The Oscar-nominated star of box-office hit movies like Up in the Air, Into the Woods and Pitch Perfect plays 20-something Darby in the 10-episode anthology series, which explores how our dating history shapes us into who we are when we finally end up with someone forever … something we’re sure many of us can relate to or are in process of.

Adding to its case and further livening up its current status, it’s interesting to note that Love Life is the second most-popular title on the recently launched streaming service HBO Max, topping The Big Bang Theory and beaten only by the classic mega-comedy Friends. 

As we dip into Darby’s love stories – some poignant, some funny, and some just “oh hell, no” –  it’s the small moments of connection and truth that you’ll recognise, the moments that connect all love stories.   

“Everything just feels really honest,” says Anna. “It doesn’t feel funny because we’re saying a series of jokes, it’s just that the characters are warm and lovely and funny, and the drama comes from authenticity and honesty.”

To get that authenticity, the writers drew on their personal experiences, something Anna was keen to contribute to once she came on board. “I wanted to be able to put some of my personal experiences in the show – the way that they changed me and the lessons that I learned – not necessarily super-specific (although, just for fun, there are some super-specific things that have happened to me in the show).”

“There was one iteration in the beginning that I was like, ‘This is maybe too close to real life. I’m going to get some angry texts’,” she laughs. “Things ended up getting taken apart and kind of remixed, so I have plausible deniability in a lot of areas… but it’s amazing how something really small, really specific, that really happened to you can be so relatable and so universal. Everybody that worked on the show brought that.”

As the show goes on, Anna says viewers will quickly realise, “things aren’t going to work out how you expect them. Even when you’re going to watch a show about relationships and each episode is a relationship, it’s not going to be quite as linear and clean as you think it’s going to be. I mean, that’s been my experience of life. Nothing was just, ‘Oh, I dated these 10 guys, and then I found the one.’ Things are messy and complicated and they can still be gorgeous.”

Anna explains that Darby’s relationships were an amazing lens through which to see a person grow.

The writers “did an amazing job of figuring out how one person would go through life and go through these relationships,” says Paul. “What do you leave behind? What do you learn? What you realize you don’t want to do again, what you realize you want…” And, he adds, “It was really written and plotted out the way that life is, where you just don’t know what’s going to happen next, and you’re sort of open and ready for anything.”

What Anna doesn’t feel ready for, though, is dispensing dating advice. “Dating advice is never going to be that helpful because you can’t learn life lessons for other people. Even with advice, I had to go through it myself and learn it myself. You always think that if you prepare yourself enough, you won’t make the same mistakes that everyone has made through human history. But I guess my dating advice would be like, ‘It’s okay to make mistakes and you’re just learning and growing, and an ended relationship is not a failed relationship.”

There’s a lot like about this one, Love Life was recently renewed for a second season, which will centre on a whole new New York love story, with Anna returning as a guest star.

Ben Affleck, one of the hottest properties in Hollywood currently. The man boasts a very impressive CV with several quality movies to his name, two of which (The Town and Argo) I reckon are his best that he not only starred in but also directed. The current Batman is seemingly on a roll and it’s apparent that most of the stuff he’s involved in usually turn into pure gold. Given that the much-anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice flick didn’t quite live up to the hype, many have agreed that one of the shining lights of it was Affleck who proved many wrong, including me, in his new role as the oh so cool Bruce Wayne.

Fast forward to now, he stars in another movie that initially got my attention through the trailer that I saw whilst waiting for this one to start. It had an interesting name and plot to fit that got me excited and equally intrigued. The Accountant is a very unassuming name for an action movie and unlike anything Affleck has been involved in of late, throw in Anna Kendrick (who’s mostly known for musicals and comedy centric movies) then it becomes difficult to predict exactly what to expect.

So what’s it all about?

Coming off his impressive showing as Batman, The Accountant is a movie centered on Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) who is a mathematics expert with more affinity for numbers than most people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, Wolff works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (J.K. Simmons), starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk (Anna Kendrick) has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian starts going through the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

Cast – Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow

Director – Gavin O’Connor

Running Time – 128 minutes

Genre – Action, Thriller

You would have to say that just by reading the above you get the feeling that this is one good flick. Upon watching it I couldn’t help but feel that this could be a Jason Bourne type of movie franchise for Affleck but whether that’s the aim with this flick specifically remains to be seen. As Christian Wolff, Affleck is at home playing a character who doesn’t say much, is socially awkward, methodical, organized and strangely, has a dry sense of humour and charm. Accompanied by a great cast that includes the brilliant Jon Bernthal (currently best known as Frank Castle in Netflix’s The Punisher) the movie is solid and flows seamlessly.

Ben Affleck can be proud of his recent body of work including this one. With The Accountant, you will no doubt get your money’s worth which is why it gets a solid 3.5 out of 5 rating from me.