Alte Liebe

If you want to know what polite dishonesty, shallow emotions, lackluster acting, and a poorly written script add up to, well here's your answer. I love romantic comedies as a genre, but not all are created equal. Some sweep you away in a haze of flowery silly fun that, even though it's predictable, still leave you wanting the lovers to have that long awaited happy ending. Others are like this one.

I am trying to avoid sp***ers, but it's hard to do, and still give a useful review. It should be noted that it's a waste of time to bother watching this movie, and so maybe sp**l*rs aren't a big deal, but other reviews have plenty so go with those. I do wish this movie had been better, because fireworks are awesome, but this movie is not. Basically, I felt horrible for most of the characters, but won't say more to avoid "you know whats."

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. We watched it because it features Meghan Markle, now a member of the British Royal Family, but we got to know her from watching her on the TV series "Suits." This movie was made during the several year run of that TV series.

Here she is Washingtonian Amy Peterson, recent college graduate, with a nice boyfriend Hank. He is about to ask her to marry him when she tells him she has been offered a journalist job in Chicago. That throws a big wet blanket over everything, he doesn't propose, she goes away.

The story switches to 7 years later, she has just suggested a July 4th story about the people who put on big fireworks displays, the business her mom and dad are in. So she travels back home to visit and do a story.

So all that is really just setting up the real story, when she gets home she finds that her best friend is now engaged to be married to Hank and Amy is asked to help with wedding preparations.

Being a Hallmark movie everything is really tame, everyone smiles, I don't recall any angry moments, however a few tears were shed when things begin to unravel for the "happy" couple. Just a good movie to showcase Meghan Markle and we enjoyed it as light entertainment.

'When Sparks Fly' (2014)

Opening thoughts: Hallmark have proven many times that they are capable of making something watchable at least and the best of them are actually very good. Some of those being films with very unappealing premises but somehow managing to make something charming out of it. The premise was quite cute and Lochlyn Munro has been decent elsewhere. Am however not a fan of Meghan Markle, whether in acting or in real life, though it was interesting to see her before she became one of the world's most hated people.

'When Sparks Fly' has no spark whatsoever and really is as bad as has been said. There are worse films about that have nothing good about them (this has a couple despite being lost amidst the numerous major flaws), but it is for me definitely one of the worst films of a hit and miss and not particularly exceptional year for Hallmark. While only just about missing being down there as one of their overall worst. And this is coming from somebody who has always tried to be generous with their ratings and encouraging with their reviewing.

Good things: There are not many good things at all, but the scenery is quite nice and Munro has moments of easy going charm.

Bad things: Markle however is awful, she has little personality that is evident in some wooden line delivery, over-compensates at other points with some very affected facial expressions and comes over as very self absorbed. That her character is so impossible to endear to badly unbalances the film and actually wrecks it, a character with no real redeeming qualities seeemingly and with too many exaggerated negative traits to count (shallow-ness and arrogance being the most frequent, with no signs of learning from mistakes). She also has no chemistry with Munro, who as said does fare a lot better but there are other times where he seemed to know the material was bad and was not comfortable about it. The rest of the cast are bland and poorly utilised, Christopher Jacot looks confused and embarrassed in his screen time.

Also found the story execution very unrealistic, the worst of it exceeding breaking point in credibility straining. Especially the too pat and completely unwarranted ending. Namely because it was so hard to believe what anybody could possibly see in Markle's character and not being able to see through her motives and what she is like when it is so obvious made them come over as ridiculously naive.

Furthermore, all the characters are one dimensional and not fleshed out, basically bland typical Hallmark cliches. It is also very predictable, it's an old premise executed conventionally and with nothing new sprinkled with too much of a manipulative streak (with how Markle's character treats everybody else) that is distasteful and overdone.

Dialogue is awkward with the comedy being contrived and the drama being too sentimental. As said, the ending is far too neat and convenient. It was very obvious from the start what the final decision was, as it is one that is common with Hallmark and always with films with at least one unbearable lead character (one that always has one rooting desperately for the opposite to happen), and it is one that makes one go "why" because of how unearned it is.

Concluding: Overall, it really is that bad.

2/10.

I love Hallmark movies, and this one is good! I'm not a huge fan of the actors, but the movie is still very good, and yes I recommend it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/2/2021

I am usually a fan of these types of movies but this one was not very entertaining to watch. It was almost as if they made it up as they filmed. Not much made sense and was really a stretch almost to the point of unbelievability. For instance, he loves his girlfriend and wants to marry her. He is about to propose with an engagement ring in his hand and says nothing when she says she's going to Chicago even though she says she still wants to stay together. Seven years later she doesn't seem to care much for the city, her job, or her new boyfriend and doesn't make any changes on her own? Her best friend is dating her old boyfriend and is now engaged to him but not many back home seem to know even though it's a small town? Not even her parents? How it ended was really a stretch too. I could go on but it would be a waste of time and I already wasted enough of it watching this movie. Too bad because it was a pretty good premise but ruined by whoever wrote this script. I wish it had been better. Hopefully, sometime down the road, they'll use the same basic idea for a movie and hire better writers.