BOOK OF LOVE

(director/writer: Analeine Cal y Mayor; screenwriter: David Quantick; cinematographer: Gerardo Barroso; editors: Mark Thornton/ Berny McGurk; music:Ian Livingstone; cast: Sam Claflin (Henry Cooper), Verónica Echegui (Maria), Lucy Punch (Jen Spencer), Fernando Becerill (Max Rodríguez), Edwarda Gurrola (Verónica), Ruy Gaytan (Diego), Horacio Villalobos (Pedro); Runtime: 106; MPAA Rating: NR; producers; Michael Knowles, Naysun Alae-Carew, Allan Niblo, Nick Spicer, Maxime Cottray, Matt Williams, Richard Alan Reid: Amazon Prime; 2022-Mexico/UK)

“A piece of fluff.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A charm-filled predictable and uneven mainstream romcom that has its virtues despite its faults. It’s directed and written by Mexican filmmaker Analeine Cal y Mayor (“The Boy Who Smells Like Fish”/”Treading Water”). She co-writes it with the novelist David Quantick.

Henry Cooper (Sam Claflin) is an uptight Brit novelist whose latest novel is a bomb. It’s called The Sensible Heart – a sexless and weak romance novel with little appeal. He’s on a Mexican book tour because his Brit agent (Lucy Punch) tells him sales are good in Mexico. He’s teamed with his book translator Maria (Verónica Echegui), a single mom and an aspiring novelist. Rather than just translate it, she rewrote it to be sexually hot instead of dry like the original.

Before I can warm up to the situation, the the buttoned-up Englishman and the sexy Mexican translator have become lovers. It happens so fast that I must have missed the love connection they made.

It’s a piece of fluff that made little sense, whose liveliest moments are the travelogue ones. The director in a strained way pushes together the romantic leads without them having any chemistry together.

REVIEWED ON 3/16/2022  GRADE: C+