Passport to Love

...but the rest of "Passport to Love" oscillated between cringey and scarcely-beleivable, with some pretty unpleasant characters popping up here and there, adding to my distate.

I really liked Shae Robbins in the "Destined at Christmas" movies she did for GAC Family, and watched "Passport for Love" only because she was in it.

Unfortunately, her performance wasn't enough to save this movie. It didn't help that Mason Mac, the male lead that I've never seen or heard of before, delivered a subpar performance. The chemistry between them was less than zero. Mr Mac should watch Robbins in the "Destined" films to see how it's done.

Some of the international locales were very exotic, but like Shae Robbins' performance, not enough to rescue the film from the doldrums of mediocrity. Fair to say that most of these non-Christmas GAC Family films are ordinary to terrible.

Four stars for the movie, an extra one for the scenery and Shae Robbins. And that's me being very generous...

Based on the first sequence you might think you have the premise where two people are double booked and share a vacation rental. But they move on from that quickly, which already makes this story a little different.

The competition of the travel blogger with the magazine is also different but quickly turns into very similar to an editor sending a reporter to do a hit piece in the sense that Kade is keeping a secret from Nicole while supposedly working to sabotage her.

It isn't long before I lose respect for Kade. He isn't really trying to damage her, but he is lying to her and doesn't even seem to realize it. He does, but barely.

Hudson is another cardboard villain. He isn't subtle at all and he's stuck on himself.

Well you know the truth is going to come out and trash the relationship. What came next was a bit of a twist for me. From there the movie goes into exactly what you would expect.

I thought the acting was fair, with little spark. Chemistry between Shae Robbins and Mason Mac was comfortable but maybe a little too quiet. The dialogue was similar - fair with little spark.

Other reviewers have noted the scenery as the star of the movie and it is. Unlike some of these movies which focus on everything in one locale, this one hit several and showed each one.

This movie wasn't just bad - it was utterly painful to watch. The acting was horrible, the story line was so stale and there was no substance at all. In fact, after 60 minutes of agony we fast forwarded it to the last 5 minutes to see how it ended and put ourselves out of our misery. The only positive thing I can say is that I love to travel so the locations (that weren't faked) caught my interest. There was so much more they could have done with that part of the story line. Instead we had to watch two boring characters walk around talking about nothing of importance and being ravenous and needing to eat. Surely they could have come up with something of more substance.

I agree with other reviewers that the locations were the only stars of this movie. The premise had potential but the male lead was a terrible actor, stiff and awkward and there was no chemistry between the two. His awkwardness could be attributed to the unpleasant task set by his boss but it was unfortunately there from the get-go. Very poor casting choice.

She is a good actress but even she couldn't save the show. The best scenes are between her and her assistant. At least they are more natural with each other.

The evil boss was almost a caricature and I didn't respect Kade for lying to both Nicole and him. He didn't agree with his boss's intentions but still took advantage of the trips to spend time with Nicole.

I liked the opening which was cute and believable but after that, the locations took precedence over the poor writing. If he'd put more effort into his job when they first met his boss may never have tasked Kade to execute his underhanded plan.

We were given a taste of the Caribbean and wonderful and interesting coverage of beautiful Cappadocia but Scotland and Finland were underplayed. I'm from Scotland so I was disappointed how little they showed of the magnificent vistas Scotland has to offer. An archery scene instead of showing castles, lochs and mountains really disappointed me.

At least there were some beautiful drone shots of the Finnish terrain and the shots of glass pods under the Aurora Borealis were unique but could have been even more special and romantic with a different director and cinematographer.

The lack of a costume designer and crew was obvious and I was delighted so many people noticed this. Too many TV movies for Lifetime and Hallmark put little to no importance on wardrobe and it shows.

The only good point - the locations. And nothing else. The chemistry works with indulgence, the crisis moment is just pathetic, the reconciliation unrealistic to childish. And the script is just poor.

From the beginning, one so familiar, to the profesional antagony , all works not so well , not exactly for predactibility but for the superficial construction of story.

So, maybe more images from different locations were a good thing . But the lovely exploration of traditions and some drops of cliches are nice premises.

In essence, another rom-com. And just inspired portrait of Cappadocia.

Is it enough ? With some indulgence, why not ?