Aaron Eckhart: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Dr. Burke Ryan - Love Happens (2009)

It seems that no reasonably high-profile actor or actress is immune from appearing in rubbish rom-coms. While everyone needs to pay their bills, once you become identified with bad rom-coms it can take years to shift the reputation - just ask Matthew McConnaughey. Eckhart has only delved into the genre once so far, with Love Happens - and based upon the results, we hope it never happens again. Directed by the brilliantly-named Brandon Camp, Love Happens stars Eckhart as Dr. Burke Ryan, a successful self-help author who is still grieving from the death of his wife. Whilst giving a workshop in Seattle, he meets creative florist Eloise (Jennifer Aniston). As they spend more time together, Ryan begins to realise he's not been following his own advice and slowly comes to terms with his emotional problems. A plot summary like that would lead you to think that you're in for a mawkish ride, but the greatest crime with Love Happens is how dull it is. Aniston and Eckhart have absolutely no chemistry, their characters barely develop in a meaningful way, and the whole plot is completely uninspiring. In the hands of someone like the late Nora Ephron, this might have been rescued into something a little more spiky, but as it stands it's another reminder of how wooden Eckhart can be when he's really not interested in the part he's playing.