Il ragazzo dei miei sogni

Caught this little gem on the tele this past Sunday afternoon and enjoyed every minute of it. The story centres around aspiring editor Abby Morel and her exploits in trying to find her boss the perfect match, only to fall in love with the same man. Natalie Dreyfuss gives an absolutely charming and endearing performance and is surrounded by a strong supporting cast, including the handsome Andrew Dunbar. Ultimately, it is a made for tv movie, so the twists and turns are somewhat predictable, but the characters and witticisms had me smiling from beginning to end.

The Hallmark style rom/coms are all mostly the same dozen or so plots with another couple dozen plot devices jumbled in. As a result, for me, the ones that I'm most likely to enjoy will have one or two of my favorite actors. Sometimes the writing and dialogue will do the trick, but usually it's the chemistry between the leads.

I never heard of Natalie Dreyfuss or Andrew Dunbar, but the idea of finding a date for Abby's boss appealed to me as something to pass the time while I exercised. Was I pleasantly surprised!

The writing and dialogue is better than average. The dialogue is witty. Some of the situations are quirky. Overall, this isn't the most original story since it boils down to the anonymous recluse author being right in front of Abby's face. (The audience learns this fairly early.) And a lot of the things that develop are mostly predictable including the conflict and the general outcome.

The gem is Natalie Dreyfuss and to a certain extent her chemistry with Andrew Dunbar. Abby is fun. She is self deprecating, but underneath she is confident. She wants to be honest. Dan is also a good guy. The supporting cast is decent except for Christian Sloan who plays a cardboard head partner.

This movie is more complex than I anticipated with a few twists thrown in. The lead is surprisingly goofy and everybody is flawed but usually for understandable reasons, which makes them less stereotypical than initially appears. It almost feels like a pilot for a longer run and I would watch more. There's not a massive age range of characters, but youngsters could watch too and anyone feeling a bit unconfident in life would probably feel better about things after.

I mainly watched this to see Natalie Dreyfuss, as I'm curious to see her other work besides The Flash. She's so amazing in this. She's so charming and lovely in this movie. She definitely range as she can do comedies and dramas.

As for the movie itself, I surprisingly liked it, as it had vibes of a Hallmark movie. It was heartwarming, light and cute. It's a nice watch if you're looking something light to watch or if you're into romantic films.

None of these Hallmark style movies are very well written, but this one was above average. Enough twists on the standard Hallmarkish plot to keep it moving.

For me the acting was what I found most compelling. I particularly liked the female lead and was surprised I haven't seen her in more movies like this. She's quite charming on camera.

I found the film entertaining and might even rewatch it some day.