This film is betrayed by its own legacy, because, really, its formula has gotten to be so overexplored that it all but makes this film feel trite, and it doesn't help that there are many areas in which this film does, in fact, hit tropes, and hard, with familiar themes and conflicts, driven by characters who aren't quite familiar enough. The film drags its feet from time to time, or at least feels as though it does, because among some of the bigger issues in this film is cold spells to Arthur Hiller's storytelling which range from a little bland to rather dull, with a limited flare that doesn't exactly more sparkling through the years. Maybe people got so sour about the film in retrospect because they couldn't help but think about Ryan O'Neil's later work (This film is some kind of a curse, I tell you), although it doesn't help that this film, as decent as it is, has plenty of flaws. In all fairness, this film has a classical soundtrack, which makes it a cheater, because the music goes to show you that kids have ostensibly been gradually losing taste in music ever since Bach and Mozart (That's right, this film is so clichéd that it plays some Bach and Mozart), while giving the film enough of a sense of sophistication for the film awards to embrace it when it first came out.

I exaggerate, but forget Nicholas Sparks for ruining this formula, which actually might not have ever been that good, yet can at least be respected more back in 1970, because kids had much better taste in music back then. This thing was trite and a groundbreaker at the same time, which would be awesome if the usual romantic drama released afterwards were better or, well, watchable. This is a seriously lazy title, but it's not exactly misleading, because when I hear about a dramatic 'love story', I'm usually expecting something kind of depressing, at least ever since this film. I am very, very forcibly kidding, partly because this is Arthur Hiller, and largely because this film by no means ends up going down an especially cheery path. Well, I guess Arthur Miller did, in fact, write something as cheery as a love story from time to time after all.

Love story 1970 by erich segal