Love, Rosie is based on a novel by Cecelia Ahern. Ahern's most well known work, PS, I Love You, was made into a glaring, Gerard Butler-starring monstrosity in 2007. Which raises the question, is it really necessary to bring another of her books to the big screen? The swift answer is: no.

Directed by German helmer Christian Ditter in his first English-language feature, and adapted from novel Where Rainbows End, the film feels like a cross between the quirky juvenescence of 500 Days of Summer and the awkward whimsy of a Richard Curtis flick, only the hybridisation process went badly wrong.

It centers on Rosie (Lily Collins - Mirror Mirror, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), and Alex (Sam Claflin - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Riot Club), lifelong friends who, upon reaching adulthood, realise there may be more to their relationship. However circumstance gets, and continues to get, in the way. 

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Having grown up together in a picturesque English town, the story follows the pair over a 12-year period (during which they don't age a day) after they leave school; through births, marriages, deaths and across the Atlantic and back, as things never quite come together to give them the happy future they, surely, deserve. 

Collins and Claflin offer chemistry and charisma in the lead roles, doing their best to hold together an otherwise flimsy film that simply feels like it's trying too hard. 

To begin with, it's hard to buy into their relationship when it doesn't feel real: there are a huge number of 'big' moments crammed into the film, and with all the predictable twists and turns, Love, Rosie is hackneyed and overdone.

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Another of the film's failings is, for a comedy, there a few laughs. Not to say there aren't attempts at humour - there are - but few hit home, and many feel forced. Meanwhile the supporting characters - so often crucial to a film like this - are under-written and one dimensional, leaving little for the likes of Jaime Winstone (playing Rosie's best friend) and Tamsin Egerton (playing one of Alex's flames) to work with.

The film is slickly shot but this isn't enough to paper over the gaping holes elsewhere. Admittedly, with its instant messaging and a Kate Nash/Olly Murs-infused soundtrack, this isn't for everyone, but overall there's not a lot to love about Love, Rosie.

RATING: ONE OUT OF FIVE STARS

Love, Rosie is currently in UK cinemas.