Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Love Again Blu-ray Movie Review

Out with the old! Then bring it right back in again...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 8, 2023

Note: currently members of both the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America are on strike in an effort to receive fair compensation for their work. Anyone who enjoys the products of their labor (e.g. you and I) owe it to themselves and to the filmmaking community to become familiar with the reasons these artists are striking and the expectations they are presenting to the studios. Actors and writers, not to mention the many other talented artists and crew responsible for the production of a movie, are the backbone of the entertainment we love and discuss at length here, and they deserve the support of filmfans everywhere.

Crazy. Stupid. Love. It may not be yours but it's mine: the romantic comedy staple by which I measure all other romantic comedies. Yours may be a Golden or Silver Age classic. The Philadelphia Story or Sabrina. Roman Holiday or The Apartment. Maybe something slicker, from the '80s or 90s. Sleepless in Seattle, Say Anything, Bull Durham, Four Weddings and a Funeral. (Dave is a personal under-watched favorite.) Maybe an unexpected genre skewer most people don't consider when rattling off romcoms. Princess Bride, About a Boy, High Fidelity. Or something new, fresh off the assembly line. The Big Sick or The Worst Person in the World anyone? Whatever your personal pick might be, though, we can all come together in sweet, cinematic harmony and agree on one thing: it isn't Love Again.

What if a random text message led to the love of your life? Dealing with the loss of her fiancé, Mira Ray (Quantico's Priyanka Chopra) sends a series of romantic texts to his old cell phone number, not realizing the number has been reassigned to a new phone owned by journalist Rob Burns (Outlander's Sam Heughan). Rob is captivated by the honesty in the beautifully confessional texts. When he's tasked with writing a profile of megastar Celine Dion (playing herself in her first film role), he enlists the singer's help in figuring out how to meet Mira in person and win her heart.

Chemistry is king in the best romantic comedies and Love Again has very little, other than between, surprisingly, Heughan and a very natural Dion. But this isn't their love story. It's Mira and Rob's, and Mira and Rob hardly ignite the screen, much less believable passions. Oh they both look the romcom part. They're certainly pretty, in a roughhewn-Hollywood beauty sort of way; Heughan with his carefully manicured stubble and Chopra with her dark eyes and occasionally winsome damsel-in-emotional-distress routine. But neither lead gravitates to one another with the same heart palpitating desire as the lovestruck couples of movies like Sleepless in Seattle, from which Love Again borrows here and there. Remaking the 2016 German film, SMS für Dich, writer/director James C. Strouse (People Places Things, The Winning Season) doesn't muster much in the way of originality, nor does he really deliver the genre goods, peddling cliche and tropey-ness in place of anything more meaningful or moving.

Even Mira's grief feels painted on, despite Chopra's best efforts. Her most convincing bit comes in a quick and amusingly cringey scene with real-life husband Nick Jonas. He disappears as quickly as he appears, though, playing a toxic male punchline when he would have been better suited to being cast as Rob. Otherwise she seems a tad... adrift, whether falling in love, out of love, or wherever she lands in between. Grief can be an incredibly powerful force in film but here it's used as a cheap catalyst for something far inferior: the tried-and-true discovery of a soulmate, which smacks of pandering to Strouse's chosen genre audience rather than honoring the struggles of loss and love. Heughan, meanwhile, comes across as desperate, opportunistic and, well, creepy, grasping for the affections of a widow six months too soon. Gone is the smolder fans continue to clamor for in Outlander, replaced by the forlorn glances and dour expressions of a man drowning in sadsack sorrows. Even when Mira and Rob inevitably come together -- fate is kind, if not predictable -- they share the screen and little else. No amount of warm lighting and tight close-ups can intensify what isn't there to begin with.

Ultimately Love Again is destined to take up residence at the bottom of the Black Friday bargain bin, a hellish domain where many a tired and trite romantic comedy has gone to die. A few Celine Dion ballads and the singer's solid performance only go so far, failing to justify the rest of the film's Dion-less runtime. Would better casting salvage Love Again? It's doubtful, although it certainly wouldn't have hurt. A sharper script, fresher ideas and a better twist on old genre tricks would have gone much farther.

Love Again Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony's solid 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation doesn't disappoint, capturing the rich hues of Andrew Dunn's cinematography with ease. Detail is revealing and relatively crisp, offering refined close-ups and clean edges. Faces are particularly striking, as are shots of Mira's children's book artwork. Colors are strong but pleasant, with natural skintones and deep black levels, and contrast is spot on, boasting notable shadow delineation for such a warmly lit romcom. There also isn't anything in the way of banding, artifacting or other unsightly issues to report. The highlight of the disc, Love Again's transfer delivers.

Love Again Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Love Again's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is... fine. There's not a whole lot more to say. Dialogue is clear and grounded in a reasonably effective soundfield, although there's not much in the way of remarkable sonics in a movie full of quiet conversations and Celine Dion songs. The music sounds great at least, taking advantage of the lossless mix and adding some much-needed power to the proceedings. The rear speakers remain largely unengaging but that's hardly the fault of the track. The film's sound design is exactly what you'd expect from a run-of-the-mill genre entry, other than the occasional dash through the streets or scene in traffic, which do offer more immersive moments. Pans are smooth too, without anything in the way of distractions. It may not be all that memorable but it does a-okay with everything it's given.

Love Again Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Finding Love Again (HD, 9 minutes) - A fairly standard studio EPK featurette with Strouse and the cast discussing the characters, story and Celine Dion's involvement.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 8 minutes) - Six smartly cut deleted and extended scenes.

• Sony Previews (HD)

Love Again Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brace for title pun in 3... 2... 1... Love Again won't make anyone fall in love again with romantic comedies. *Pretentious laugh* It's derivative and unoriginal, lacking the chemistry and the laughs that are the genre's bread and butter. Chopra and Heughan fail to ignite the screen as well, as poor Celine Dion (of all people) is left to do the heavy lifting. Sony's Blu-ray release at least doesn't disappoint... if you ignore the rather barebones special features. A solid AV presentation rises to the occasion (however average that occasion might be) and will won't give genre fans anything technical to complain about. Love Again has enough to complain about on its own.