Release Date: April 1st, 2008
Running Time: 88 minutes

The Film

Romantic comedies are a tough genre to be innovative with. The audience tends to want to feel comfortable with the structure of the film and how it plays out; if you break from convention too much you wise lose them. Unfortunately this has led to the genre feeling very tired. Lying halfway between the genres of romantic comedy and talky drama, What Love Is tries hard but never quite finds its identity.

From Writer/Director Mars Callahan, What Love Is is a surprisingly harsh look at men and women’s thoughts on the subject of love. Cube Gooding, Jr. stars as Tom, a doofus who is head-over-heels in love with his girlfriend. He plans to propose to her at a special party he’s planned at his apartment on Valentine’s Day. However, he gets home only to find that his girlfriend has suddenly left him. His buddies then come over and they proceed to ruminate on love, each character offering a stereotypical viewpoint: the womanizer, the gay friend, the lonely nice guy, and the married one. About halfway through some lady friends show up that the guys had invited and we proceed to get their views on everything the guys had discussed. This is the basic structure of the film: a lot of talking. The vast majority of the film takes place in Tom’s apartment and involves the characters babbling on about whatever is on their minds.

The problem with the movie is that it’s not written by Quentin Tarantino. The writing isn’t witty enough to sustain a whole move of talking, like Diner or Pulp Fiction. The formula becomes very old. By the time the women showed up I was already sick about hearing people complain. What should be very relaxed, smooth dialogue comes off as forced and unnatural. There are some gems hidden in the moments, but for the most part What Love Is is a filmmaking exercise that doesn’t quite hit the mark.

The DVD

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It is a standard DVD transfer, with solid flesh tones and black levels. Some grain pops up in lower lit scenes, but overall the image quality is more than enough.

The audio is offered in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with English/Spanish subtitles. The mix is balanced but rather tame. Dialogue is easily understood over the music, but it the mix isn’t very full or lively. Again, it gets the job done but never excels.

The Extras

Commentary is offered with Director Mars Callahan and Producers George Bours and John Hermansen. The track finds Callahan miffed at the critical reception of his film. As much as he discusses the production, he always seems to fall back into defending his product and artistic choices.

“Making Love” is a surprisingly strong 24-minute featurette. The people interviewed speak about the film with a genuine admiration and the featurette actually has some decent behind-the-scenes footage as opposed to most EPK pieces.

Final Thoughts

What Love Is is entertaining at times, but ultimately forgettable. It would make a decent rental for fans of the actors, but I cannot recommend a blind purchase.