A Lifelong Love

I love watching Hallmark movies, however this particular movie was horrible. It was slow, they did not left you hanging about the interviews because they never showed them. Andrea Brooks (Annika) and Patch May (Ryan) are the most boring actors I have ever seen. There bantering makes me cringe because they are so horrible at acting, at least in this movie. The first kiss they show was sickening, there is no chemistry between these two actors, and this movie should have been stopped before it ever started. I am so disappointed in Hallmark on this movie. This was the first time I ever turned a Hallmark movie.

I love these types of movies but honestly, it was very poorly cast and directed. There wasn't much chemistry with any of the cast. It seemed as if they just pull these people off the street. I don't think I've ever given a back review but as much as I had waiting in much anticipation, it couldn't be over fast enough. The scenes from the past weren't congruent with the present, either. The woman and the man weren't old enough to have been of age in the 50's. It was just unbelievable from beginning to end. To be technical, the lighting wasn't realistic either. I didn't feel any passion or chemistry from the leading man, who o didn't find right at all for the part. I wish this had been finessed, it could have been a very sweet movie.

The premise is another quest story. The four main characters are seeking a lost love of Abe, Annika's grandpa.

Annika is annoying. She is just an over-planner, but she is kind of neurotic. Despite being a planner, she is also irresponsible. "Oh, it will be OK." Ryan is almost as bad to the other extreme. He has no plan for anything.

Ellie is fun but not enough to save the movie.

There is some banter between Andrea Brooks and Patch May but I don't think it translates into chemistry. There is a bit too much of an edge in the banter and the personalities of Annika and Ryan are like oil and water.

Annika is a poetry writer. She and Ryan tell all the prospects they meet that they are writing a book about love stories. Putting a love story into prose is one thing, but I don't understand how you do it in poetry, at least not with way too much work for a two week project. Ryan is set as a partner to Annika, but his contribution appears to consist solely of snapshots of the people they meet - no artistry at all. The whole development of the quest for Ruth is weird and doesn't really make sense.

This won't matter to many, perhaps most of you, but the movie starts off showing a teen couple dancing in what is clearly a malt shop from the late 1950s. Every feature period correct for a 50s malt shop is there down to the old-fashioned jukebox and the soda jerk (this is not a criticism--that's what they were called). After dancing and showing that they were clearly in love, we cut to the guy in uniform, obviously going off to war, the girl sad and upset. But guess what, he's wearing a uniform not adopted by the military until some years AFTER the Vietnam War ended. So there is what appears to be a thirty year oops. Cut to present day, and the guy, now a grandfather, is telling his granddaughter that this all actually took place in the 1970s. Well, as someone who went to high school in the early 1970s, we just didn't hang out in 1950s malt shops--because there weren't any! And as someone who went into the military afterward, I can tell you that if "grandpa" was supposed to be going to Vietnam, he was wearing a uniform not yet adopted. To add to the already ridiculous situation, he was wearing his pants over his boots--the Army and Marines bloused their pants. The Air Force did not, but they didn't adopt this uniform until the mid-1980s! Bottom line, it's really hard for some of us to get into a story when Hallmark makes NO attempt to get history remotely correct, making so many errors in the first five minutes!

Your enjoyment may vary, of course, depending on your willingness to suspend disbelief.

6.4 stars.

This is about a woman writer of poems and her current life struggles with being published. She is helping grandpa find his old love from ages ago. She runs into an old boyfriend who eventually becomes the love interest again. He is also her main competition on getting her book released. They are now collaborating on a romance project, interviewing various people in the search. He is being nice, he wants her to excel, she is suspicious and dodgy because she doesn't trust the process. They gallivant around town to town on this project, argue, discuss, disagree come to some form of agreement...eventually things fall into place.

The lead female is a good actress, seen her in various Hallmark. This film is nothing special, in fact she is standoffish for the most part throughout. Not very flattering.

Grandpa has a secondary fluff part and is just a nice elderly man that smiles a lot and sincerely cares for everyone, but doesn't want to rock the boat or cause any stress for anyone.

The lead male is quirky and interesting, unfortunately this film does not help his career.

A young girl in her early teens is also in the picture. I think she's the lead male's daughter, but they have a strange relationship. Maybe he's her uncle, I forget. I saw this weeks ago, just getting to this review. She is endearing and grows on you and has been in several Hallmark films. I suspect this will be near the end of her run since she's now a teenager, and we know filmmakers don't cast kids once they lose the mystique. I digress.

This was just a so-so adventure, nothing stands out as special or interesting, it's just a bunch of people conversing about boring struggles with family and love. I won't visit this film again.