Germany 1772 - the young and tumultuous Johann Goethe aspires to be a poet but after failing his law exams, is sent by his father to a sleepy provincial court to mend his ways. At first, he tries to do his best and wins the praise and friendship of his superior Kestner. But then Lotte enters his life and nothing is the same as before. However, Johann is unaware that Lotte is in fact already promised by her father to Kestner. The dramatic and unfulfilled love between the poet and Lotte was the template for his masterpiece "The Sorrows of Young Werther."

Charming in a way that American romantic comedies have all but forgotten, Young Goethe in Love is by turns cute, campy and endearingly cliched.
--NPR