Stuck in Love

Stuck in Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Josh Boone
Produced by	Judy Cairo
Written by	Josh Boone
Starring	Jennifer Connelly Greg Kinnear Lily Collins Nat Wolff Logan Lerman Kristen Bell Liana Liberato
Music by	Mike Mogis Nate Walcott
Cinematography	Tim Orr
Edited by	Robb Sullivan
Production company	Informant Media MICA Entertainment
Distributed by	Millennium Entertainment
Release dates	September 9, 2012 (2012-09-09) (Toronto) July 5, 2013 (United States; limited)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$977,671[1]

Stuck in Love is a 2012 American independent romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Josh Boone. The film stars Jennifer Connelly, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Nat Wolff and Logan Lerman. It focuses on the complicated relationships between a successful novelist, played by Kinnear, his ex-wife (Connelly), their college daughter (Collins), and teenage son (Wolff).^[2] The film began a limited theatrical release in the United States on July 5, 2013.

Plot

The film opens by introducing the Borgens family and their individual approaches/problems with love. Novelist Bill Borgens (Greg Kinnear) has been struggling to keep it together after his wife Erica (Jennifer Connelly) left him for a younger man two years ago. Instead of working on a new book, he obsesses about his ex, spying on her and her new husband while pretending to be jogging. Rusty (Nat Wolff) is a high school student who is in love with a girl in his class named Kate (Liana Liberato), but never has the courage to talk to. Sam (Lily Collins) is a college student who enjoys being cynical about love and life in general, preferring one-night stands and hook-ups with people she knows are less intelligent than her to serious relationships with people she likes in order to shield herself from love.

On Thanksgiving, Bill has Rusty set a place for Erica, which he hesitatingly does. Sam comes home from college with momentous news: her first novel has been accepted for publication. Bill is thrilled, since he has been raising his children to be writers since birth, but becomes annoyed when she reveals she wrote a different book than the one he had been helping her write. Rusty goes to have Thanksgiving with Erica and her new husband Martin, but Sam refuses, showing that her feelings of love are the result of Erica's perceived betrayal to Bill.

While out at a bar, her classmate Lou (Logan Lerman) tries to prevent her from initiating another hook-up, she rebuffs him, saying she is not looking for a relationship. He nonetheless pursues her one night he strong-arms her into a cup of coffee. When they begin talking about their favorite books, Sam is shocked that their answer is the same, and runs off, refusing to be roped into a relationship. When Lou stops coming to the writing seminar they both attend, Sam tracks him down and follows him to the house where his mother is dying. Sam is humbled by this and agrees to go out with Lou. When they discuss Sam's novel, she reveals part of her book, where the main character sees her mother have sex with a man on the beach, was about Erica and Martin. When Martin asked about if Bill sees, Erica replied "I don't care." When they listen to Lou's favorite song, Sam begins to cry, saying that she is scared and doesn't want to get hurt. Lou tells her he won't hurt her, and they share a kiss.

Meanwhile, Rusty reads a poem in class about Kate, and she says she liked it. Bill reads Rusty's journal, which he has Sam and Rusty keep and pays them to do. When Rusty catches him, Bill says that Rusty must get more experience in life in order to become a better writer. As a result, Rusty and his friend Jason bribe their way into a party where Kate is. Rusty sees her doing drugs with her boyfriend in a bathroom and goes to leave, but when they begin to argue and Kate is pushed, Rusty punches her boyfriend and takes her home. While tucking her into bed, she asks if his poem was about her, which he confirms. They share a kiss and begin a relationship. Rusty gives Kate a copy of It, his favorite novel, and she gives him her favorite album, as well as having sex with him in his closet. During the course of their relationship, Kate battles her drug addiction, even almost stealing prescription drugs from Erica when she and Rusty visit, but doesn't when Erica walks in on her.

Bill, since his divorce, has been having an affair with his married neighbor Tricia. While Christmas shopping, he runs into Erica and they talk over some coffee. He tells her if given a second chance, he would be a much better husband. Tricia urges him to move on and begin dating again, helping him dress better and creating an online profile for him. After going on a successful date, although not starting a relationship, he stops by Erica's house at her window, where he would spy on her, and leaves his wedding ring, signifying he has stopped focusing on their relationship.

