At The Movies: One True Loves is a love tug-of-war that puts viewers on the losing side

Phillipa Soo and Simu Liu in One True Loves. PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION
Phillipa Soo and Simu Liu in One True Loves. PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION

One True Loves (PG)

100 minutes, opens on Thursday

2 stars

The story: Jesse (Luke Bracey) is a journalist who lives to visit dangerous places. He and Emma (Phillipa Soo) marry, but soon afterwards, he disappears in a helicopter crash over the ocean. Emma never makes a full emotional recovery, but some years later, a chance encounter with her childhood friend Sam (Simu Liu) offers her a chance to talk to someone who will help her get over Jesse’s disappearance. They fall in love, but news arrives: Jesse has been found alive. Based on the 2016 romance novel of the same title by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Rating creative works by their “cringe factor” is immature and click-baity, but in rare cases as in this film, the cringe count had to be deployed. And it is impressive. This reviewer lost count after five scenes in which the dialogue, editing or acting triggered a bolt of second-hand embarrassment to shoot through the body.

With One True Loves, moviegoers can assure those worrying about Liu ditching his Marvel superhero role of Shang-Chi because his Sam will make him an in-demand romantic lead. Sam’s absence of chemistry with Soo’s Emma is one problem, but the bigger one is Liu’s inability to convey emotional shade with his face and body.

That is not to say that Bracey is much better. His line delivery is more polished than Liu’s, but the dialogue and editing are the bigger roadblocks.

Jesse’s declarations of love for both Emma and for dangerous activities sound like a Muppet Show parody of a television soap: It is in the vein of “I love you – but I love rock-climbing too”.

The cuts back and forth in time, showing Happy Emma and Downcast Emma, and the revelations about Jesse’s whereabouts, work in tandem with the dialogue to make one ask: “Did no one at the studio vet this before it got out?”

Hot take: This story of a woman caught in a love tug-of-war between two steamy, dreamy men needs a lot more going for it to appeal to those who are not fans of the book.

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