Love the Way U Lie: Movie Review

Even with its unfortunately bad title, "Love the Way U Lie" was actually good. While it's rather formulaic and predictable as expected, the way it handled the concept of moving on was light-hearted enough that any deficiencies are quite forgivable. "Love the Way U Lie" won't blow people's minds away but it will give you a hearty laugh and a hearty time.

A young pretend-to-be psychic, Stacey (Alex Gonzaga) has sacrificed her own happiness to support her whole family when her mother died. But when she accidentally meets a handsome man named Nathan (Xian Lim), she instantly falls head over heels. But Nathan has his own problems unable to move on from the death of his wife Sara (Kylie Versoza) exactly a year ago. As fate would have it, Stacey is able to hear Sara's whispers to her - suddenly having a "third ear". Sara reveals that she wants Nathan to move on with the help of Stacey. Stacey must now balance her agreement with Sara and her own desires towards Nathan.

The best thing about "Love the Way U Lie" is that it never takes it subject matter too seriously. The film won't feel toxic or heavy - which we have to admit affected its dramatic impact. But this is a romance comedy at its core and the film had a solid serving of comedic flair that made sure this was a funny and fun experience from start to finish. Most of the comedy was brought in by Alex Gonzaga but the supporting cast did not disappoint especially Chad Kinis and Kim Molina. Acting-wise, the film provided mixed results from its leads with most of the problems coming from the stifled performance of Xian Lim - which we have to admit also affected the chemistry between Alex Gonzaga and him. Narratively, the film had some issues with its development and pacing. Specifically on how the character of Stacey suddenly falls in love with Nathan out of the blue. The film provided just a few scenes to develop this deep love and we had a hard time actually comprehending and accepting it. The story itself was also predictable and provided nothing new. It's mostly the same ebb and flow from any romance comedy film so expect the expected here but it did bring in some topics on familial sacrifice, moving on, and the sincerity of someone's intentions that gave some additional depth into its narrative and characters. Overall, we're actually quite surprised with how this turned out to be. It was normal and typical and had some issues but we cannot deny that we had a great time laughing out loud to its countless jokes.

Rating: 3 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- great comedy
- a light-hearted romance comedy that won't bog you down

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the narrative had pacing issues