Love Type D proves a would-be Brit rom-com of sorts which really never ignites
“I think we need to talk…about us”
This indie rom-com starts off with an interesting premise at least – the idea that some people are genetically pre-disposed to being dumped. Love Type D explores that idea through the eye of Frankie, who we first meet being dumped on a date, not by her beloved but by his 12-year-old half-brother who is delivering the message for him. Desperate for any answers, she finds an online ad selling genetic tests for the dumpee gene and inevitably chaos ensues.
Debut writer-director Sasha Collington is at her strongest in the early workplace scenes, where Frankie rallys her equally-unlucky-in-love co-workers to her cause, their sharing of hapless stories is sweet and their plan to beat the gene is cutely done. It helps that some of the faces here are recognisable, Ruth Bratt and Philip D McQuillan both having delighted me endlessly onstage and both good value for money here.
But the focus is on Frankie, and Maeve Dermody’s performance is relentlessly downbeat in a way which drags down the rest of the film too often. Obviously she’s unhappy but even her personality quirks lack any real life. By contrast, Rory Stroud as Wilbur, the kid who relays the dumping message and whose scientific advice becomes her guiding light, is a scene-stealing delight. Sadly, it’s not enough to get the heart properly pumping.
