Relationships of Love

Authors: Masnoraffis Masdil
Location: Singapore

"Relationships of Love"

Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by Gary Ross
Original Score by Mark Isham

Principal Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio (Michael)
Ashton Kutcher (Jared)
Tobey Maguire (Peter)
Mandy Moore (Sharon)
Michelle Williams (Melissa)
Susan Sarandon (Carol)
James Marsden (Ted)
Anna Faris (Katherine)
Scott Lowell (Keith)
Andrea Bowen (young Marcia)
Jeffrey Tambor (Michelle's father)

Tagline: "Three best friends will explore the meaning of true love... in the most unexpected ways"

Synopsis: Michael (Leonardo DiCaprio), Jared (Ashton Kutcher) & Peter (Tobey Maguire) have been best friends since their teenage days. Michael is a playboy, who doesn't believe in love and relationships. Jared is in and out of relationships regularly. He's always believing that his latest girlfriend is his true love only to be dumped soon after. Peter is a quiet and romantic guy, taking his time to find out his true love. Michael and Peter is always there for Jared, who always goes into sorrow after each breakup. Michael is always cursing while Peter's consoling.

Jared has always been sharing his relationship problems with Melissa (Michelle Williams), his classmate. He finally realizes that he's falling in love with her. Unfortunately, she's already seeing someone. Broken hearted, he's conceded defeat only to be egged on by Peter to go after her. He imposes on her date with Kieth (Scott Lowell) and tries to get her to love him. Meanwhile, Carol (Susan Sarandon) has moved into Peter's neighborhood. Peter helped her to settle down in her new home. They became friends and Peter realizes he's falling for this older woman. Michael scoffs at his revelation and asks is it because she's great to have sex with. This caused Peter to be angry and a fight broke out between them. Michael, angry with Peter, decided to go to Australia to handle his father's business there. He met up with Sharon (Mandy Moore) on the plane. He had first met up with Sharon at a party a few months back where he had attempted to get to know her. That attempt only got him punched by Sharon's boyfriend (James Marsden). Even though he went out with a lot of girls in Australia, Sharon became a very good friend to him whom he can just chill out. But soon Michael is feeling something, which he has been in contempt all this while, towards Sharon. Sharon is feeling the same thing, but is caught up with her relationship with her boyfriend. Will the guys managed to get the girl of their dreams? And will the 3 friends be able to set up their differences and be reconciled again?

What the press would say:

It's been some time since there's a great movie about friendships, and this movie really handles this theme well. Leonardo Dicaprio, Ashton Kutcher & Tobey Maguire really complement each other well, which is really a good thing since they spent a lot of their scenes together. Leonardo Dicaprio plays Michael, a playboy. He doesn't really believes in love and treat girls just like playmates. He just believes in sex and nothing more. His chauvinistic character will surely cause a lot of hate in the first half of the movie. But as he grows to finally discover love, we find ourselves rooting for him to get the gal that has aroused this feeling in him. Mandy Moore handles her emotive scenes well too. A gal, who's torn between her new found love and her current boyfriend, has to decide which one to choose. Feeling indebted to the people who has brought her up, she reluctantly chooses Ted, their son, even if he's a bad-tempered guy. The scene where Michael shows up at their engagement will bring tears to all the romantics out there.

Ashton Kutcher's character, Jared, provides a lot of comic relief in the movie. As a guy who firmly believes that every gal who looks his way as his soul mate, he gets himself into the most embarassing situations sometimes. He gets criticized by Michael every time after getting dumped and sure looks pathetic at times. His scenes when he's trying to influence Keith that Melissa isn't the one for him is surely a riot. Michelle Williams performs well, given that her role is not a very large one. She provides a shoulder for Jared at the beginning of the film and her most powerful scene is when she finally confronts Jared when she finds out that he's trying to ruin her relationship with Keith.

As the most reserved of the three male characters, Tobey Maguire surely reserves commendable praise. Peter's character is really well defined and he plays the part well. The scenes when they show his little romantic sides at the beginning will surely leave the ladies watching the movie wanting him. When you see him finally blowing up at Michael for treating his real love for Carol like a joke, you almost sympathise with him. The scene where Peter is quarrelling with his mother because of Carol is also another highlight. Susan Sarandon breezes through her role, playing that of a divorced lady. When she finally finds out that Peter likes her, she takes out her frustation at him because she didn't realise that was the reason Peter was friends with her. Her final scene is pure Oscar bait, dying on the hospital bed with Peter holding her hand. When she asked Peter to promise to find someone to be his partner and telling him "I Love You...", there's not a single dry eye in the theatre. The hospital scene when the three friends finally reunited back also is a highlight of the film. Generally, very great performances from all around and a movie that will be remembered this year. I'm sure it would be up for awards this awards season.

For Your Consideration

Best Picture
Best Director: Stephen Daldry
Best Screenplay: Gary Ross
Best Original Score: Mark Isham
Best Actor: Leonardo Dicaprio
Best Supporting Actor: Tobey Maguire
Best Supporting Actor: Ashton Kutcher
Best Supporting Actress: Susan Sarandon
Best Supporting Actress: Mandy Moore
Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams
Best Editing: Hughes Winborne
Best Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto