Love Happens (2009): A Grief-Counselor Romance Set in Seattle

A self-help guru who tells strangers to face their pain, and a florist who has sworn off men: that is the pairing at the center of Love Happens, the 2009 romantic drama starring Aaron Eckhart as Dr. Burke Ryan and Jennifer Aniston as Eloise Chandler. It opened in US theaters on September 18, 2009, and it has stayed in circulation as a modest, much-argued-over date movie about grief.

Burke is a psychologist turned best-selling author. His book on coping with loss has made him a brand, and a week-long seminar in Seattle is meant to seal a lucrative multimedia deal. The trouble is that he has not dealt with his own wife’s death in a car accident three years earlier. Eloise runs a flower shop and has just split from a cheating musician boyfriend. Their courtship runs alongside the seminar, and the film’s real question is whether Burke can follow his own advice.

A first feature from a writing team

Love Happens was directed by Brandon Camp, who made it his debut as a feature director. He wrote the screenplay with his partner Mike Thompson, with whom he had earlier worked on Dragonfly. Thompson also produced, alongside Scott Stuber. The film was released by Universal Pictures in the United States, with Focus Features International handling other territories.

Seattle is more than a backdrop. The story is set there, and the production filmed in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. Screen International noted that Camp and cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards made good use of the city’s skyline. It also pointed to a few odd local touches, including a concert by the indie band Rogue Wave and a scene set at the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee.

The ensemble around the couple

The supporting cast is deeper than the romance it serves. Dan Fogler plays Lane, Burke’s manager, who is busy turning his client into a franchise. Judy Greer plays Marty, Eloise’s friend and employee. Joe Anderson plays Tyler, the rocker Eloise leaves, and Frances Conroy plays Eloise’s mother.

The strongest material belongs to the seminar. John Carroll Lynch plays Walter, a reluctant attendee who lost his son. Martin Sheen plays Burke’s former father-in-law, who turns up in Seattle and unsettles him. Screen International singled out Lynch and Sheen for strong performances and suggested the film might have worked better as an ensemble study of grief.

The sound of the film

The score is by Christopher Young, a composer better known for horror and drama. The soundtrack mixes indie acts, with Badly Drawn Boy, Priscilla Ahn, Rogue Wave, Eels, The Postal Service and Explosions in the Sky among those featured, plus John Hiatt’s “Have a Little Faith in Me.” The film was edited by Dana E. Glauberman, and Sharon Seymour was production designer.

How it was received

Critics were not kind. Rotten Tomatoes puts approval at 17 percent across 108 reviews, and Metacritic’s score is 33 out of 100 from 26 critics, which it labels “generally unfavorable.” Screen International called it attractively shot but dramatically inert. It said the courtship was fitful and that Burke and especially Eloise were under-drawn. The Times of London gave it one star out of five, calling it trite about both love and death.

There were dissenters. The Washington Times gave it three stars out of four, arguing that the two leads are likable in the frequent close-ups. Metacritic’s listing also quotes the San Francisco Chronicle saying the film delivers the pain, melodrama and redemption that fans of the genre want. That split is the film’s reputation in miniature: weak as a romance for many critics, and easier to enjoy as a grief drama with a love story attached.

Box office and afterlife

The film opened in fourth place in the US with about $8.06 million. It finished with roughly $22.9 million in the United States and Canada and about $36.1 million worldwide, against a reported budget of $18 million. Screen International had warned that the lack of a strong hook and weak word of mouth made it a risky commercial bet, though it noted there was little adult romantic competition at the time.

It reached DVD and Blu-ray on February 2, 2010, and it now lives mostly on home screens. In the US it can be rented or bought digitally from the major storefronts, and it has also turned up on subscription services such as HBO Max. Availability changes often, so check a current listing before you settle in.

Why people still look it up

Part of the pull is the casting. Eckhart, then best known for serious dramas and for The Dark Knight, plays a man whose polished public manner hides guilt. Aniston, a reliable draw in romantic comedies, gets a quieter, more guarded role. The film’s best scenes are the ones where Burke has to stop performing, and those are the ones people tend to remember.

It remains a gentle, flawed film about the gap between preaching and practicing. Viewers who want a light romance may find it heavy. Viewers who come for a story about learning to mourn out loud may find more in it than the 2009 reviews suggested.

The header image is an AI-generated illustration, not an actual photo or film still.