This is a standard story of a guy and girl who were high-school sweethearts and who, years later, meet again in their home town and rekindle their romance. That's pretty much the whole story here, and you know within the first 15 minutes the way it will turn out. It's extremely predictable.
Why the couple needs a whole movie to get back together is a mystery. This movie feels very padded. You have the slight complication of the heroine Grace's already having a boyfriend. But it's clear from the get-go that he's not a serious obstacle to Grace and Michael's eventual reunion. Her boyfriend Phillip actually kisses Grace on the cheek instead of the lips! Always a bad sign. Grace's son Scott also thinks he's a dweeb. Also a bad sign. Grace's meddling mom likes him, but that's almost a minus rather than a plus, considering how welcoming Grace is to her advice.
Even though the other guy Phillip was clearly wrong for Grace, it was still a little cringy that Grace and Michael were dating each other while she was already in a relationship. There seems to be little guilt on either of their parts except toward the end. It was clear that Grace and Michael liked each other, but this romance seemed to lack a certain spark. There was nothing to make it very interesting. If their previous breakup had been acrimonious, and their initial reactions with each other full of conflict, it could have spiced up things. But they just fell back into the old romance. In the first 20 minutes, Michael could have just said, "I still love you and you still love me. Dump your boyfriend and let's get back together," and they could have saved us, the audience, from another hour of boredom.
Even the subplot with the romance between Grace and Michael's two assistants was pretty dull. They just liked each other from the start and came up with way too easy a way for them to be together long-term. Effortless romance is fine in the real world, but in a romance movie, it's the kiss of death. You need some complications to make it interesting.
This was a sweet story about a sweet romance between likable, relatable characters. I wanted to like it. But the story was tedious and predictable and failed to really engage the audience at any point. So sad.
Why the couple needs a whole movie to get back together is a mystery. This movie feels very padded. You have the slight complication of the heroine Grace's already having a boyfriend. But it's clear from the get-go that he's not a serious obstacle to Grace and Michael's eventual reunion. Her boyfriend Phillip actually kisses Grace on the cheek instead of the lips! Always a bad sign. Grace's son Scott also thinks he's a dweeb. Also a bad sign. Grace's meddling mom likes him, but that's almost a minus rather than a plus, considering how welcoming Grace is to her advice.
Even though the other guy Phillip was clearly wrong for Grace, it was still a little cringy that Grace and Michael were dating each other while she was already in a relationship. There seems to be little guilt on either of their parts except toward the end. It was clear that Grace and Michael liked each other, but this romance seemed to lack a certain spark. There was nothing to make it very interesting. If their previous breakup had been acrimonious, and their initial reactions with each other full of conflict, it could have spiced up things. But they just fell back into the old romance. In the first 20 minutes, Michael could have just said, "I still love you and you still love me. Dump your boyfriend and let's get back together," and they could have saved us, the audience, from another hour of boredom.
Even the subplot with the romance between Grace and Michael's two assistants was pretty dull. They just liked each other from the start and came up with way too easy a way for them to be together long-term. Effortless romance is fine in the real world, but in a romance movie, it's the kiss of death. You need some complications to make it interesting.
This was a sweet story about a sweet romance between likable, relatable characters. I wanted to like it. But the story was tedious and predictable and failed to really engage the audience at any point. So sad.