How to Pick Your Second Husband First

Full disclosure: I work on films...so my opinion is pretty biased.

For starters, I take no pleasure in trashing a film...this one is just unavoidable.

TL;DR = A marriage counselor tries to come up with an idea for a new book (deadlines!!!), while also trying to fix her own marriage...oh and there's a puppy. Bad cinematography, bad editing, bad acting, bad writing...just bad.

Now, for the main part:...I gave up an hour into this film. This movie makes Hallmark films look like gold. The cinematography was just plain amateur. Deep focus throughout, bad framing, completely blown out highlights...like, for real, there's a thing called "ND filters"...use them. They make them in gels too, toss 'em up on all those dang windows.

Production design was awful. White walls throughout, hardly any glasses in the cupboards, scant decorations...it looked like they rented an apartment for shooting and just used what was there. Very little color, which translates to very little life on screen. The moire was pretty atrocious, (which, if it were relegated to a couple of scenes, I'd look past it as being the screen...but there were a bunch of them...). Oh, and there's a part where a male dog does a very female dog thing...you'll see what I mean if you make it that far. Obviously, they had to fake it, and did a poor job.

The acting was awkward...very awkward. Think college class short film awkward. Which leads me to the writing and directing, which I'm sure was half the problem here: the writing is probably the worst part of this movie. So Much Exposition!!! This isn't theatre...I don't want the character to tell me what they're feeling, I want them to SHOW ME!!! Show Dont Tell!!! Ugh! That's my biggest pet peeve of all time. Adding to the dumpster fire, is the dialogue. Did they not do any table reads? Literally NONE of the dialogue sounded natural. It all sounded rehearsed...and exposition-ridden.

The characters were flat as all get-out. I couldn't care less what happened to them...not that anything ever really did. If it happened after the first hour...too late, you've already lost everyone's attention.

Editing wasn't terrible...but it wasn't great either...just kinda meh. There were a few very awkward cuts that should've had a redo.

There's probably a dozen other things I picked out that bothered me, but you get my point. Avoid, don't waste an evening like I did.

All the funny parts were in the ads and weren't all that funny in the context. the lead is a marriage counselor who plays games with her husband. apparently aaron joins justin in leaving his wife but we don't know that until he goes back so why he left is never explained. mom is poison to the relationship until she does an about 180, again for no explanation. not to mention the totally fake backdrop/green screen when justin's supposed to be in europe; there are plenty of places in america or canada that would've doubled easily. the only competent counselor in the whole thing is the dog trainer. basically, the story is flat with no development, stilted dialogue, and the only chemistry is between nicole and aaron. not even the cute puppy can save this tragedy.

I actually liked all the actors. The plot is not good. It just does not work. Their best friend couple are pretty adorable and charismatic, and the dog is a cutie. It is watchable, but oddly slow and strange in spots, and I cannot quite put my finger on it, but I think the bad script is where the whole thing fails. I did watch the entire thing, because I liked the actors. As a story however it is not satisfying.

Gave up near the end. For over one hour I was waiting for something to happen; there were no plot points or plot twists, the 'funny' scenes fell flat, character arcs and relationship dynamics weren't developed. Wouldn't even classify it as amateurish, it was below that. Whole movie could be summed up as: watch a marriage therapist/expert try to desperately come up with an idiotic book idea (because deadlines) that will inevitably ruin her already failing marriage; bonus: puppy scenes!

I watch and enjoy Hallmark movies. My daughter teases me and says they're corny, but I find them quite relaxing. However I have to say, this is the worst Hallmark movie I have ever seen. The two main characters had no chemistry what so ever. The consistent use of the green scene was ridiculous, the writing and plot was awful, the editing must have been done by amateurs, and you have to wait for an hour and ten minutes for the husband to become a real part of the movie and the acting was atrocious. I truly understand why this movie sat on the shelf for two year's. There was no purpose yo this movie. "Don't waste your time, it was HORRIBLE"!!