Let’s Love (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
46 minutes ago
4 min read

LET’S LOVE (2026)

Starring Martin Freeman, Josh Hutcherson, Malin Akerman, Jess Weixler, Craig Roberts, Richard Elis, Chloé Jouannet, Mia Carragher, Nico Tatarowicz, Abbie Murphy, Emily Smith, Marc Danbury and Dermot Mulroney.

Screenplay by Jamie Adams (with additional material from the cast).

Directed by Jamie Adams.

Distributed by Cineverse. 90 minutes. Not Rated.

What if you made a sweet little romantic comedy and the world didn’t really pay attention? That is both the premise and the problem with Let’s Love.

Let’s Love is a charming little love-letter to filmmakers about a tenth anniversary celebration of a once fairly popular romantic comedy, however through studio incompetence and audience indifference, the reunion goes completely awry.

The fictitious rom-com at the center of the film was called Don't Delete the Kisses. We never see any of the film, but between the poster art and dialogue about the film, the audience gets a decent idea of the level of quality of the film. (Cheesy, sappy, but probably nice enough…)

Ten years later the two stars, the director and screenwriter return to Wales – the site of the original filming – for a major fan convention. However, by the time they had all arrived the event had been cancelled, due to a date mix-up and slow sales.

Therefore, we spend a week in the Welsh countryside with the cast and creatives of the film as they wait for the studio head to arrive so they can pitch him on a sequel idea to a movie most of the world seems to have forgotten.

However, for these four, it is still the cornerstone of their resumes. They’ve continued on in Hollywood with middling success, but none of them has ever had a film connect, in even a muted way, like the earlier film did.

The leading man Jackson Roberts (Josh Hutcherson) has had the most moderate success since the filming, but even his career is sputtering. He married the director Andrea Finney (Malin Akerman), but after years in the Hollywood circus, their marriage is showing signs of strain. The female lead Jess Riley (Jess Weixler) never really followed up on her early promise, and she seems to still be harboring a crush on Jackson. And screenwriter Nigel Thomas (Martin Freeman) has not had much success either, and is mostly overlooked as a part of the Don’t Delete the Kisses team. He also may have some deeper feelings for Andrea.

With such a limited cast – only four characters get significant screen time – it is important for those characters to connect, and they do, mostly… The four stars – all of whom have indie cred as well as blockbuster achievement – give this slight story their all.

That said, Akerman and Freeman’s characters are significantly more interesting than Hutcherson and Weixler’s, and thus they have a lot more to work with.

It’s rare that you see a movie about filmmaking in which the screenwriter seems to be the most grounded and emotionally capable character, however Nigel fills this role in the film, and much of it comes down to Freeman’s soft-spoken charm and gravity. Andrea appears to be the most conflicted character here – both her professional and her private life are on the line – and Akerman plays her with quiet strength and resignation.

The younger actor characters are more one-note, and the performances somewhat reflect that, although both Hutcherson and Weixler play the notes they are asked with skill. However, Jackson is kind of a stuck-up, self-absorbed guy, and Jess is neurotic and slightly ditzy, and those characteristics sometimes overshadow the performances.

Later in the film, Dermot Mulroney phones in a cameo as the studio suit – literally, his entire role was done on a video conference call. Perhaps because he was off-set and apparently acting for a laptop camera, or perhaps because his character is supposed to be a bit cartoonish, the normally rock-solid character actor kind of overplays the role to a distracting effect. (The sight of his tongue lolling out at one point may have been character building, but it felt over-the-top.)

Writer/director Jamie Adams obviously has a passion for this world and these characters, and it shows. The direction is crisp if unexceptional, and the Welsh scenery is just stunning.

Still, I’ve got to wonder, even though Let’s Love is a nice little movie, who is the audience for this film? Much like Don’t Delete the Kisses, it’s engaging but kind of generic. Is it trying to be a rom com or a Hollywood satire or even a loving tribute to the act of creation? Is there really all that big of an audience for a bunch of Hollywood types sorting out their careers and love lives?

That is a rhetorical question, of course, as Let’s Love is quietly being released straight to streaming with little fanfare. And perhaps that is a shame, because the movie deserves a bigger audience, and it could perhaps connect in a small-scale cult way like Don’t Delete the Kisses supposedly did, if only the world would pay attention.

Jay S. Jacobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2K_CJJYQg