It was totally surprising just how great this movie is. I watched and now I want the movie. Outstanding performances Jason, Maise, and Jessica.

I chanced upon The Book of Love while channel-switching, saw Maisie Williams, looked for the repeat and watched it. I very nearly didn't because the synopsis made it look like a Hallmark production (bereaved architect heals himself by helping troubled teenager build a raft to sail round the world) but I thought, "What the hell, it's Arya" and watched it. I'm glad I did, because although it contains a slew of "heartwarming" clichés, it plays around with them in a very quirky way, to the extent that it's almost but not quite a satire on the genre. But there's more than playing around with clichés: the relationship between the two main characters is lovely, and there are some thought-provoking moments, though it's easy to skip over them.

Maisie Williams is a superb actress in everything she does,including this & Jason Sudekis does an excellent drama role. It's a wonderful movie, put together well,explaining how these 2 different people, 1 teenager& 1 adult came together through his wife & built a raft together so the girl could continue her fathers voyage. Could have done without Jason's 2 handyman, or at least the nickname for one (dumbass) & the fact that one doesn't speak any English, but other than that it kept my interest and that's a good thing 😊 It had a little bit of everything in my opinion..comedy,drama, adventure....it was happy,sad,made me laugh & cry. I recommend it! Not everyone will have the same opinion. Just give it a try.

Just saw this at Heartland Film Festival...it had a few good, funny scenes, but the story is so full of tropes (truth delivered from young child folk voice overs, flashbacks to a "haunting" past, and characters who talk their way through "dramatic exchanges" to realizations) that I thought I might have been watching cheap television. Rather than witnessing an unfolding drama, we were presented with scene after scene of characters stupidly stumbling into a situation where they were neatly arranged in a well- lit space in convenient blocking to "discuss their issues". The movie is excessively scored in prepackaged "Hollywood" music you'd expect from a 1999 blockbuster.On a positive note, Maisie Williams is a star and I believed a lot of her character. The acting was fine...Sudeikis couldn't have done much more with the part, but his earnestness in the role is cringe- worthy because the writing is so weak. Biel is fun as an unpredictable and lovable n'Orleans lady. Sudeikis' sidekicks are a source of some of the few organic laughs. All in all, unless you're a massive Biel/Sudeikis fan, I'd skip it. Really. Without a spoiler, the movie follows the two main characters toward a literal suicide mission, but the score is optimistic and the child's voice-over is telling you otherwise - this movie has a surreal disconnect between the story it's telling in music and voice-over and the story it's showing as the characters embark on their final journey. If Herzog had told the same story, it would be clear the characters were insane rather than "on a heartfelt journey".At the q&a Biel mentioned the script went through 26 rewrites. I would be very very curious to see the original script.