Autumn in the City

Aimee Teegarden always brings a lot of young fresh energy to her roles. Evan Roderick is great as her love interest, they have chemistry which doesn't always happen in Hallmark rom-coms. They should be matched up again, maybe a Spring movie set in the country. Or a winter film since Roderick is a former hockey player. The supporting cast is good, especially the bakery couple Toby and Will. Strong Canadian supporting actors.

The script isn't that good, there are some funny parts but it's clunky, it doesn't seem to fit together smoothly. As with most of the rom-coms it's filmed in BC with exterior shots of NYC. Vancouver can be made to look like almost any North American city.

Piper is about to turn 30 and she wants to make her own path, figure out what she wants to do. So, she moves to NYC and tries a few different temp jobs. There she meets her handsome neigbour Austin, a wanna be writer whose mom insists follows her path.

It's realistic in a way that a 30 year old doesn't know what to do with life and also in a way in which a parent wants them to follow their same path. I kind of sympathise with both.

I thought Aimee was amazing and there was chemistry with Evan. I personally thought Evan's character Austin could show more excitement and a fun, silly scene was missing from this as well.

This is clearly not a Hallmark production even if it was shown there. I'm not sure if a few of the NYC shots were real but they looked like it (The Manhattan skyline and Washington Square Park). The streets certainly weren't and that's okay.

I had big expectations about this. It's definitely not a 10 but this tv film certainly delivers what's promised.

The story has bizarre moments. Early on, some were even slightly cringe worthy. What part of "be seen and not heard" did you not get, Piper? For a bit, I thought Piper was going to turn me off. To be honest, she mellowed a little as the movie went on which is not unusual. Writers like to establish some antagonism early on and once that is gotten past, the characters drop the really rough edges.

Piper is from a very small town background, but this is not your typical girl next door. She has some of the better qualities of that GND but she's much more than that. She knows how to be appealing to people, even virtual strangers, but she isn't at all fake. It is unrealistic how naive she is the way she is approaching finding a career, but as a viewer, I had to ignore that so that I could enjoy what was truly appealing about her character. And Piper is the reason I loved this movie.

Aimee Teagarden and Evan Roderick have great chemistry. Their dialogue helps. It's fun and interesting.

The story seems to ramble a bit, but in fact it's right where it wants to be.

Another thing that really irritated me early was Austin's mom. It's pretty bad when your mom doesn't let you order what you want for lunch even after you bring it up. He's a full grown adult, even if for a while he doesn't act like one.

One development from the latter half of the movie is totally predictable, but who Piper turned to totally surprised me.

I look forward to watching this again in the future because I'm pretty sure I'll pick up things I missed the first time.

Realism in this one is catastrophic. Why would they set the story in autumn while you can tell the set isn't really in that season? I mean, let's be real: in fall New York, you wouldn't go out with a light dress and a light jacket like it's warm outside. Plus, Central Park looking nothing like Central Park.

Besides, if the girl has only two months, it would make sense for it to be summertime. I guess jobs wouldn't be that easy to get in summer. But again, how unrealistic is it that you can find as many interesting jobs through a temporary work agency. And who I would have the luxury to refuse a job in this economy?

As for the relationships, I don't live in New York but I do know big cities, and characters are really too one-dimensional, starting with the coffe shop owners.

The actors are good though, so it compensates.

My expectations aren't that high for a TV movie but it's like they shoot themselves in the feet with all these.

This Hallmark romance takes place in New York City. Piper (Aimee Teegarden) moves from the Midwest to NYC to find herself. She doesn't know what career path to follow (though viewers can discern her eventual career immediately), so she temps at various jobs. When she meets her neighbor, Austin (Evan Roderick), things are not very cordial, but we know where this is going. Austin's dream is to write children's books, but he has put that option on a back burner.

The problem with this film is the script. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, particularly in the early going. If you can get past that, the rest of the story is endurable. Just don't expect any great plot twists.