“One True Loves” screenshot / The Avenueīut it’s Soo’s performance as adult Emma that makes the film crumble coupled with the flat script and Kia car commercial lighting and production design, Soo is the stake in the heart of “One True Loves” potential of being decent. Considering none of these characters fully have room to grow in this 99-minute film, maybe it’s not such a bad idea. The teen versions of the core love triangle, played by Cooper van Grootel as young Jesse, Phinehas Yoon as young Sam, and Oona Yaffe as young Emma, seem to be angling for their own spin-off series.

Jesse, of course, is the popular jock whom Emma has heart-eyes for, while she also knows Sam secretly has a crush on her. “One True Loves” goes back and forth in time, courtesy of a “13 Going on 30” type nod to Sam’s enduring love for Emma since eighth grade.

Reid adapted her novel for “One True Loves,” and while audiences would expect that having the original author on deck would lead to a more seamless transition to the screen, alas. Andy Fickman’s film is bogged down with blatant exposition, courtesy of Emma’s sister Marie (Michaela Conlin), Hallmark-esque declarations amid a bland score, and more plot holes (how did Jesse survive?!) than we care to admit. ‘Asteroid City’ Review: Wes Anderson’s Cosmic Grief Comedy Is One of His Very Best Movies YetĮnter: “One True Loves.” Reid and husband Alex J. The Reid cinematic universe is rapidly expanding, with Prime Video series “Daisy Jones & the Six” having gone viral and fans clamoring to see who is cast in the highly-anticipated “Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” film, so it’s not entirely surprising that her earlier, less critically acclaimed works are also getting the big screen treatment. If the premise sounds like the stuff of beach reads, it is. The only issue? Emma’s first husband Jesse ( Luke Bracey) was presumed dead after a fatal helicopter crash, and miraculously is rescued four years later, proving to be alive and very ready to rekindle his relationship with Emma right before her wedding to Sam. Liu is Sam, a high school music teacher who finally lands the woman of his dreams, childhood crush Emma ( Phillipa Soo). Liu leads “One True Loves,” the big screen adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2016 novel of the same name.

But, somehow, this rom-com adaptation is more plastic than “Barbie.” Simu Liu may be starring in one of the biggest movies of 2023, but no one will mistake “ One True Loves” for that honorific.

One true loves book cover