The Matchbreaker

"Ethan Cooper" (Wesley Elder) is a single, young man who has a problem maintaining any kind of romantic relationship because he is extremely critical of all the women he meets. The reason for this is because he has placed a certain female named "Emily Atkins" (Christina Grimmie) on a pedestal since grade school and everyone else simply cannot compete with the unrealistic standard he has set by comparison. Ironically, this inability to accept imperfection comes in quite handy when he finds himself being asked by parents to break up relationships involving their sons or daughters-and being lucratively rewarded for his efforts in the process. And then one day Emily comes back to town. Now, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a cute little rom-com which, even though it was rather predictable, managed to maintain its charm all the same. In any case, while it certainly wasn't a great comedy by any means, I still liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I usually don't like romantic comedies, but I thought this one genuinely witty, like the ones Ron Howard used to do in the 1980s. Why not quite as cerebral as Whit Stillman's best work, like his films, It is driven by the dialogue, and forgoes the usually expected slide into raunchiness typical of most comedies these days. I think this one should be given a shot, if you want something funny, sweet-natured and inoffensive. It is the only feature film done by the late Christina Grimmie, and is worth discovering.

I think most/all of the reviews for this movie are from the cast/crew, etc. so I'm giving a real review from a real viewer who really found the movie randomly on Netflix. Story: Great. Could have been one of the all time great love stories. On par with Failure to Launch/Can't Buy Me Love/Begin Again. Directing: Surprisingly great. Watch out for Caleb Vetter. This movie could be the "Clerks" of his career. Overall movie quality: Really Good, between the great direction and the fabulous shots of Kansas City, the entire movie flows as you would expect from a RomCom with just enough twists and fun moments. Acting: some of the worst....ever. Christina Grimmie does a great job, not just singing either. I'm not just saying that as respect for such a great loss, she did a fabulous job. There are some minor parts with great acting (Michael Joiner, for example) but all the YouTubers did nothing more than deliver the lines. Wesley Elder is static and lacks a way for us to endear him to us. With better actors this movie could have been great. This also enhances my comparison to Kevin Smith as Brian O'Halloran does a spectacularly bad on-screen job. The difference it that Kevin Smith works with it and Caleb Vetter tries to make a mainstream film with it.

For a film that is just about G rated The Matchbreaker was taking on an unusual subject. A good looking young man who is hired by parents mostly to break up their daughter's engagements to men the parents don't like. That's what Wesley Elder does and if you weren't trying for a PG rating that would of necessity involve seduction.

That being said The Matchbreaker is an innocent bit of fluff involving a guy who loses his day job and starts doing this for a price. That is until he meets Christina Gimmie whose parents have hired him to wean her away from Ben Davies. The problem is that she's a girl he had kid crush on way back when so it gets real fast.

In my sheltered senior citizen world I had not heard of Christina Gimmie so I was shocked and saddened to read of her death and the manner of it. Reminds me a lot of the Rebecca Schaefer and Barbara Colby homicides. And of course another senseless death at the hands of a creature who should never have gotten his hand on a gun. She was a talented young singer who should have had a long career.

This film does strain credulity a bit, but it's nice entertainment.

Wonderful cast of characters, charming situations, interesting pleasant characters - paused 36 minutes into it to say I found it absolutely flawless so far. Its understated and simply done. As I have said in another review when you do something simple it becomes a measure of how well you do something.

This is so very well done.

I am looking forward to other projects from this film maker (writer director).

First time I ever saw a really good film coming from Kansas City, Missouri.

I only found this by searching for Christina Grimmie - poor dear.

This should help memorialize her with happy thoughts.