Bridal Boot Camp

The story seemed to me to be all over the place. Andy seemed like two different people, or more even. This story was filled with philosophies on love and marriage and they were even more all over the place. Andy's speech at the end made no sense for the setting because it was in the movie to contrast to the boot camp rules, but only 5 people would have known about them.

The whole idea of an engaged woman flirting with another single man turns me off. As to what was wrong with her relationship with her fiancé, what was she thinking going into it? The guy is in med school and apparently working a job too. Of course he is going to be tired and not around much.

As for acting, it seems like Spencer Locke was shouting way too much. And Jake Sandvig seemed to be working real hard to enunciate everything he said. Even so, they had some chemistry.

Totally irrelevant observation: I watched this on UpTV, yet the engaged couple was already sleeping in the same bed. No judgment, but it surprises me a little. Because that is so unrealistic, I joke about the fact that Hallmark, which is slightly less conservative than UpTV, never has unmarried people sleeping together.

The screenwriter was asleep at the wheel. This story went all over the place - suddenly sticking profound insights into people's mouths with no warning, painfully stupid dialogue, badly disguised flirting, no chemistry among any of the characters, bizarre plot twists that could break a viewer's neck.

I hated everything about the floral designer, Casey Connor - he constantly intruded on Andy's life to the point where I thought he was going to gas her and stick in the back of a van, he claimed to have feelings for Andy but I honestly could not tell if he really did or he just was using her for a good time, and I thought the actor was quite bad. I've never seen Sandvig in anything besides "Easy A," but here he had one facial expression, which he basically stole from Gene's parents in "The Emoji Movie."

None of the acting did much for me. The two lead actresses were sort of cute but I did not believe much of the drama from them. And the "drill sergeant" of the boot camp was, well, not all that intimidating! I'm not saying she should have been R. Lee Ermey, but she could have had more presence, to spoof the genre of "boot camps" a little more. I was hoping, from the title, that this would be a kind of "Full Bridal Jacket," but everything about the camp was understated and silly (not to mention, most of the exercises were stuff that the brides could easily have done on their own).

Andy's fiancé was barely developed at all. He hardly showed up in the entire movie! He just worked a lot - is working some kind of crime, incompatible with true love? I guess so! Screenwriter didn't care.

This movie was not funny, either intentionally or unintentionally. I didn't get any romantic feel from it, either - and I like "The Wedding Singer" and "The Princess Bride," just in case you were wondering. Andy is supposed to be a dressmaker, but we saw almost no scenes with her creating a dress. They could have tied that in with the story more. Not one character convinced me that she or he was the person that the movie told us she or he was. Like I said, the movie failed to spoof the "boot camp" aspect, and it had no other surprises in store for me. None.

I only gave this movie 2 stars rather than 1 because it didn't offend me. It couldn't even rise to that occasion. "Bridal Boot Camp" was awkward, unimaginative, forced, and in spite of what some of the characters later claimed, I don't think anyone learned anything from it. At least a real boot camp would have been rigorous and life-changing.

Kind of a dumb story. We like almost all of the Halmark movies.

Spencer is super cute, I could watch her all day.

So angry I was duped into renting this against my better judgment by a 4-star average based on TWO REVIEWS. I couldn't even finish this garbage. Don't waste your money; I'm telling you. And Amazon doesn't even offer SD prices anymore. So mad. Also, don't bother reviewing unless you have five lines of feedback. Garbage!!

(I will preface this review by saying, I am the epitome of the target audience for this type of movie. I'm an absolute sucker for made-for-tv rom coms, and I've watched hundreds upon hundreds of them. Seriously, I have a list.)

The writing in this movie is, in a word, atrocious...

Shortly into watching, you are introduced to the "Bridal Boot Camp". The theme: If you don't conform to the 1950's stereotype of the "perfect" wife, you suck, your marriage will suck, and your husband won't love you. Yep, you read that right. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

The "instructor" starts off with the cliche of insulting all the participants, and then proceeds to give a set of rules which may have well been titled "How to set gender equality back 60 years". And she's actually serious about them, it's not written as a joke. Any self respecting woman who wasn't born 4 generations ago not just walking out of the class at this point defies belief, but yet...

I made it through the second segment of the "Boot Camp" (which was just more of the same message), about 30 minutes in, before actually turning the movie off. Perhaps only the second or third time I've ever done that in my 500+ history of rom-coms. It's among the worst writing I've ever seen in a rom-com.

If you want to see women desperate to learn from an instructor trying to mold them into Donna Reed while treating them like crap, then this movie is for you! If not, then avoidance is suggested.