Click to read the article
Book of Love (2004)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:4
Fresh:1
Rotten:3
Average Rating:N/A
Runtime: 83 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: If you miss the moody brilliance of a story told with a stolen glance or a telling smile, Alan Brown's "Book of Love" is for you. Setting his sights on the vulnerable heart of contemporary... If you miss the moody brilliance of a story told with a stolen glance or a telling smile, Alan Brown's "Book of Love" is for you. Setting his sights on the vulnerable heart of contemporary middle-class America, Brown unspools a seductive tale of the choices we make in daily life and the weight of their consequences. Elaine (Frances O'Connor) and David (Simon Baker) are on the verge of marital complacency, that state of submissive acceptance of who they are and how marriage is. Then they meet Chet (Gregory Smith), a 15-year-old employee at the local ice cream store who is full of youthful energy and hungry to live life to its fullest. An instant bond forms when Elaine and David welcome Chet into their lives as a surrogate child. But trouble arises when a momentary lapse of restraint threatens to rupture the core of the trio's seemingly idyllic lives. A year after having his short, O beautiful, in the Sundance Film Festival, Brown returns with a delicate story charged with emotion that refreshingly refrains from taking a moral stance. The depth of character development, shadowed by the ambiguity of blame, leaves the viewer's sense of values shaken. O'Connor's portrayal vibrates with tangible feeling, while Baker undergoes an intricately textured, unraveling transformation. Book of Love will make you reflect on what is versus what should be, and the split-second decisions separating the two. -- Official Site [More]
Starring: Frances O'Connor, Simon Baker, Gregory Smith, Bryce Dallas Howard
Starring: Frances O'Connor, Simon Baker, Gregory Smith, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ari Graynor, Joanna P. Adler
Director: Alan Brown
Director: Alan Brown
Screenwriter: Alan Brown
Producer: Robert Ahrens
Composer: Stewart Wallace
Reviews for Book of Love
Wait: When you sleep with a teenager that could have an impact on your marriage?
Upsetting and bleak; a meditative exercise in ice cream, marital infidelity, DisneyWorld, statutory rape, and the Khmer Rouge.
So thick with a contrived laughability that your only recourse is to start believing that you’re watching a comedy.
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 67% 67% | Public Enemies |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 95% 95% | The Cove |
| 85% 85% | World's Greatest Dad |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Book of Love at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

