Once Upon a Date

I rarely have found a made for tv romantic comedy I didn't enjoy. Like the others who reviewed this film, I found the main couple somewhat bland. If they had been the only story in the film, I would have stopped watching. However, I thought the B storyline with the brother and landlord to be very cute and worth watching. They elevated this movie and would have done so further if the movie was all about them.

The star of this movie was Chris Bochu - who took the part of the brother Anthony, a secondary role. His comic timing was spot on, and his humour made the film worth watching. I hope we see more of this young man and his talent.

The film was pleasant enough and good to see Ed Holland who brought some mature professionalism to the movie.

Save the family ... theatre. Big corporation sends the closer (and owner's son) to buy it and dismantle it. The closer keeps it secret and even lies to the theatre owner's daughter. Yep, all this has been done over and over and over. Why bother, right? Well, I thought there was a little bit of a different flavor to how the usual story was told.

The closer lucks into a part in the current play opposite the daughter. OK, that's nothing special. But the play is. Actually some will think the play is a little flaky. And the audience doesn't see some things about the play until it's performed. It's a little fantastical, but the way the end of the play ends the story is actually kind of nice, well played (pun intended).

There's another different thing about this movie, actually I thought a little strange. In this story, the secondary couple, Izzy and Anthony, are really the ones worth watching. Chris Brochu is great as the irreverent and rebellious and apparently lazy brother of the closer. He sets his eyes on the super of the building where they crash to maintain their cover. Izzy is a take no prisoners, independent, spirited foil for Anthony. That's part of the problem with the movie, which isn't really that big a problem, but it's different. You see, the secondary couple each has personality. I would struggle to find much noteworthy about the personality of either Tiffany or Josh. Also, I'm not sure this is exactly accurate, but it sure seemed that Izzy and Anthony had more screen time than Josh and Tiff. The former certainly had more good relationship building which is what I look for in this kind of movie. The relationship between Tiffany and Josh was flat. Izzy and Anthony are at each other's throats for most of the movie, but you could see that there was a lot more flirt than hurt in that sparring.

I hated the conflict resolution. I thought it was trite. It sprung out of nowhere and was contrived. And Frank's attitude made no sense. For a ruthless realty baron, he was indecisive and flighty.

There were definitely aspects of this movie that I really enjoyed, and parts I didn't. I think I can see how a couple minor changes could have made this an 8 or 9 star movie.

I could not find a single actor in this disaster that was worthwhile. The plot is interesting-a bunch of amateur actors play a bunch of amateur actors in an amateur play. It doesn't get much worse than this, and I have seen some real trash before.

OMG, nobody is remotely likable, especially the two supposed brothers, who in no universe could be brothers, both without an iota of talent or acting skill, and both are annoying as can be. I could go on, but the movie gave me a terrible headache.