Film Review – Love Again (2023)

Writer/director Jim Strouse made a positive impression with his last two features, guiding 2015’s “People Places Things” and 2017’s “The Incredible Jessica James” to big hearts and sizable laughs, positioning him as a helmer to watch, especially with smaller, more human tales of love and confusion. However, indie film work has its professional limitations, with Strouse trying on a studio project for size with “Love Again,” which is a remake of a 2016 German picture, detailing the experiences of two strangers who find each other through text-based confessions, leading to a romance that’s built on a big issue of trust. “Love Again” isn’t an event movie, but it does have some scale thanks to a supporting turn from Celine Dion, and the material plays to Strouse’s strengths with its presentation of wounded souls. Typical romantic comedy shallowness isn’t completely avoided, but the material makes a serviceable attempt to highlight human concerns, and chemistry with leads Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan is pleasant enough to lift the endeavor up when it needs it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com