It doesn’t take long to realize “Love Me” is a film that sounds like it has a great premise, but it actually isn’t enough of one to successfully sustain a feature film. This love story between a buoy and a satellite with human like qualities starts out so quirky and fun, but spiral so far out of control so quickly that co-writers and co-directors Andrew and Sam Zuchero never regain control.
Humanity reached extinction a long, long time ago, and a smart buoy beacon (voice of Kristen Stewart) an orbiting space satellite (voice of Steven Yeun) meet and fall in love.
The film’s structure is a disaster, weaving together different time periods in a mess of virtual, surreal, and real world applications. The lovers are portrayed by Yeun and Stewart in different forms, from inanimate objects to computer simulations to humans. The best version of the pair is the very first, featuring quirky and fun banter that’s based in nerdy humor. The story gains momentum as the buoy and satellite connect through archived social media posts, but it falls apart as the Zucheros begin telling their story through animated avatars. Eventually, it all devolves into a semi-mindless sitcom that feels extremely disappointing after such a strong, eclectic start.
After an exhausting clip show of filler material and bombarding the audience with unpleasant relationship arguments, the story finally trends upwards towards the end. Ultimately, it’s too late to save the disappointing “Love Me.” The creativity and inventiveness simply doesn’t work well enough.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 