Three Weeks, Three Kids

Although not the best I ever saw this is still remarkable good, Yes I recommend it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/9/2021

I really liked this movie. It might be because I personally am that "cool aunt", so I easily related to Jennifer's character.

But what I really liked about this movie was the way the actors portrayed their characters. Sure, it's not award winning acting, but the actors portrayed their characters very realistically. Hallmark movies, I have found, have a tendency to have good general stories, but they're portrayed in an unrealistic, cheesy way. In comparison to other Hallmark movies I could mention, the acting wasn't nearly as cheesy as it could have been. That might be because when I'm with my family, we pretty much behave the same exact way.

I also felt that the dialogue was well written. Not because it was incredibly poetic or quotable, but it was (again) realistic. It was like someone eavesdropped into a normal conversation I'd have with my own family, should have something like what the characters experienced occurred. People do have interesting conversations with their families sometimes, you know.

There was no "wow" factor to this movie, and at times I'll admit it was fairly predictable. But I will say it was cute and charming. And sometimes, it's nice to watch something like this. Sometimes it's nice to not be blown out of the water.

I would watch this movie again. I would even recommend it to others to watch (if they were into Hallmark movies).

Jennifer Mills (Anna Chlumsky) is a 25 year old freewheeling single with commitment issues and an aloof boyfriend. Her older sister Mandy and husband are going on a European vacation for 3 weeks. At the last minute, their mother can't babysit the 3 kids due to an injury to their father. Not everything goes smoothly with the cool aunt. The eldest daughter Alice Norton (Tiera Skovbye) has boy troubles. The younger girl has mean girls troubles, and the boy is a neurotic mess being bullied. Will Johnson (Warren Christie) is the handsome new next door neighbor who lends a hand. It turns out that her mother isn't really truthful.

It's a Hallmark movie with nothing special. It's shot like every other second rate TV movie. There isn't much to recommend other than that there isn't anything objectionable going on. The acting is unimpressively reasonable. The dialog is pedestrian. The movie could do with some hijinx. The kids' problems are good drama. The little kids almost save this movie. The parents in Europe is not so good drama because there is no real danger of a breakup. The romantic chemistry between Jennifer and Will could do with a bit more heat but it's sweet anyways.

As for the movie itself, it's not as well done (or poorly, according to your tastes) as the typical Hallmark movie, but not remarkably bad. What is remarkable is the viciously bad acting performance by Anna Chlumsky. She doesn't really act -- she just makes faces toward the camera. Katherine Hepburn said, "Acting is the perfect idiot's profession." After watching Anna Chlumsky mug and clown her way through this film, I would like to nominate her for the award of Perfect Idiot Actress. The blatant attempt to sex up her character (at work in an office, no less!) in a Hallmark movie with a very tight T-shirt and a very short skirt is laughable, also.

This was a fun little watch. It's not something I would watch over and over, but it was fun for this first time. It made me want to book a trip to Europe ASAP!