The One I Love (2014)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

6.5, so above average. I'd recommend never reading the reviews for this movie before you watch it. I barely read the description, because I was told "the less you know, the better", and it's extremely important for this movie. I think it'll even be boring upon a second watch, now that I don't have to think and guess as I had upon the first. So, major spoilers. You have been warned. I have many complaints and many great things to say about this movie, but like the miserable couple in it, I will focus on the bad parts. So, what I gather from the premise is, there are always one couple in the house/quest house that can't leave, because their relationship is not strong enough. And, when some new couple come visit,(guided by some psychopath Doctor Who-ish therapist) the trapped couple tries to switch places with them. They do so, by taking on an idealized form of the new couple, the female seducing the male and so on... And then, when the new couple's relationship is weakened because the trapped couple's fake personalities appears to be so much more awesome than their partner's, the trapped couple can leave, making the "new" couple become the trapped ones instead. This left so many questions, that will frustratingly never be answered. 1) How do the trapped couple shape shift into the idealized forms of the other couple? Is it magic? Quantum mechanics? I don't know, and neither does the movie. 2) So at the end, the male lead realizes that he has escaped with the idealized version of Moss by mistake. He decides to just roll with it, since his original wife coldly and knowingly decided to stay with his fake version - I totally get that. What I don't get is the fake Moss-character's decision to stay with him after she escaped. What's in it for her? She must've gone insane trying to keep up the idealized act forever, given that she is also a real person, who had another life before.3) Related to the one above, are the shape shifting permanent? Do they have permanent fake personalities as well, never being able to reclaim the life they had before? Are they forced to do this, simply because they wanted a better relationship?! 4) What point is the therapist trying to make? After all, all of the couples entering the house/guest house, will have their relationship destroyed, and then be forced to shape shift into a stranger's idea of perfection. They don't get anything fixed, only cruel punishment awaits.Some people say this movie would've been better as a short. I say this movie would've been better as a horror. It was, in fact, recommended to me, because I was searching for a scary movie(damn you, Metafilter, and your ever so tame idea of "scary stuff"). I'll never forget the creeped out feeling I got when I saw Kate Moss holding a babushka, realizing that this would be about doppelgängers, but sadly not knowing that it was intended to be a drama-mystery- comedy. Thus, I sat there waiting in glee for some revelation of the terrible creatures behind the perfect facades, or some build-up to an incredibly freaky psychological horror. They could've done so much with this! I wish they were aliens or something, with a slow, scary revelation of creepy habits, that would make the couple regret their decisions. Or maybe they could've just played around with the surreal feeling of being with your partner, but not really, and the surreal states and psychology that follows living with a fantastic being, that knows it's not real. Yet the simple concept of the movie stayed as minimalist as it was when it begun. Shame.And one last thing. The Kate Moss-character was surprisingly, well, stupid - the fact that she turned out to be "right" in the end didn't prevent me from strongly disliking her, in all her "but if it feeeeels right"- pretensions. I actually thought what she did was worse than the male character cheating, but most of all, I just couldn't connect with her. She lacked both curiosity and fear in a way I found unbelievable, and I actually understood her shape shifter-version much better.

OK let's start this review with the fact that I strenuously avoid ANY film or book with the word 'Love' in it. The prospect of watching 1.5 hours of a Romcom fills me with dread and I always tell my wife should she feel the need to watch one to do so during the day when I am at work or out fishing...... ......however....I have no idea how I started watching this film but within 15 minutes was pretty much fascinated by the plot. Ignore the title folks - it's just a reference to the song used at the end.There are lots of reviews on here who say they won't ruin the end but I pride myself on guessing cunning and twisting ends and didn't let myself down with this one. But and it's a big BUT I had no idea what was going on up to that point. I'm not going to give you any of that quasi-intellectual pretentious claptrap that all the wannabe frustrated, film critics in here spout on about such as script structure, lighting and camera angles (blah blah blah) I'm simply going to say -Just watch it. I wager 30 minutes into it you stay until the end. A very clever and convincing film. I can't believe so few have actually seen it.

First the good news. Apparently this movie was made on a budget of $100K, which is an impressive achievement in any language, regardless of the merit of the result. Bravo for that. But ultimately I have to rate this on whether I think it was a good choice on which to spend my hard earned money and while I wish I could say it was unfortunately it was not. The first sign of trouble came even before watching it when I found one review referred to it as a "psychological thriller" while another referred to it as a "rom-com". While movies don't have to fall into a category it is a worry when 2 categorisation attempts yield such extreme bi-polar opinions.In my opinion this movie is neither psychological, thrilling, romantic or in the least bit funny. I would say its category, if it must have one, is "wannabe quirky". "Quirky" is difficult to pull off, it can be extremely good, as in say the prototype quirky movie Amelie, or a complete failure, as in this one. This movie had some interesting ideas but fails to capitalise on them. Probably the major problem is the "characters", and I use that word generously. The "real" Ethan and Sophie are people of no redeeming features or interest – I could not care less about them as individuals let alone care about them as a couple. I would describe them as "Woody Allen" characters, boring, rich, superficial, shallow people who have ridiculous, unrealistic conversations. Hard to believe but the "other" Ethan and Sophie are even worse – urgh – although they had no reason to be. OK, this is not a sin but even in rom-coms, there is a character arc that attempts to change the obnoxious characters at the start of the movie into something nice by the end. These people start as boring strangers and end up as boring strangers. I don' have a problem with the whole concept of doppelgangers, my mind is capable of making that transition and suspension of logic. So I didn't need the attempts to explain how and why the doppelgangers got there just as I didn't need to be given a proof for alien life to enjoy ET. The actors have a thankless task. They are probably fine actors but how can anyone portray a character that does not have any depth, with any depth? It might have been possible to give the two dimensional characters some warmth, and there were plenty of opportunities for humour, which were duly missed. Perhaps that random comment about aardvarks was supposed to be funny? Well it wasn't, it was forced and cringe worthy. Was anyone surprised, or amused, by the so-called twist at the end? That was obvious about as soon as the doppelgangers arrived. To be honest I didn't understand the point of the doppelgangers – I gather they were supposed to give the real Ethan and Sophie an insight into what they used to be, or could be, but frankly I couldn't care enough to even think about that. And if their aim was to reconcile the real couple, why have the ending make this goal fail? But really I don't care about that either. And what exactly was the point of the therapist and the piano? So two people are supposed to strike random keys in harmony? What an absurd idea and how irrelevant to the "plot".Technically the movie is all it needs to be – which isn't much – lots of interior shots competently enough done.All in all a disappointing execution of what could have been an interesting premise.

A nice poster, a terrible title, some actors I vaguely recognize who might be good, some good reviews, some bad reviews and a plot that would be reminiscent of the work of Spike Jonze. Well, okay, I'm game.The plot is nicely proportioned within the full length of the movie, though the twists and turns only come júst in time here and there. One could try to get lost in the sci-fi or fantasy (or something else? religious, even?) details of the story, but actually, it all seems pretty clearcut to me. Or worse, at the end of the film I didn't really care that much. The overly fabricated plot reminded me a bit of 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind', but that film has pizazz (no, not pizzas), great acting and... well, pizazz! Not that I totally disliked this attempt at romantic originality, but it was all a bit bland and aloof. The biggest, most obvious fail was Ethan1 crying out in the end how much he loved them being such romantic screw ups (or words to that extent)...... really?5 out of 10.