Sam has a party for the launch of her book, where Bill makes a speech about the process of writing, quoting What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, his favorite book. Erica is invited by Lou, but she silently drifts through until she talks with Bill, who urges her to talk to Sam. When she tried to do so, Sam reacts coldly, pretending not to know her when signing Erica's copy of her novel. When Sam gives Kate champagne—even though she's underage and unaware of Kate's addictions—Kate goes back for more and goes home with Gus, a guy who was at the party. The Borgens track her down; Bill and Erica find her in Gus's apartment, asleep in his bedroom after a night of drinking and doing drugs. Kate is loaded into the car. Rusty lifts the blanket covering her body, and realizes she also had slept with Gus. He cries over her. Distraught, Rusty turns to alcohol and comes home drunk almost every night. Rusty encounters Kate's ex- boyfriend one day in a convenience store. Rusty is badly injured in a fight with Kate's ex. In the background narration, Kate writes Rusty a letter telling him how sorry she is and that she's in rehab. She says she wishes that one day, she could be worthy of somebody like him. Bill, worried about Rusty, tells him to take his pain and channel it into his writing. When Rusty asks if that is what he did when Erica left, Bill grounds him. Rusty writes a story, entitled I've Just Seen A Face (named after the Beatles song of the same name, which he told Sam he hears whenever he thought of Kate) and finds that it's helped him heal the wounds. Later, he gets a call from Stephen King, his favorite author, who tells him that Sam sent his story to King, who had it published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Bill reveals to Sam that when she was a baby, he left Erica and she waited six months for him. When he came back, she accepted him. He promised that if she ever left him, he'd give her a second chance. Lou's mother dies, and Sam realizes how much her mother means to her. She arrives at Erica's house and they tearfully reconcile. Now Thanksgiving once again, Bill decides not to set a place for Erica, finally able to move on. As the family sits down to eat, joined by Lou, Erica arrives and asks if there is a place for her. She joins them to dinner and Rusty announces his story being published. While the family celebrates, Bill narrates a quote from his favorite book. "I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark."

Cast

• Greg Kinnear as Bill Borgens, a famous novelist
• Jennifer Connelly as Erica, the ex-wife of Bill who left him for a younger man
• Lily Collins as Samantha, Bill and Erica's college-age daughter
• Logan Lerman as Lou, a classmate of Samantha's and potential love interest.
• Nat Wolff as Rusty, Bill and Erica's 16-year-old son and a hopeless romantic
• Liana Liberato as Kate, Rusty's love interest with a troubled life
• Stephen King as himself
• Kristen Bell as Tricia

Production

Stuck in Love started shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina in March 2012, primarily in the Wrightsville Beach area.^[3] Filming wrapped on April 6, 2012.^[4]

On March 6, 2012, it was announced that Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Liana Liberato, Nat Wolff and Kristen Bell had joined the cast. It was also announced that the film would feature a cameo from Stephen King, as well as actors Rusty Joiner and Patrick Schwarzenegger in supporting roles.^[5] In November, the working title of the movie, Writers, was changed to Stuck in Love. In Australia and New Zealand it was released under the title A Place For Me and distributed by Becker Film Group.^[6]

Soundtrack

Varèse Sarabande released the Stuck in Love – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on May 21 and on CD and vinyl June 11, 2013. The soundtrack features an original score by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott (from Bright Eyes), and new songs "At Your Door" (by Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott featuring Big Harp), "You Are Your Mother's Child" (by Conor Oberst) and "Somersaults in Spring" (by Friends of Gemini: Corina Figueroa Escamilla, Nathaniel Walcott and Mike Mogis). Complete song track listing:

1. "Home" • Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
2. "At Your Door" • Nathaniel Walcott and Mike Mogis featuring Big Harp
3. "You Are Your Mother's Child" • Conor Oberst
4. "American Man" • Rio Bravo
5. "Polkadot" • Like Pioneers
6. "Will You Be by Me" • Wallpaper Airplanes
7. "I Won't Love You Any Less" • Nat & Alex Wolff
8. "Between the Bars" • Elliott Smith
9. "The Calendar Hung Itself..." • Bright Eyes
10. "A Mountain, a Peak" • Bill Ricchini
11. "Somersaults in Spring" • Friends of Gemini

References

External links

• Stuck in Love at the Internet Movie Database
• Stuck in Love at Rotten Tomatoes