One True Loves – An Over-Manufactured Romance

The major appeal for the romance film genre is how they become an escape for audiences, taking them from their realities and immersing them into the lives of their characters and love stories. However, these stories have to be grounded in some semblance of reality in order for them to work. That being said, there will always be some that will get swept away regardless. In terms of One True Loves, it is a romance film featuring three likeable enough leads with an absence of any kind of romance whatsoever. Built upon a ridiculous story not based in reality, the film essentially devolves into an overly-melodramatic mess whose terrible script and direction lead to watch that is more unintentionally funny than romantic. Never truly given a chance to get off the ground, one can’t help but feel bad for Phillipa Soo, Simu Liu, and Luke Bracey, with their thin characters, act like they are being held against their will and look lost most of the time as there is only so much they can do.

One True Loves focuses around a woman named Emma (Soo) who was faced with the impossible choice between her husband Jesse (Bracey) who unexpectedly returned in her life years after he was lost and presumed dead and her fiancé Sam (Liu) and longtime best friend who had just helped her to finally recover from the trauma what she believed was the loss of her husband. Understandably, this stirred some feelings within Emma but where the story fails is establishing the three as characters and their relationships with one another. The result of that is an incoherent story full of thin and irritating characters whose gaps are filled with tropes and cliches and are connected by derivative story beats, an overabundance of melodrama, and a cheesy score and soundtrack to manufacture emotion. Doing things that normal people wouldn’t do and saying things that normal people wouldn’t say, the film lacks even a basic level of believability to engage with in a meaningful way. Ultimately, audiences may engage with the film in unintended ways.

Without coherent character development and with the story dictated for the most part by tropes and cliches, the film offered little chance for audiences to invest emotionally in any of the characters. Emma is a dull character with no agency, Jesse is an irritating character with an inability to adjust to how Emma and the world have both changed since his return, and Sam looked lost as he was essentially left on an island to fend for himself with his own anxiety and insecurities while she wrestled with her feelings for both men. What should have been a culmination of the three characters and their relationships to that point was missing enough of an emotional impact to care. Shoehorning in shallow backstories with more tropes and cliches to create stakes for Emma’s supposed decision, it made the film a mess as the pacing was all off. In the end, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as it opts for a more superficial route on its way to what was an already predictable conclusion.

When it came to the performances, the terrible writing and direction didn’t help. Soo, Liu, and Bracey certainly tried their best but there’s only so much they can do to make it work. However, that did not stop them from looking lost while merely going through the motions and checking boxes more than creating something original and this is knowing that One True Loves was co-adapted from the book of the same name. The most lost was Liu for reasons that are mostly not his fault. Meanwhile, there was no chemistry to be had between anyone which is counterintuitive for a romance film. Overall, it was simply sad to watch them in a film that could have been so much better than it was.

At the end of the day, One True Loves is an absolute mess who over-manufactured nature ruins any potential for success. In spite of its faults, the film will inevitably find an audiences, if not for its stars. All things considered, there are countless better options out there.

still courtesy of The Avenue Entertainment

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.