YOUNG WERTHER - Mark Reviews Movies

Young Werther, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 12, 2024

Johann Wolfgang Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther was a tragedy, as was the style of the time, and writer/director José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço's Young Werther is a romantic comedy, as is our more contemporary mode of entertainment. To scold the filmmaker for missing the point of the novel would be to miss the point of his movie, which is a cheekily loose adaptation about cheeky and adaptable—not to mention somewhat irritating—protagonist.

All of it eventually makes some kind of sense by the end of Lourenço's movie, which takes an ostensibly charming hopeless romantic and puts him through the wringer of nearly having and then repeatedly losing what he believes to be the love of his life. He learns a lesson or two along the way, which is more than can be said of literary counterpart, who went through the same wringer and didn't come out the other side alive. Our Werther (Douglas Booth) jokes about that possibility at one point, but he dismisses the idea of dying over love by announcing, "It's not 18th century Germany."

A lot of the inside jokes here are very much on the interior of knowledge about the basics of Goethe's novel. It was a best-seller at the time of its publication, some opening text announces, but these days, it's probably known only to those with a slightly deeper appreciation for classic literature, such as the movie's Werther and Charlotte (Alison Pill), the woman whom he is convinced he loves more than any woman before or could love after her. Most audience members will likely benefit a little from finding a brief synopsis of the book beforehand or by taking a look later. Let's just say that any reference to the source material in this review easily could have come from such a rushed bit of research—because it did.

The book apparently does not exist in the world of this movie, or else Werther and Charlotte would probably recognize the exact situation in which they are. Werther comes to Toronto from Montreal to deal with a familial argument over a horse statue, wanted by both his mother and his aunt. While visiting the city with his younger and germaphobe friend Paul (Jaouhar Ben Ayed), Werther eyes Charlotte dealing with an older man who seems to have ill intentions for her younger sister Sissy (Iris Apatow). Werther is bowled over by the woman's confidence and assertiveness, as well as her first edition signed copy of a J.D. Salinger book—not that one but the arguably better one.

The two talk at Charlotte's birthday party that night, which Sissy invites Werther to because she has an instant crush on him. After bonding and flirting, Charlotte reveals that she's engaged to be married before leaving and inviting Werther to a brunch the fiancé is having for her the next day. When Werther meets the groom-to-be, he's almost as impressed by Albert (Patrick J. Adams) as he is by Charlotte. The guy will make a fine husband for Charlotte and co-guardian to her several younger siblings, so of course, Werther is even more certain that he wants her.

Werther's not an admirable guy, and despite Booth's best efforts (which are considerable), he's not particularly charming either. Maybe it's that none of the three figures in this love triangle are as young as would make these flighty and juvenile emotions believable. Adams' Albert is supposed to be older, and while Pill seemingly possesses some secret to eternal youth, Booth's Werther looks to be in his 30s, as the actor is. Yes, the character's youth in a psychological capacity is the real point of this story, but at a certain point, it becomes tougher to accept, believe, or care about a character who doesn't have a lack of time as an excuse.

The plot is basically the stuff of any generic romantic comedy, with Werther pursuing Charlotte's affection and Charlotte starting to find affection for him, despite her misgivings about his personality and her conscience. Pill's performance is so grounded and thoughtful that she basically is doing double the work here—both making us like Charlotte and, by extension, tolerating Werther, because he can't be that bad if this woman finds something of worth in him. The flirtations increase, as Albert spends more and more time at work and Charlotte really starts to notice. Suddenly, though, Werther has to confront the reality that Charlotte might never be anything more to him than a friend and an occasional partner in sexual tension.

It's generally fine and somewhat funny, watching these supposedly intelligent characters—especially Werther, who really thinks himself an intellectual charmer—make such a mess of everything. These characters are bit more self-aware than one might expect in a what essentially amounts to a formulaic romantic comedy, so when the third act takes a turn toward a more serious kind of introspection for Werther, it feels as if the movie and the character have earned it.

Even so, it's difficult to make a case for Werther, who can be grating, and the familiar plot, which has nothing to do with being based on a 250-year-old novel, until that point. Young Werther eventually gets at something about its protagonist's narcissism, romanticism, and extreme behavior in trying to "win" the woman he thinks he loves, but it's a long, difficult journey to get there.

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