I Love You Too marks a double debut; director Daina Reid’s first foray into feature films, and comedian Peter Helliar’s first film script. This Aussie romcom has its heart in the right place but unfortunately not much else. While the film has buckets of honest emotion, without firm structure and direction I Love You Too is an enjoyable but not successful look at modern relationships.
Jim (Brendan Cowell) is a man stuck in boyish ways, unable to make a commitment to his long-suffering English girlfriend, Alice (Yvonne Strahovski). When he fails to tell Alice that he loves her on a special night out, she decides to return home. In an odd twist of events Jim meets Charlie (Peter Dinklage), a man who is able to express his emotions beautifully in letters. With Charlie’s help can Jim win Alice back?
There are plenty of notable Aussie faces in this film, with Peter Helliar, Bridie Carter, Megan Gale and Steve Bisley all having supporting roles; there are also a few interesting cameos to look out for, but unfortunately for Australian Cinema it is American actor, Peter Dinklage who steals the show. He is fantastic as the droll and insightful Charlie. Whilst plenty of jokes in the film are directed towards his dwarfism, this is done in a charming enough way that his role doesn’t seem tokenistic and his character is by far the most intriguing and developed, so much so that you almost wish the film could have just focused on him.
I Love You Too suffers from both over explanation and underdevelopment, while Jim’s problems and past are laboured, Alice is a complete mystery; why did she put up with Jim for so long?, what sort of personality does she have?, why is her English accent so strange?
For a comedy there are few laugh-out-loud moments, but I Love You Too gives its audience plenty to smile at. This film shows the promise of the writer and director and is a happy reminder that Australian films don’t all have to all be bleak dramas or crime films.
2.5/5
First published in The Brag 10/05/10
