LOVE HAPPENS reviews

New York Times – Stephen Holden:

“The truest moments belong to John Carroll Lynch, playing Walter, a rugged contractor whose life unraveled after the death of his young son. You applaud him, the rebel in Burke’s seminar, for refusing to scamper over the hot coals.”

Entertainment Weekly – Lisa Schwarzbaum:

“MVP character actor John Carroll Lynch steals the show.”

Variety – Brian Lowry

“Aaron Eckhart shares top billing with Jennifer Aniston, but hers is clearly a supporting role, leaving Eckhart and a fine performance by John Carroll Lynch to provide the sporadic highlights. Alas, Lynch isn't on the billboards.”

Hollywood Reporter – Stephen Farber

“The best performance comes from John Carroll Lynch as a grieving father; he coaxes the most poignant drama from the undernourished script.”

MSN.com – Kathleen Murphy

“John Carroll Lynch, one of those instantly recognizable character actors ("Zodiac," "Gran Torino") who can always be depended upon to deliver the goods, plays a Montana contractor named Walter whose 12-year-old son died in a fall from some scaffolding.

This therapeutic dance is played like a parallel romance, meant to mirror Burke's own dilemma. But Lynch's commitment to his character makes us care about the big guy's plight.”

New York Daily News – Elizabeth Weitzman:

“John Carroll Lynch offers a heartfelt turn as a bereft father”

Chicago Tribune – Michael Phillips:

“Only John Carroll Lynch, the ace character actor, cuts through the blather as one of Burke's customers.”

ReelViews – James Berardinelli:

“The best performance belongs to John Carroll Lynch in a supporting role. We actually feel for this guy - Lynch makes Walter's grief palpable.”

Chicago Reader – Andrea Gronvall

“John Carroll Lynch has a strong supporting turn.”

Dark Horizons- Brian Orndorf

“Character actor John Carroll Lynch contributes a thoughtful supporting turn as an anguished father”

Time Magazine – Mary Pols

“During that long wait, I focused on the woefully underappreciated actor John Carroll Lynch. You might remember him from Fargo, in which he played Marge Gunderson's husband Norm, or Things We Lost in the Fire, in which he gave a compellingly tender and pleasingly peculiar performance as Halle Berry's neighbor. Love Happens is not his best work — that would probably be his chilling performance in Zodiac as the prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen — but it's still pretty fine. Lynch has been working steadily since 1993, which was right about the time of Eckhart's first screen credit, but he, unlike Eckhart, never become a star. (There may be an issue involving a lack of hair. On his head.) Here Lynch plays Walter, a contractor from Billings, who drove all the way to Seattle for Burke's hokey seminar and, a few hours in, sensibly wants his money back. Burke has to practice some serious self-help voodoo to keep skeptical Walter on the hook, but eventually (it's an interminable seminar) he gets Walter to pull a photo of his 12-year-old son out of his wallet and recount the story of his death. At which point I wrote "almost cried" in my notebook.”