Romance. Guilt. Tears. Self help. Confronting an unhappy past. Laying old wounds to rest. The romantic comedy-drama Love Happens is a movie worthy of a spot on Oprah. Or certainly Dr. Phil.

Of course “love happens.” And sometimes in the unlikeliest of places and most awkward of times, which is what happens in this well-intentioned, feel-good film which also is sometimes unlikely and awkward, but occasionally touching as well.

Aaron Eckhart plays Dr. Burke Ryan, a therapist who wrote a book about trying to cope following his wife’s death three years earlier in an auto accident. Now he finds himself a best-selling author, traveling cross-country to give self-help workshops to people who are also trying to get over the death of a loved one, and he’s headed for riches in a multi-media deal that promises to give him everything from a syndicated TV show to his picture on weight-loss formula (because people caught up in grief tend to overeat, we’re told).

Yet even as Burke attempts to pull the people flocking to his workshops out of their grim pasts and give them the courage to face the future, he realizes deep down that he’s something of a fraud. For even as he passes around a big flaming candle to people in a crowd at his workshop, who are supposed to then tell something of the past that is haunting them, Burke has not been able to come to terms with his own wife’s death.

Things begin to change, however, when he accidentally bumps into Eloise, a florist who is in charge of the floral arrangements at his hotel. Jennifer Aniston plays Eloise, a woman with a green thumb who has been all thumbs when it comes to choosing a man to share her life with. Now, following another romantic setback, she has decided to forgo romance in favor of devoting all her attention to her florist shop. Yet when she bumps into Burke in the hotel corridor, something clicks with both of them, even though each is reluctant to admit the instant attraction.

Written by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson, who co-wrote many episodes of the Fox TV series John Doe, and directed by Camp, Love Happens follows the familiar romantic-comedy boy-meets-girl formula, right down to the wacky gal pal for her (Judy Greer, whose character works in Eloise’s shop and writes bad poetry) and his male sounding board-agent (Dan Fogler), who is always there to offer advice or mend fences.

Although a funny sequence involving the theft of a parrot (which looks more like a cockatoo) seems contrived, it provides a spark of wacky originality and more than a few laughs which last right to the end of the picture.

Fortunately, Love Happens also has the advantage of good chemistry between Eckhart and Aniston, which makes their back-and-forth prickly relationship seem like something worth caring about, even though one might guess where all this is headed. Eckhart and Aniston create a few genuinely heartfelt moments that give this chick flick some sass and class. Their first date, which threatens to end in disaster, plays real thanks to its awkward moments and all the banalities used by two people who are trying to make the best of an uncomfortable situation.

Solid, too, are scenes between Burke and reluctant workshop member Walter (well played by John Carroll Lynch) as Burke tries to get through to this mountain of a man and help him get over the accidental death of his 12-year-old son. Some of their scenes are poignant and they don’t always go where one expects. On the other hand, Eckhart’s scenes with Martin Sheen as his unforgiving father-in-law create sparks as old hurts are dredged up, although the resolution of this conflict seems too trite.

Some of Love Happens is corny and overplayed. Yet there’s something very human about these characters that make the wrong choices too often and have foibles that one might recognize.

*** 1/2Love Happens

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, Judy Greer, Martin Sheen, John Carroll Lynch.

Rated: PG-13, contains adult themes, mild profanity.

mjanuson@projo.com