''Telling You'', also known as ''Love Sucks'', is a 1998

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by Robert DeFranco, and starring

Peter Facinelli Peter Facinelli ( ; born November 26, 1973) is an American-Italian actor. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox series ''Fastlane (TV series), Fastlane'' from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the The ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel serie ...

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His film work includes Chip Sutphin in '' Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in '' Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in '' Scream'' (1996), Stevo in '' SLC Punk!'' ...

and

Dash Mihok Dashiell Raymond Mihok (; born May 24, 1974) is an American actor and director known as Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in Showtime's ''Ray Donovan''. Early life Mihok was born in New York City, the son of theater actors Andrea Mihok (née Cloak) and ...

. It was distributed by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

. Its filming location finds place in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

. It was released on August 7, 1998.

Plot

Two college graduates find themselves back home in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

stuck behind the counter of a pizza parlor and frustrated about their life's perspectives, while their friends move on, struggle to find a new direction for their lives.

Cast

as Phil Fazzulo *

as Deb Freidman *

as Adam Ginesberg *

as Dennis Nolan *

Andy Berman Andrew Mark Berman (born February 24, 1968) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his role as Dib Membrane in ''Invader Zim'', Dennis in '' The Jamie Foxx Show'' (1996-1997), Chuck in '' The Wonder ...

as Howard Gurtler * Robert DeFranco as Steve Fagan * Gary Wolf as John Foley *

Richard Libertini Richard Joseph Libertini (May 21, 1933 – January 7, 2016) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for playing character roles and his ability to speak in numerous accents. His films include '' Catch-22'' (1970), '' The ...

as Mr. P *

Gina Philips Gina Philips (née Consolo; born May 10, 1970) is an American actress. She portrayed Trish Jenner in the horror film '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001). Early life and education Philips was born in Miami Beach, Florida, to an Italian father and an A ...

as Kristen Barrett *

Jennifer Jostyn Jennifer Jostyn is an American former actress. Career She has appeared in many movies since the early 1990s, including ''House of 1000 Corpses'', ''The Brothers McMullen'', ''Milo'', '' Omega Cop'', ''Focus'', ''Dr. Benny'', '' A Perfect Little ...

as Beth Taylor * Frank Medrano as Sal Lombardo *

Jensen Daggett Jensen Daggett (born June 24, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She has appeared in the films '' Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan'' and '' Major League: Back to the Minors''. She had a recurring role as Nancy Tayl ...

as Susan *

Shanna Moakler Shanna Lynn Moakler ( ; born March 28, 1975) is an American actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the winner of the Miss New York USA pageant in 1995 and was the first runner-up at Miss USA 1995. After winner Chelsi Smith won ...

as Cheryl Tangeray *

Charlotte Ayanna Charlotte Ayanna is an American actress, author and former beauty queen who won Miss Teen USA 1993. Early life Ayanna was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but moved to Vermont at an early age. She had a troubled childhood, spending sixteen years i ...

as Allison Fazio (as Charlotte Lopez) * Marc Bossley as Tommy Spahn * Stephanie Brown as Michelle Itzo * Gerald Jennke as Michelle Itzo's Neighbor *

Michelle Burke Michelle Burke is an American actress. She gained recognition in the early 1990s for film roles such as Jodi Kramer in ''Dazed and Confused'' and Connie Conehead in ''Coneheads'' (both 1993), alongside an appearance in the 1994 ''Major Leag ...

as Kristen's Friend (as Michelle Thomas) * Andrea Tiano as Maria (Sal's Sister) * Mike Muldoon as Jerry (Sal's Brother-in-Law) * Jack Rourke as Murph *

Rick Rossovich Frederic Enrico Rossovich (born August 28, 1957) is an American actor. Rossovich began acting in the early 1980s, first gaining recognition for portraying Ron "Slider" Kerner in the 1986 film ''Top Gun''. Rossovich's other movies include the thri ...

as McQueeney (uncredited) *

Jennie Garth Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 (franchise), ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom ''What I Like About You (TV ...

as Amber (uncredited) * Lorin Eric Salm as Lettuce Man * John Bachelder as John Batchelder * Stephen 'Bundy' DeFranco as Bundy * Paul Anthony as Rough Stranger * Kerri Kleiner as Allison's Friend * Liz Reese as Telephone Montage * Jennifer Foley as Amy * Jon Cellini as the tough guy * Joe Crusco as the Police Officer

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics. Nathan Rabin of

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

called it "really boring in an extremely earnest fashion." Rabin warned that it "is not, as its box would somewhat dishonestly indicate, a Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle. It is, instead, a laughless, irritatingly earnest comedy-drama about ..." the characters played by Mihok and Facinelli. Rabin said Hewitt and Lillard have little more than cameos but credits Lillard for giving the film what little spark it has. Kathleen Craughwell of ''The L.A. Times'' said it "is pleasant enough and the production values are as good as any studio film. But the characters and what happens to them...just aren't as interesting as these actors, and their audience, deserve." ''Variety'' said "the film lacks the punch, craft or insight to reach a wide audience".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0120859 1998 films 1998 romantic comedy-drama films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films American romantic comedy-drama films CineTel Films films English-language romantic comedy-drama films