Playing House

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this little made for Lifetime movie. There is a lot that is entertaining about it. The predictable Lifetime storyline is there of course, but they've dressed it up to go to town. The writing is actually pretty good, the characters are multi-dimensional and not completely inclined to stereotypes. I am writing this under the assumption that the campiness in the script was intentional; heaven help me if I am wrong!

The story revolves around Madeline, a young career woman who has a fling with a hot jazz musician. He goes off on tour and she finds herself pregnant and alone. Somewhat ambivalent and depressed, Madeline goes home to Canada to visit her wacky family (not Coen brothers wacky, but more than you would come to expect from "TV for Women"). On her return home to Manhattan, She has an unfortunate encounter with a Customs officer and an expired passport, which is one of the highlights of the movie. She finds herself stuck in Canada, but her family invite her to stay and have the baby in Canada. This is her idea of hell on earth (I can relate, indeed), but she has no choice as she has been denied re-entry into the US for 1 year. The bulk of the movie finds her adjusting to her new life, and it starts feeling more Lifetimey here. But overall, I was mostly entertained by this movie.

I've seen it today, on HBO (without commercials, thank God!), and I simply loved it! It's the perfect movie for a rainy ... almost winter day, perfect to warm your souls out!It's filled with emotions, and comic, but so real situations!My mother saw it before me and I was on the edge to ask her if Frannie was going to end up with that gorgeous, sensitive guy, named Calvin...or with Michael, the writer, also gorgeous, but a litte colder ... :) but I retained myself, and stayed till the end of the movie, and I'm glad I've done that!I'm in loved with the characters, they played their roles all so well!I'm not going to tell the story, because I've seen that others have done that before me, and they've done it well, so I will let you see the movie and tell for yourselves if you liked it or not! :) Enjoy it!

I wish I had known how good this movie was going to be; I would have recorded it. The previous poster already explained the plot. I want to add that the characters are well written and you will end up caring about what happens to them. The two leads have fantastic chemistry - he is HOT! I loved that the movie made me laugh. Many scenes did not feel contrived. It's not the usual "girl is in mortal danger and an idiot" plot or the "my love is going to change the man I love" crap.

Anyway, just go ahead and watch it. If you like romantic comedies, you should tape it. I am in my forties and this movie felt like the writers were not talking down to me or like I was wasting my time. I wish Lifetime would develop more believable stories like this one.

When I saw the trailer for this TV movie, I thought, "Ooh, that looks like it might be a good watch." The basic idea for this movie had potential. However, they didn't use it to the full advantage. Sure, this movie had it's moments, both cute and heart warming, but that's about it; the movie lacked substance. Normally, even if the premise for the movie is weak and even predictable, there's a quality to it that makes you keep wanting to watch and even come to care for the characters. This movie didn't have that something special; at least, not for me. I was disappointed, because I know that it could have been much better.

I gave this movie 5 out of 10 stars, mostly because even though it lacked in many things, it wasn't a completely horrible movie...It also wasn't the best either. My advice is, if you have to chose between this movie and something you've been impatiently waiting to see, go ahead and tape this one and save it for a Saturday when there's nothing else on to watch!

A very touching movie! Although the whole story does feel like a tale, it does reflect certain aspects of the real life, such as how we sometimes get lost in our life and make a tour that may take months to years before realize what we really want. The difference between a comedy and real life is that in real life if we miss something by mistake we can rarely find it back, whereas in a movie things will happen as you wish eventually. The movie leads us to think more about cherishing what life has granted and to think at least twice before we say something, which may cause permanent damage in the real life. In any case, the acting of both the actress and the actor is excellent! I really couldn't help bursting into tears at the end of the movie. I recommend everyone to watch it. By the way, as a girl I think Lucas Bryant (Calvin) is really sexy! :)