The “Book of Love,” released Feb. 4, 2022, follows an uptight aspiring author Henry Copper (Sam Claflin), whose book meets no success in the United States, but unexpectedly becomes a No.1 seller in Mexico. When Copper arrives in Mexico, he is greeted by his Spanish translator Maria Rodrigez (Verónica Echegui) where it is revealed that she transformed Copper’s book from plain and boring into something more erotic which causes a lot of tension between the two. As we follow the pair we see them go from having a strong distance from each other to developing a strong relationship by the end of the movie.
This story has so much potential behind it, but it continuously falls flat. The very first scene leaves a terrible impression with our main character being extremely awkward and makes you not want to continue watching. For the first half of the movie, we have this constant back and forth between Rodrigez and Copper about whether Rodrigez ruined the book or made it better. Rodrigez is very headstrong, and she can not admit she is wrong for changing Copper’s book, while Copper can not accept the fact that he’s better off with the changes. It’s the classic enemy-to-lovers trope plus a million other overly done cliches that fill this movie to the brim. The entire watching experience is bland with choppy pacing. I can not completely blame this on the actors because it just feels like the writing is just terribly bad and uninspired. There’s an extreme lack of chemistry between our two main characters and while the movie is almost two hours long there’s absolutely no build-up to the romance. While this movie does have a never-ending amount of flaws, I must admit that the scenery of Mexico is beautiful, and getting to see the culture made the movie much more enjoyable. The scene of winding roads through rural areas overflowing with trees and wildlife is a nice contrast from movies that usually have this mundane plotline. I wish there was more to say about this movie but at the end of the day, it just feels like a cash grab with a few notable names that was rushed out because valentines day is right around the corner.
