Un nouveau départ

This is another one of these movies where the leading male has no backbone. Is this what the media industry sees leading males as such "MUSH"? Is this what the Western male has become in the eyes of the entertainment industry? Are there no real men left in the writers, producers and directors in the world of movies? Or at least some real men that can influence their perception.

I am not talking about men who beat their wives into submission. I mean, men with passion, feelings of other attributes that women can appreciate. Take this jerk of a husband. If his wife went out and slept with his uncle and the rest of the men in the nearby village? I wouldn't blame her. The only thing I would frown upon her is, why did she ever marry the fool?

his guy has no clue on how to satisfy a woman. Can you blame his first wife for telling him to go screw his uncle? As for the second wife, well she was more forgiving but he didn't deserve her either. Another waste of time movie. Even my wife said she would have left me if I acted this way.

I thought that a former television movie that Roma Downey did, Borrowed Hearts, was wonderful, so I decided to watch this one. Obviously she doesn't try to make these films alike. Roma's character spent almost the whole movie crying! I don't see why she even cared about keeping her marriage with her husband. He'd scream at her and she'd start crying. That was the concept of the whole movie. Roma appeared to be trying hard to make the movie a success, but that apparently didn't happen. It had good ratings, but it might make some of her fans from her former movies stop watching them. It's obvious that some of Roma is capable of making good movies, but this wasn't one of them.

SECOND HONEYMOON (2001) (TV) is extremely similar to BORROWED HEARTS (1997) (TV). Both have Roma Downey as the leading lady. Both have a mysterious Mexican man (Antonio in SECOND, Javier Del Campo in BORROWED), who is much more than he seems, playing the busy matchmaker. Both try to tell a heartwarming light comic/romantic "mature boy gets mature girl" tale.

There are some differences. BORROWED HEARTS takes place in the cold north during winter/Christmas. SECOND HONEYMOON takes place in the warm tropics affording some eye candy scenes with a daytime bikini beach dance teacher and one at night showing a very curvy Congo dance party.

SECOND HONEYMOON, unfortunately, tones down the charm, and plays up the conflict and comedy. Too bad. Tim Matheson and Roma Downey might have caught fire given enough music and romance. BORROWED HEARTS is a much more solid production. If in the mood for cute light romance, BORROWED HEARTS is the better of the two.

It was very disappointing to see Roma participate in such a poor excuse for a movie. It appeared to me that she was trying to break away from being typecast, but I really wish that she had done it with better material.

The seeming moral of this movie is that you can take a couple that is drifting hopelessly apart, strand them on a deserted island for a couple of days, and then they can live happily ever after. What a great concept! With enough deserted islands, who needs Dr. Laura?

One thing that continually went through my mind was why she tried so hard to save this marriage? Her husband was a selfish loser, and a philanderer wannabe, giving the rest of us men a bad reputation. I was rooting for her to dump him the whole time. The worst part of this movie was the fact that he never repented or reformed.

On the plus side, there were several good laughs, it was for the most part quite wholesome, everyone does eventually live happily ever after, and the beautiful Roma put in a good performance as always. It can definitely be categorized as light, humorous, family entertainment.

Regretfully, this is a lackluster film. The cast is fine, but the script does them no favors.

Tim Matheson and Roma Downey portray a married couple who has decided to separate. But before they do, they are given a "second honeymoon" trip to the Caribbean island of Manzanilla, a fictitious location that resembles Puerto Rico.

Matheson plays an unromantic penny-pincher who is a bank executive. Downey plays a thoughtful, passionate woman who, because she grows plants for a living, is nurturing. As the story develops, we find that both are responsible, in part, for the demise of their relationship. But Matheson's part makes him a caricature, playing for comedy. Downey's part makes her contemplative and realistic.

In effect, he is not interesting and she is disinterested. Much of the plot is predictable, and we can see where the story is leading.

One positive aspect of the film is the portrayal of Antonio by Daniel Lugo. Antonio is a guardian angel-like figure who looks out for the couple's best interests, even when they self-sabotage. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/15/2021