Review: The Book of Love
Sometimes a movie starts out terribly and gains its footing. In the case of The Book of Love, originally titled The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, the level of terribleness is admirably maintained throughout the entire film. Meant to be heartwarming, it merely comes off as a cliche-ridden, almost embarrassing bit of goop.
Henry (Jason Sudeikis), a stuffy architect working on a New Orleans waterfront restoration, suddenly finds himself adrift when his adorably kooky and pregnant wife (Jessica Biel) dies in a car crash. He spends the immediate aftermath wandering around his under-renovation house, remembering happier times with his wife, and avoiding his mother-in-law (Mary Steenburgen), who is constantly on him about completing his wife's obituary.
Things take a turn when he befriends Millie (Maisie Williams), a 16-year-old homeless girl who comes equipped with a faithful dog, an abusive and alcoholic uncle, and a dream of building a raft in order to sail to the Azores. Naturally, he becomes a father figure to Millie and she becomes both a surrogate for his wife (watching kung fu movies with him like his wife used to do) and his unborn child, that is when she's not busy going on about sea adventurers and finding your compass.
Bill Purple, who co-wrote the hoary script with Robbie Pickering, directs at a level that feels a notch above amateurish. He certainly appears to have guided his actors in giving the blandest performances of their careers. Sudeikis, in particular, has proven himself to be a very credible dramatic actor, yet here he serves as an example of a comic actor straining to be ever so serious. Biel's husband, Justin Timberlake, adds to the repellant melodrama with his cavity-inducing musical score that more than recalls George Harrison's far more plangent "Here Comes the Sun."
The Book of Love (aka The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea)
Directed by: Bill Purple
Written by: Bill Purple, Robbie Pickering
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Maisie Williams, Jessica Biel, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser, Orlando Jones
