MovieChat Forums > Love, Rosie (2014) Discussion > awful book to movie adaptation

awful book to movie adaptation

posted 10 years ago by cerith_xx
11 replies | jump to latest

i loved this book so much and had been waiting a few years for this movie. Lily Collins and Sam Claflin are the perfect Rosie and Alex but the screenplay is just so poorly written. I get that you can't fit the full 45 year span and that's fine but they did not even include them as being childhood friends.

If you hadn't read the book, you would have no idea why them not being together was such a huge deal and not just some sexual tension that they had in high school. Then you're briefly shown Rosie's daughter and her best friend and since they did not show Rosie and Alex as kids (even though they do in the trailer) it has no real significance. In a later scene, they do parallel it but it was so obvious that it just came off as bad writing.

Really you just were not given enough time to truly care about Rosie and Alex's friendship and that's really where the movie failed. I now understand why it was pushed back so many times and was not given a wide release. I rented it on iTunes and would have been annoyed if I had paid to see it in theaters

[–] pat-394 10 years ago

It was never going to make the transition from book to film very well.

The novel was entirely a collection of messages exchanged between the two and the peripheral characters, apart from the end.

There's also the time factor, having them not end up together till their 50's was never going to work on the big screen.

Lots of liberties taken with the source material, but it wasn't that bad.

Besides, I just got to gaze slack-jawed at Lily Collins beauty for an hour and 45 minutes. Money well spent imho :)

[–] MissFortuneCookie 10 years ago

I think aging them into their 50s would still work well as long as they picked the right actors for that age range. But the movie was adorable nonetheless.

[–] cerith_xx 10 years ago

Yeah they could have but I preferred them getting together in their 30s rather than at 50. That was the depressing part of the book. The movie was very cute but I just felt like they could've kept a few storylines. Like the relationship between Alex and Katie, etc.

[–] barronsteve80 10 years ago

All it took was "so they couldn't possibly be right for one another...or could they?" to make me hate this. 

[–] www-dragoona05 10 years ago

I have to agree...I've been waiting months for this to come to the US and after watching it today, it's such a big let down. It's a cute movie overall but I guess if you've read the book like I did, it's really no comparison. I definitely agree that a huge mistake was leaving out their childhood friendship. That's what makes it all the more sweeter in the end.

[–] modelajb 10 years ago

I have to agree. The movie is cute, but it's nothing compared to the book. I wish the could have shown them as kids and focused more on the notes the wrote back and forth over time with the changing technology. I also wish it could have had the scene with them meeting on the steps at the end.

[–] Scaar_Alexander 10 years ago

I haven't read the book, but it isn't hard to believe that it's good. The idea isn't very original, but a talented writer can do wonders with it.

And THAT is the problem of that movie... it has one of the weakest writings I've seen in a long time. The first twenty minutes, before the main character gets pregnant, are okay. Beyond that, everything's just either awfully predictable, or inhumanly dumb. It has no life, the characters are unbelievable clichés, everything sounds fake, from their identities to their interactions. Of course, the movie has pretty visuals, and the directing has its moments, but it's waaaayyyy not good enough. And the childish soundtrack doesn't help. I give it a 4.

Why a 4, and not a 1 or a 2 ? Two words : Lily Collins. She's radiant in it. She's not only spectacularly gorgeous, she's also very convincing, and at times moving, despite the horrible writing. Sam Claflin isn't a bad actor, he has potential, but he doesn't survive the horror. She's the only thing that keeps the movie from falling into oblivion.

___________
"If it's any consolation, fish aren't never even really alive. They're just less dead."

[–] ThatDoesntMatter 10 years ago

Dissenting voice here - I am SO glad they changed the book, that was one of the most depressing reads I ever had (a friend lent it to me and I felt obliged to read it...).

Due to the different title I didn't even know it was based on the book until about 2 minutes in, lol.

Anyway, I STILL think the story is a bit too overcomplicated, but like this they get a happy life together, geez!
The leads were gorgeous and made watching the film MUCH more worthwhile than reading the book...

Again, that's just me probably, I am just not a Cecilia Ahern fan I guess...

[–] deanimals83 8 years ago

I agree. I did try to watch it from the point of view of someone who hadn't read the book too. I haven't read it in a few years. It just felt wrong. There wasn't enough back story at all. Then having read the book, OMG!! Just wrong. Very very wrong. Combining charaters, Greg/Brian, really, no that confused me and having it in England, fine, that didn't but me as much but Alex not moving to the states, that was a major milestone in the book and come on, the condom thing, does that actually happen? I just watched it on amazon because it showed up on my list and I had been avoiding it because movie from book adaptions just normally are terrible from what I have seen but this definitely ranks in my top 5 worst movies from books adaptions. period.

[–] mr_bennett 8 years ago

At the end of your comment you used a full stop, then a period and then a full stop. Why?

[–] Prelude-in-C-maj 8 years ago

I haven't read the book and just watched this when it came up on TV, as light distraction. It was infuriating!

The number of times both of these dolts had an opening to SAY SOMETHING and change the course of their lives, but didn't, just pissed me off.

Having said that, this stuff doesn't actually work in real life anyway. If you are having such a hard time getting together or being together, it really was never going to work anyway, or it would already be in progress, job done.

Awful, foolish movie about awful, foolish choices.