REVIEW: ‘Love Language’ Feels Authentic And Human

Love Language, directed and written by Joey Power, picks up with its lead, Louisa ‘Lou’ Klaussner (Chloë Grace Moretz, Oh. What. Fun.), as she tries to move on in life after being dumped by her fiancé. Her life takes a turn when she writes her best friend’s wedding vows, which leads to more requests for her writing services. Things look great until she’s hired to write the vows for a woman marrying her college crush. 

Writing a love story that gets messy requires a delicate level of nuance that can get lost quite easily. The lead has to make mistakes, but they can’t be too bad, or else the audience won’t be on their side anymore. The narrative has to create a situation in which a person’s fallibility explains how they stumble, without ever trying to use it to excuse the stumble. The lead needs to fall understandably and have enough strength of character to dust themselves off for the big finale. Love Language does an impressive job of walking this tightrope wonderfully. 

Every step taken along Lou’s path through the main story feels precisely planned and plotted out. As her situation evolves, the narrative provides excellent context for the choices she makes and how the emotional weight of the situation builds up. It gives her chances to make choices, both good and bad, while granting her ample space to grow within its framework. 

The writing and Moretz’s performance come together in Love Language.

Taking full advantage of the space Love Language gives its protagonist is Moretz herself. As the lead, she brings a delicate touch to the character that helps drive home her motivations and doubts about what she does. As she is invited to learn more about her latest client, Olivia (Isabel May, Scream 7), she struggles with how to handle the information she gets concerning Olivia and her fiancé, Warren (Manny Jacinto, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), Lou’s former crush. Seeing a past love right in front of her doesn’t bring out the best in her, especially as she struggles after her recent dumping. 

The writing and Moretz’s performance come together to show how tempted she is to try to use her insights selfishly, and how hard she tries not to. Several scenes make it seem like she is trying hard to drive a wedge between the happy couple, only to back off due to clear guilt over what she was about to do.

These moments of restraint help reinforce Lou’s character, even as the situation continues to snowball. While serious mistakes are eventually made, many of the circumstances that lead to them feel like they have developed against her intentions, making her lapses more understandable. 

While the core story excels at balancing its scenario, Love Language’s secondary focus is not as successful.

The final element that makes Lou a character who shines is how she faces her transgressions. Love Language doesn’t use its finely crafted scenario as an excuse for her shortcomings; rather, it follows through on the character it’s built up over its hour-and-forty-five-minute runtime by having her own up to what she’s done. From Olivia and Warren to her friends and others caught up in her emotional wake, the story demands that she face what she has done, making her all the better for it. 

While the core story excels at balancing its scenario, its secondary focus is not as successful. Just as Lou’s life takes its unexpected twist, she meets Dash (Anthony Ramos, Ironheart), an excellent, sweet, and charming person who quickly falls head over heels for her, despite her hesitancy and insistence on a “no strings attached” relationship. 

Love Language fails to make Dash a believable character.

This side of the film falls flat because it fails to make Dash believable. The time we spend with him makes him feel too good. Where the rest of the film feels measured and nuanced, Dash is just great. Ramos does a fantastic job of selling the man’s charm and sensitivity, which is all the character ever exists to be. It feels like he is there simply to make Lou look ridiculous for not being with him, rather than to be an actual character.

Love Language nails a nuanced core story that makes its protagonist flawed but never unforgivably so. Lou’s struggles, failures, and successes in the central narrative shine. It’s just too bad that the other side of the plot never manages to become more than a two-dimensional side story.

Love Language will be available in select theaters and digitally starting Friday, October 23.