Breakup Boot Camp

Yes we have seen this story before, but a good cast and not too sappy writing lifts this above the usual romance trope.

The leads have real chemistry, Ryan Paevey is particularly good.

Finally a Hallmark movie that showcased the best for Italia Ricci acting skills!! Looking refreshed, confident, and working with a solid script, italia own the role of breakup boot camp leader Miranda. Cute original story that is interesting yet charming! Enjoyable and fun! 7 stars.

This was actually a pretty cute story. Italia Ricci and Ryan Paevy are actually very good together. A sequel would be nice.

Now on to location! The sweeping views of the bay are laughable. Portland had no bays. There's a river. A big, wide river - but no bay. If Hallmark is going to use Portland as a "location" for their movies (but are filmed in British Columbia), they need to be more careful about showing the surrounding area in BC. They've done this before showing huge mountains in LaJunta, CO (The Christmas Train) - when LaJunta is on the easter plains - nowhere near mountains. Obviously, Hallmark thinks people don know these locations - so just throw it in there.

It was hard sitting thru this Hallmark movie. Slow moving with terrible production values and directing. To top it off the leads had NO chemistry whatsoever in my opinion. Only stayed with it for Ryan Paevey and even that was hard.

...I was expecting this to be terrible, but I was surprised.

Miranda runs a Breakup Boot Camp, where you get over getting dump in six weeks. Ben's girlfriend breaks up with him and his sister convinces him to go there with her. So our two leads meet. At first, Ben was quite skeptical (so was I) but seeing an opportunity for a job promotion and after running into his ex, he decides to attend.

It's nothing we haven't seen before, you know how this goes from the first moment, but the leads have good scenes and believable chemistry. And yes, I thought the plot was stupid at first (people paying to get over a break up?) but amazingly, it made sense (Maybe it was Italia Ricci's acting convincing me). Although I kept being distracted, my attention always returned to the screen.

Also, extra points for the flash forward. I appreciate seeing a glimpse of the characters in the future.