Sundance 2012 Movie Review: The End of Love

Sometimes when a director packs his film chock full of famous celebrity buddies it doesn’t always turn out for the best. While Adam Sandler is hands down the worst offender here, it works greatly in Judd Apatow’s favor. When you’re Mark Webber, and your film is making its debut on the U.S. Dramatic ballot at the Sundance Film Festival, having some friends to help you out isn’t such a bad thing. Especially when your friends consist of Michael Cera, Jason Ritter, Amanda Seyfried, Aubrey Plaza, and Alia Shawkat. It may be called The End of Love, but it’s doubtful this would ever mark the end of Webber’s career.

Writer/director Webber plays a fictionalized version of himself (along with the rest of the cast), who is an aspiring actor. He also doesn’t seem to have that great of luck in Hollywood. He lives in a spare room at his friend’s house on a mattress he shares with his two-year-old son, Isaac (Webber’s real life son). Being a single parent is hard enough, I’m sure it’s a whole other story when you have to tote your child along to auditions. They visit what at first Isaac calls a park with lots of flowers. He’s obviously too young to understand that they’re visiting a cemetery. Mark’s wife (in the film) has passed away and we’re not told why. Meanwhile, as Mark and Isaac are out running errands, they twice run into a beautiful mystery girl. When they eventually run into her at the playland she owns, he finally introduces himself to Lydia (Shannyn Sossamon).

After Mark finds out his car has been towed he asks Lydia if the two of them can have a ride home. After exchanging numbers, Mark and Isaac go to Lydia’s house for a playdate as she has a daughter of her own. While the kids may be getting along, things take a turn for the premature and Mark is out of there. When he receives a call from Cera that he’s having a celebrity filled game night at his house, Mark looks on Craigslist for a sitter for Isaac in hopes of finding some escape — if just for one night. When he tries to hook up at the party with an old friend, Jocelin (Jocelin Donahue), she learns he has a son and becomes uncomfortable. When he wakes up the next morning after passing out in Cera’s bed, he starts coming to terms with having to face the challenge of growing up and facing his wife’s death.

Article Author: Cinenerd

A Utah based writer, born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT for better and worse. Cinenerd has had an obsession with film his entire life, finally able to write about them since 2009, and the only thing he loves more are his wife and their two wiener dogs (Beatrix Kiddo and Pixar Animation). …

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