Book of Love (2004) Movie Review

Wait: When you sleep with a teenager that could have an impact on your marriage?

Book of Love is strangely, simultaneously obvious and moving. Happy couple Elaine (Frances O'Connor) and David (Simon Baker) are getting along just fine, when for some reason they take an interest in 16-year-old Chet (Gregory Smith), who's a local swimmer and soda jerk at their favorite drug store. Chet is obviously smitten with Elaine, and it isn't long before one drunken night when she submits to his tentative advances.

Elaine quickly confesses to David, and he obviously doesn't really see the good in the situation. Things eventually end in (mild) violence and heartbreak for all involved.

What writer/director Alan Brown is trying to say here isn't exactly clear: We know that everyone involved with this tryst is in the wrong -- and yet we can't help feeling sorry for each of them. Brown manages to create an undercurrent of pathos and sympathy for the crew, even if it does have a creepy Mary Kay Letourneau vibe to it.