Debuting internationally in 2012, but only now arriving in Mexican movie theaters, I Hate Love (Odio el Amor) tries too hard to be a distinctive effort in the romantic comedy field.
It brings a mixed cast, with both Mexicans and Americans, and consequently it is spoken in English and Spanish. Story-wise, there's not much innovation; it plays like a road movie at times, though the main thing is its straight dramatic side that makes the teenage characters go through rough situations.
In I Hate Love, the (Mexican) boy who meets the (American) girl is distinct, as he suffered an accident that left him deaf. The young lady herself has had a very difficult past, with drug addiction and suicidal behavior emerging after her mother's own suicide. The movie feels somber through the girl Eve (Diane Rosser), but once she gets to know the boy Robo (Christian Vazquez), it's all smooth sailing. Sure, some problems will emerge, because one of Robo's best friends (Cobra, played by Rodrigo Azuela) is also in love with Eve; however, this is a rom-com in which the third character really has no place in the protagonist's love story.
More than with the hearing problem of the lad, I Hate Love plays with the fact that Eve doesn't speak Spanish. It has its best moments as a comedy, thanks to the supporting cast (which includes Duck Season's Diego Cataño) and many jokes of bad English pronunciation. Cobra is in particular pretty bad when trying to speak the foreign language and, in general, it's just a harmless approach to high school life. As for the hearing disease, well, there are hints that love might cure the boy, literally!
Director Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz also uses the good ol' road trip as narrative device. A trip full of testosterone, friendship bounds in danger and memorable adventures? Well, not really. It's definitely lighter and more brief than one could imagine and there's the feeling that neither Robo or Eve care about anything else but their relationship. Nonetheless, and to paraphrase the girl's own words, in life anything can happen and everything changes.
Without spoiling what happens, I Hate Love seems to hate easy-going stories. Like I said, here we have a romantic comedy that wants to be different, deeper and more real than the average one. It is called, after all, I Hate Love; in it, lessons will be learned, and remorse will appear within the teens. But the rom-com formula will prove to be stronger than anything... and love will prevail.
I Hate Love opens in Mexico on Thursday, June 12.