There are two types of people: hopeless romantics, and realists. This one's for the hopeless romantics. Stuck in Love makes this pretty clear from its opening lines; as it later suggests, you'll be hooked, provided that you're that type. For realists, the indie aesthetic and soap-opera melodramatics won't be enough. The most realistic things about Stuck in Love are the performances of the cast, who are each given stock roles on which to elaborate - their comfort draws out relatable work from all, though none are truly pushed. Nat Wolff is of particular note, possessed of a natural charm and an ability to balance wry humour and touching dramatics with apparent ease. The familiarity of the set-ups and the inevitability of their outcomes isn't much to get excited about, but Josh Boone has a neat, fair sense of humour, and a shrewd feel for the quagmires of approaching relationships in one's youth. These are 1st-world, middle-class, white-people problems, sure, but let's allow one whimsical R-rated 'dramedy' (yuck yuck yuck, but the glove fits) to qualify as escapism, since it's so good at it. The tidiness of the ending can't be excused, though, as while this may be the perfect ending for the story, this was Boone's opportunity to contextualise what he has to say about love in the realm of truth, in reality. But haven't we been here before? There are two types of people: hopeless romantics, and realists. And this one's for the hopeless romantics.
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