This movie was an honest look at something we don't really like to talk about in our culture -- mourning. Burke is a psychologist turned motivational speaker who helps his patrons through the grieving process. The sad news is, he hasn't completed his own. But, an "accidental" booking back in his home town brings him face-to-face with the tragedy of his wife's accident. He can longer avoid his father-in-law or his own denial as he finds himself breaking all of his own "rules" for being "A-okay."
Eloise (Jennifer Aniston) is a local quirky florist who catches his eye as she drops her Sharpie while delivering flowers and scribbling a random long word being a painting in the hotel where Burke is staying. She is the first woman he is prompted to ask out on a date since his wife died (3 years earlier) and she pretends to be deaf... The argument they have in the men's bathroom when he finds out is priceless.
The thing about losing a loved one is that it still hurts years after everyone else thinks you should move on. You're supposed to just move on, let go, and love your life again, but it isn't that easy. There is a necessary work to be done to push beyond the anger and the fear. Eckhart did a fantastic job walking between the roles of got it all together psychologist, distracted/despondent widower, and genuine man falling in love while weaving in all of the breakdowns and revelations necessary to that moment in life -- all in under 110 minutes. I greatly appreciated the direction of the movie and that Jennifer Aniston was willing to play "window dressing" to allow Walter's story (one of Burke's seminar attendees) room to prompt Burke to face his own pain.
I laughed and cried through this one.
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