Release: Now showing
Duration: 107 minutes
Rating: PG (sexual references and coarse language)

All of the marketing involved with promoting this film would have you believe that you are watching a comedy, a romantic one at that – but do not be fooled for I Love You Too- directed by television director Daina Reid and written by lightweight local comic Pete Helliar- is a typical Australian drama posing as a comedy.

Let me explain.

Interviews posit that I Love You Too (not to be confused with I Love You, Man, I Love You Beth Cooper, P.S. I Love You and the upcoming I Love You Phillip Morris) cleverly inverts the usual boys-meets-girl-they-get-together-at-end formula by having Jim (Brendan Cowell) and Alice (Yvonne Strahovski) meet at the beginning and jumping instantly to three years later. They're living together in a granny flat at the back of his sister Marie (Bridie Carter) and her husband Owen's (Travis McMahon) place. Jim works at a miniature railway and needs to grow up, we're told. Alice is a career woman on the go. Jim hangs around with his best friend Blake (Helliar), a genuine creep, for some reason.

But Jim has a problem – he can't say “I love you” to Alice who, after three years, is kinda expecting it. They break up. Taking the only reasonable action, Jim steals the personal property of dwarf Charlie (Peter Dinklage) to bribe him into helping him win Alice back.

But how is this an Australian drama?

Firstly, there's almost a complete lack of humour. It's not that the jokes aren't there, they are. But they're just not funny. The session I went to played out in almost complete silence. The two jokes that made me laugh the most pop culture asides related to Charlie (which doesn't say a lot).

What makes it a drama are characters and their relation to each other. Every character is miserable. Marie spends the entire film with her hair tied back (she's serious and motherly, you see) crying into mirrors while Owen asks if she's alright to her back. Alice stares out windows crying. Jim stares out windows being sad. Charlie is sad about his dead wife. The only character who isn't sad is Blake, but- since we are not charmed by his creepy womanising- it is difficult to invest in his characterisation.

Story holes abound. Jim initially meets Charlie after Jim drunkenly tries to steal his car one night. It's never explained how Jim opened the door, or even turned on the engine, but he does. Charlie then invites Jim in for coffee – which is how you treat car thieves, apparently. It's then revealed that Jim has stolen a letter from Charlie and uses it to bribe him into helping Jim win back Alice, immediately dissipating any sympathy you had for Jim. He's just a jerk. How does he engender so much empathy from people?

As for the reason why Jim is unable to tell Alice “I love you”, well, barf.

The main problem is Helliar doesn't feel like he's writing from a place of honesty. Most plot points seem ripped off (from Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! right through to Gladiator) and the characters' emotions feel like what Helliar thinks they're supposed to feel as opposed to what a real person would feel. They're shallow versions of people, as if Helliar learned about human nature by watching sitcoms.

Ultimately, there's little to recommend in I Love You Too expect a depressing time and few laughs. Mostly it just feels like a Bryan Adams song. Familiar. Comfortable. Chicks might dig it. But you've forgotten it the moment it stops playing.

John Potter

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