Un ammiratore segreto

There's a slow start. Then there is a bad start. A really bad start. I hate the failed-he's-going-to-propose especially when the guy isn't just lame, but cliche lame. (He doesn't even realize they broke up.) I think it was supposed to be funny. I'd just prefer they left that whole exchange out.

The movie also starts with a whole need-a-column-by-Christmas premise. The unsigned letter/love-letter angle isn't new either, although it is a little less trampled as a premise. Combined with search-for-secret-admirer and it's a little more common, but still not obscenely overused.

There's a lot more lame and way too many more cliches and a lot of the acting isn't great in a lot of cases. Oddly, there's some funny dialogue in with the lame, so the movie isn't a total loss, especially if you like that type of humor that leans toward exaggerated rather than subtle..

Despite all the lame, overused , and totally predictable elements, I'm glad I hung on to the end. There were some sweet, interesting, and not so predictable moments. And it was put together well.

I also like Ashley Newbrough although I have a hard time putting my finger on what about her. Maybe it's the fact that she isn't 40 or older like so many of Hallmark's regulars (yes I know this movie is Lifetime). Maybe it's that she seems to connect easily with her opposites consistently.

Movies often thrown in "cute" kids as an extra hook. This one is a little above average on that front. Izzy Herbert doesn't do a great acting job, but she does enough to make her role count.

A writer returns to her home town to see which of her past boyfriends might have written an unsigned love letter to her. Could have been some funny moments but they were few and far between. The guy who loves her is obvious from the start and it's just tedious to see how they end up together. The cast is okay. Ashley has a big smile and winning personality. Tilky looks a bit sleepy.

Amelie breaks up with her boyfriend after he "kind of" proposes to her. She also receives a letter, unsigned, from someone from her hometown, so she decides to pack up a few things and go home to find out who sent it and to write an article for her "Love note" column.

I had a few problems with this: 1) I get it, the boyfriend was not a good one to her: she gave him to much and he gave her nothing. She did good in dumping his pathetic face. And I understand she was eager to find out who sent that letter, I would be too, but the fact that she was willing to move on so fast from the guy she "wanted" to spend her life with...

2) Amelie and Ian did not have enough scenes. They were best friends before and I love that trope "best friend to lover". He had feelings before and that's great but I would have liked to have more of him showing her how he felt and her developin an attraction for him, like any other movie out there. The chemistry between the characters, from my POV was not good, again, I wish I had seen more scenes between the leads.

3) She just stood up from her desk, totally ignored her boss and decided to do her work from her hometown. That does not happen in the real world.

4) The "robot-dog" was kind of funny. The child was not good, she kind of reminded me to the girl from "Charlie and the chocolate factory" and I did not mean that as a compliment.

Ok, now to the things I liked: I was REALLY upset about Amelie "changing" her personality for the sake of love, until I figured it out it was part of the plot. And I'm glad it was Ian who pointed out to her. Secondly, Amelie asking her ex if he had a "parner or girlfriend". Nice one, Lifetime.

I had more negative things to say than positive, but I actually enjoyed it. The plot was a very good idea, but that it was not well executed while being written.

Although the basic plot of this offering is pretty standard stuff, the peculiar choices made in some of the plot points push this into bizarro territory fast and doesn't let up. First, our heroine breaks up with her long-term boyfriend, after his slap-worthy proposal (seriously dude!). She goes back to the office where she finds an anonymous love letter from a guy she spent a memorable Christmas with except she can't remember it. She pivots at lightening speed into pursuing love with this mystery man by going back to her tiny small town to solve the mystery.

Her first step is to go to a local woodsy park to uncover a huge treasure chest she apparently stores there containing her personal photos and diary so she can refresh her memory. Seriously, she brushes the snow off the chest, which is seemingly unmolested by curious passersby or the elements, and digs right in. This is a major step onto planet weird. But not the last.

She has two hilarious encounters with the first two former boyfriends/suspects. With the first one, she interrogates him about the love letter, but she does it in front of his fiancé! It was not pretty, but it was pretty funny. The second guy is a total freak-show who is obsessed with puns about his fish obsession and who laughs like a donkey. This was comic gold. Gold, I tell you. Until you think about it a bit. How could she ever have even spent a minute with this lunatic let alone had a serious romantic relationship with him? Not to mention he is about a foot shorter than she is.

Meanwhile, the true letter-writer, who is a childhood buddy, is following her around. He is a widower and father of possibly the most annoying child in Hallmark history. In order to explain the girls off the wall behavior the writers apparently have inserted the information that she is an eccentric "genius." Daddy has been devotedly in love with our heroine even throughout his marriage. Fortunately the woman is now dead, unmourned and forgotten by both her husband and her genius child. To make this love interest even more attractive as potential husband material, he has invented a mechanical dog that looks, feels, sounds, and acts like a real dog. It steals the show. Seriously, I couldn't look away.

I could go on and on. Our heroine has bonafide psychological issues when it comes to her love life, plus an identity crisis. Seriously, a psychologist would have a field day. By the end, she learns nothing, and develops past her challenges in no way. She ends up with the "right" guy for no reason. The happy ending rests on her doubling down on her disturbing neuroses. I will kindly leave her buying almost a hundred cups of hot cocoa in one sitting, Her father's debts, Her falling for an evil dirtbag, and the reappearance of her dumber than a bag of hair ex-boyfriend by the wayside.

There were some genuine laugh out loud moments and a few were intentional. Ashley Newbrough was fine as an actress, and so was Tilkey Jones as the love struck widower/inventor. Chante Bowser was a star as her normal, sane, and smart as a whip best friend. I blame the writers and the director for this jaw-droppingly eccentric Christmas catastrophe.

Great plot and actors. Very light, entertaining comedy romance film. I enjoyed it very much!