Love Again (I) (2023)
4/10
Unnecessary remake that lacks believable chemistry between the main characters.
19 May 2023
Love Again is a remake of the German film SMS für Dich. This remake is directed and part-written by People Places Things director Jim Strouse.

Mira Ray (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) tries to ease her pain after the tragic loss of her boyfriend by sending text messages to his old mobile number. Over the years alone, this mobile number has been assigned to a new user, Rob Burns (Sam Heughan), who receives all these messages.

After the many messages, Rob gets impressed by all the passion that Mira puts into her messages and thus starts to have feelings for her, despite never having met her in real life. For example, with the help of Céline Dion, he tries to win her heart about whom he has to write a piece for his work.

This film quickly comes across as a bit unbelievable thanks to all the coincidences. The comedy and drama genres don't always work well balanced next to each other either. For a better story, they could have chosen one of the genres and tried to keep the other out of the movie.

They have updated this remake appropriately by responding more to current events of how mobiles are increasingly impacting our lives with all the different apps these days.

Despite these side effects, the film unfortunately falls into the well-known clichés and situations that appear more often in other romantic films. The film has its predictable moments, which could have made for a better film with some adjustments in the story.

The story also comes across as a bit strange, because it takes place in New York, but was filmed in London. After showing some familiar images of New York, the characters still walk around areas of London. This is how it comes across as a bit strange when they talk about famous places in New York, but then walk around London. It would have been better if they had set the story themselves in London, then these strange situations would have been avoided.

The acting is also not very believable. For example, there is no real believable chemistry between the two leads, so that their relationship in the film comes across as separate or forced rather than really romantic. Sam Heughan also does not come across as credible as someone who has knowledge about music and writes pieces about it. When he has to make a piece about Céline Dion for work, he knows almost nothing about someone as famous as Céline Dion. The company he works for does not come across as credible either, because you see only three other people working in the entire film besides him. Sam Heughan also often changes accent, which only makes his character come across as extra special.

Céline Dion, who plays herself in the film in a way, comes out best in the film. It is strange that she is more concerned with the relationship of two strangers instead of dealing with her new music. The two protagonists actually have a better relationship with her than they really have with each other.
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