Parents' Guide to The Book of Love

This slow-paced drama is about two people who are both adrift -- unfortunately, so is the film. The basic idea in The Book of Love is something we've seen many times before: A man lost to grief finds himself by helping someone who's also in need of aid. But the execution here is hackneyed and trite. Midway through the film, we can tell Henry is hurting when he starts sporting beard of a man who's let himself go. We know his wife is the one who brought a spark of joy into his life because she made him wear purple sneakers. But she's not really a fully realized character, just a plot device. And the less said about Williams' Southern accent the better, though you'll hear it a lot during her many, many cliche-filled voiceovers.

The story isn't particularly realistic or believable -- would a teenage orphan really be abandoned to live with a random, drunken friend of her dad? -- and, more importantly, it's not interesting. The big reveal at the end feels insignificant, and the uplifting ending is anti-climactic. Sudeikis especially has trouble making us care about his plight, and we never feel all that invested in any of the characters. There are far better books out there than this one.