Love, Rosie

Going into this movie, I was really thinking that this would just appeal to tween girls who would giggle the whole way through and whisper to each other about how cute they thought whichever actor was. However, I'm not sure a lot of those girls would be able to relate to teen pregnancy, getting divorced or opening their own business.

Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) have been close friends their entire lives and they plan to go off to university in Boston together. After Rosie gets pregnant at the school dance, life turns out differently than the two had planned. Rosie raises her daughter Katie (Lily Laight) with her friend Ruby (Jaime Winstone), while Alex has a series of relationships in America.

This movie is perfectly cast. Both Collins and Claflin, 25 and 28 respectively, are at the right ages to play two people in their late teens to late twenties. You'd be amazed at how effective a haircut and a little bit of make-up is at ageing people. Despite this fact, the timeline of this movie can be a bit confusing. It starts with Rosie's 18th birthday and at appropriate times we get a title card saying five years later, but between those title cards, there is no way of knowing how much time has passed. This results in an ending where you can only guess how old the characters are.

The film is filled with some great comedic moments, mostly from Ruby and Alex's friend Phil (Jamie Beamish), who both give hilarious insights into the moments taking place. This comedy is at times punctuated by a great soundtrack, which is heavy on the Lily Allen.

All of the performances are solid. Both Collins and Claflin really let you understand the emotions that their characters are feeling and they have an amazing chemistry. Again, Jaime Winstone is hilarious and loveable as Ruby and I feel that if she was in the movie a tiny bit more, she would have stolen the show. Christian Cooke plays Greg, the father of Rosie's daughter, and despite the fact that he was an unlikeable character, I found myself liking him a little, as though the character's charisma was real.

Verdict: Love, Rosie is a sweet and tender movie about how life can pass you by and all that you should take all the opportunities given to you.