Book of Love: Surprisingly Enjoyable

This Valentine Days, Honey and I were looking for a rom-com. We fell upon Book of Love. I was expecting an overly cheesy movie, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

Henry Copper (not Cooper!) is a failed author. His most recent novel is so unpopular that the local bookstore has a "buy 1 get 3 free" offer. Well, he's not a complete failure: his book is a total success in Mexico. So his publisher insists that he tours the country (even though he doesn't speak Spanish) to pump up sales. He quickly realizes that this book isn't really his...

As a rom-com, the movie is predictable: two strangers fall in love, they love-hate each other, the overly flamboyant gay acquaintance etc. But how they get there isn't as Hollydoowdesque as usual. Right at the airport, we see a poster of Henry's book and notice that it doesn't look like the boring and wordy book he originally wrote. At the first stop of the tour, that's when he realizes that his book has become a trashy romance novel. And it's become so popular that his editor wants that version to be retranslated to English with another racy cover.

I think I enjoy that movie because of my knowledge of Hispanic culture. I don't know if it was meant to be serious, but the romance triangle is played like a novela, i.e. a soap opera. It gets over-the-top at the end - and even the groupies say it out loud - which makes it even funnier.

In short, this rom-com is worth the detour. The romance is slow to build up to keep things interesting, the very premise is quite original for the genre and the evolution of the characters is interesting. Maria's boyfriend could have gotten a little more development, but it's otherwise a good movie

Final rating: 3.8/5 (I have overtly flamboyance)