‘I Love You Forever' Trailer: Sofia Black-D'Elia Falls for an Abusive Ray Nicholson in Hilarious Yet Poignant Anti-Rom-Com
As rom-coms have a resurgence in Hollywood, the anti-rom-com is on its way. Cue the ingenuous 'I Love You Forever,' which IndieWire can announce has been acquired by Utopia for theatrical distribution after having premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival.
It's almost shocking to think that the pitch perfect tone-driven ode to millennial milieu is the directorial debut of co-writers Cazzie David and Elisa Kalani. In contrast, it makes perfect sense that ahead-of-her-time tastemaker Diablo Cody produced it.
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'Single Drunk Female' breakout star Sofia Black-D'Elia leads the film as law student Mackenzie, who meets the man of her dreams, Finn (Ray Nicholson), at the birthday party of her bestie (writer/director David). However, charming broadcast journalist Finn is soon revealed to be a narcissist, and Mackenzie's perfect love story becomes a harrowing nightmare of living in an abusive relationship in plain sight.
Raymond Cham Jr. and Jon Rudnitsky co-star.
Co-writers/directors Kalani and David previously co-created the critically acclaimed web-series 'Eighty-Sixed.' David previously told IndieWire that 'I Love You Forever' isn't supposed to be a mainstream feature — rather, the indie was made for those who too have survived narcissistic abuse and been gaslit into doubting themselves. The film was also made to educate others while validating the experience.
'This film is probably not going to resonate with anyone who doesn't have a somewhat personal experience to a relationship like this,' David told IndieWire. 'We're very aware of that. But we just really wanted to make a movie that was a grounded representation of emotional abuse, particularly in an emotionally abusive relationship. People who have been through something like this can hopefully feel seen during such a confusing, isolating experience.'
Plus, it is actually very funny, while still balancing the right tone of respectful seriousness during particularly triggering sequences.
'We love comedy, and we also like making things that have some kind of [message] and do mean something. This was a story we felt like we wanted to tell,' David continued. 'We really wanted to make a rom-com for our generation, something that just felt relatable to the dating pool now. While doing both of those things, we kind of came to this realization that a rom-com can also include meeting someone who ends up being toxic. We satirized the love-bombing, and that became our movie.'
The IndieWire review compared 'I Love You Forever' to 'Fatal Attraction,' 'Promising Young Woman,' and 'American Pyscho' — at least in terms of Nicholson's turn as Finn.
'With Nicholson's smile that he inherited from his real-life father Jack Nicholson, it all makes the rom-com side of the romantic horror film feel more real,' the review reads. 'Nicholson sells the audience on Finn selling himself to Mackenzie, and it's not that Mackenzie is too blind to see his faults; it's just that Finn is that good of an emotional abuser. […] Just don't call the feature an erotic thriller. No, 'I Love You Forever' unfolds like a documentary to those who have lived a similar experience — and a stalker horror movie to others.'
'I Love You Forever' premieres at the Quad Cinema in New York on February 7 from Utopia, and will be available on digital on Valentine's Day, February 14. Check out the trailer below.
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