Movie · 2014 · Romance, Drama, Comedy · 1h 42m · R · English
Curator score: 4.1/10 (778.3K ratings)
Right love. Wrong time.
Overview
Since the moment they met at age 5, Rosie and Alex have been best friends, facing the highs and lows of growing up side by side. A fleeting shared moment, one missed opportunity, and the decisions that follow send their lives in completely different directions. As each navigates the complexities of life, love, and everything in between, they always find their way back to each other - but is it just friendship, or something more?
Ratings
Curator score: 4.1/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.65/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 32%
Metacritic: 44
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Christian Ditter
Production
Constantin Film, Canyon Creek Films
Cast
Lily Collins, Sam Claflin, Christian Cooke, Tamsin Egerton, Suki Waterhouse, Jaime Winstone, Art Parkinson, Jamie Beamish, Lorcan Cranitch, Ger Ryan, Lily Laight, Rosa Molloy, Sadhbh Malin, Nick Lee, Ciaran McGlynn, Jusin Holmes, Max Cleary, Aaron Kinsella, Lara McDonnell, Beau Rose Garratt
Where to watch
Starz, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, bittersweet friends-to-lovers romance with strong chemistry and a few genuinely painful emotional beats, but it also leans hard on missed-connections melodrama and familiar rom-com contrivances. If you enjoy yearning, long-term pining, and a story built around timing and life choices, it works; if you want sharper writing or less frustration, it may test your patience.
Best for
fans of friends-to-lovers romances
viewers who like bittersweet, emotional relationship dramas
audiences who enjoy long-term pining and missed chances
people looking for an easy, comforting romance with some heartbreak
Skip if
you dislike contrived misunderstandings
you want a more original or tightly written romance
you get frustrated by characters not saying what they mean
you prefer romance with less melodrama
Overview
Love, Rosie is built on chemistry and timing, and when it clicks, it really clicks. The film understands the ache of loving someone for years while life keeps getting in the way, and it finds a few memorable emotional punches in the process. The best moments are the ones that make the friendship feel lived-in and specific rather than merely functional to the plot.
Worth noting
That said, the movie is also very committed to the mechanics of delay. It stretches misunderstandings and bad timing into a full life pattern, which can be touching in theory and exasperating in practice. Some viewers will read that as romantic inevitability; others will see a stack of avoidable problems.
Bottom line
As a glossy, accessible romance, it lands more often than it misses. It is not especially subtle, but it is sincere, and for the right audience that sincerity goes a long way.
Top Letterboxd reviews
elle (3.5★) · 11539 likes
The scene where Alex texts Rosie saying he didn’t want to be a Dad anyway and then it shows the fully decorated baby’s room is the actual most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen in my life
ben wyatt human disaster (3.5★) · 10025 likes
can they just say they love each other before i throw myself out the fucking window
giovana :) (4★) · 7502 likes
WHAT HAPPENED TO HER TWO YOUNGER BROTHERS, WHO WERE TALKING TO HER STOMACH/BABY AND SAYING THAT BEING A WOMAN IS HARD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE AND THEN NEVER AGAIN WERE SHOWN IN THE GODDAMN MOVIE GIMME ANSWERS, NOW
chloe 💓 (4★) · 6520 likes
take a shot every time i watch a movie that makes me want a boyfriend and then proceed to do absolutely nothing to get one
aliyah (5★) · 6331 likes
not to be dramatic but no one in the entire history of the universe will ever be able to reach the level of best friends to lovers excellence that rosie dunne and alex stewart have