a 2014 romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Christian Ditter Christian Ditter (born 1 June 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 (film), Love, Rosie'' (2014) and ''How to Be Single'' ...

from a screenplay by Juliette Towhidi, based on the 2004 novel '' Where Rainbows End'' 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 ...

. It stars

Lily Collins Lily Jane Collins (born 18 March 1989) is an English and American actress. Born in Guildford and raised in Los Angeles, she began performing on screen at the age of two in the BBC sitcom ''Growing Pains''. In the late 2000s, she began acting a ...

and

Sam Claflin Samuel George Claflin (; born 27 June 1986) is a British 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 ...

as two childhood best friends turned lovers who are separated by circumstances following their high school graduation.

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-Dick (born 26 November 1988) is an English 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 television series ''Ca ...

Suki Waterhouse Alice Suki Waterhouse (born 5 January 1992) is an English actress, singer, and model. Waterhouse began a career in modelling at the age of 16, and she went on to model for several major fashion labels such as Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger (company), ...

, Jamie Beamish and

Jaime Winstone Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in ''Kidulthood'' (2006), ''Goldplated'' (2006), ''Dead Set (TV series), Dead Set'' (2008), ''Donkey Punch (2008 film), Donkey Punch'' (2008), ''Boogie ...

also appear in supporting roles. The film addresses themes such as

teen pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female under the age of 20. Worldwide, pregnancy complications are the leading cause of death for women and girls 15 to 19 years old. The definition of teenage pregnancy i ...

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a Human bonding, bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, ...

and

adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...

. ''Love, Rosie'' had its world premiere in London on 6 October 2014, before its

theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in thea ...

on 22 October 2014. Though the film was received poorly by critics, it garnered positive reviews from audiences and grossed $25.5 million worldwide. Collins' performance was singled out for praise by both critics and audiences.

Plot

Alex and Rosie are childhood best friends. During Rosie's eighteenth birthday party, Alex kisses her whilst they are drunk, and realizes that he has 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. He interprets her words as Rosie just wanting to be friends, not realising that Rosie had no recollection of the night before. Greg, the "fittest guy in their year", asks Rosie to the school dance. She originally intended to go with Alex, but accepts Greg's offer after learning that Alex is thinking about going with Bethany, the popular girl in their year. After the dance, Rosie has sex with Greg, but the condom slips off inside her. Rosie aspires to one day run her own hotel, inspired by her father who works in a hotel as a valet, so applies and gets accepted to a

hotel management A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to: management of hotel staff, ...

course at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. 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, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

to help take care of her. After he leaves for the United States, she gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Katie. Alex learns of Rosie's pregnancy from Bethany, after Rosie runs into her with Katie, and becomes the godfather. Five years later, Rosie visits Alex in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and they spend the night talking and visiting places. The following morning, she discovers that his girlfriend, Sally, is pregnant. She criticizes Alex's living situation and tries to discuss it with him but he rebuffs her, saying that at least their child will have both parents. Rosie leaves Boston infuriated. She reconciles with Greg, who had initially fled to

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

upon learning of her pregnancy, and they marry in 2009. Later, Rosie learns that Alex split from Sally after discovering that the baby was not his. She bumps into Bethany, now a famous model, and suggests that she look up Alex on an upcoming trip to the US. Five years later, Rosie's father dies from a heart attack whilst on vacation with Rosie's mother. Alex attends the funeral and reconciles with Rosie. Meanwhile, Greg gets drunk and causes a scene. This 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 her. Later, Rosie discovers that Greg is cheating on her and kicks him out. While disposing of his things, she finds Alex's letter. She calls him, but discovers that Bethany is living with him now and they 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 due to weather interrupting flights. At the reception, she gives a speech, telling Alex that she will always love him, as a friend. Katie brings her best friend Toby with her to the wedding. Their friendship is reminiscent of Rosie and Alex's when they were children. During a dance, Toby kisses Katie, who pushes him away and runs outside. Rosie and Alex follow to comfort her. He says she might regret pushing him away, and Toby might never recover and never find someone to replace her. Toby then finds Katie and apologizes for what he did. As he asks her to forget what just happened, Katie kisses him. In that moment, Alex learns that Rosie does not remember the kiss that they shared on her eighteenth 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 fulfills her ambition of starting her own hotel. Alex is her second guest. When he arrives, Alex reveals that he ended his marriage with Bethany, and shares with her a recurring dream he has had about the two of them being together. Rosie and Alex then kiss.

Production

Filming began in May 2013 in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

before moving to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

Howth Howth ( ; ; ) is a peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, 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 the ...

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 title 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 on ...

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 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 as Gary Dunne

Reception

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

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, 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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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 was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' 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

* {{Authority control 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 produced by Robert Kulzer 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 English-language romantic comedy-drama films