A Very Merry Toy Store (2017) Available on Prime Video (Freevee)
Here I am again reviewing a movie several years after its release, but I try to be thorough, and often don't see that in other reviews. The cast drew me to this one. I was curious to see a rom-com where the leads are not the usual 20-somethings or young 30-somethings. It was nice to see a 40-year-old Melissa Joan Hart and 43-year-old Mario Lopez (ages at that time) as the stars. That said, I didn't see or feel a great deal of chemistry between the lead actors--and I almost never complain about chemistry--I am usually one to that is open to the subtle signs. I'm not saying these two were bad together, I just don't think they are likely to have viewers on the edge of their seats, hoping they get together at the end--which is part and parcel of romance movies. (But hey, Lifetime is not as good at this as a few other romance movie networks).
The storyline here was interesting, and it was different from many rom-coms. The acting from everyone was more than adequate. I DON'T have the complaints many reviewers did concerning "fake snow," "cheap sets," etc. With rom-coms, I'm always willing to suspend disbelief and not waste my time analyzing peripherals that don't mean anything.
I do have one complaint about the movie--there were simply too many subplots, and there really wasn't enough time to develop them all. It's as if the script only touched the surface of many different stories within the film. Mostly, the subplots were resolved, but poorly, with a disturbing lack of details. We the viewers are left to imagine how the resolution took place, what happened to the people involved? I blame all of this on simply trying to cram too many little stories into an 87 minute movie--there just wasn't time. The result? Too much happened that simply was not satisfactorily explained.
This is not a bad movie. It's an okay movie that entertains, but those MANY subplots dragged the film down to a six for me. With perhaps 2.5 hours to work with and an expanded script, the film might have really shined.
