L'uomo dei miei sogni

Ok yeah, rom com, but the story line, character personality, and over all, PRODUCTION AND DIRECTING in this movie had me amazed. Can't believe I never heard of it until scrolling through HBO one bored night.

'Looking for Mr Right' (2014)

Opening thoughts: Expectations were not massively high to be honest. Sarah Lancaster is often very watchable, even though her filmography is very variable (true for many Hallmark regulars). The premise did not sound very promising, not a new one and one that has been very predictably and not always tastefully done many times. 2014 was a hit and miss year for Hallmark (true for all their later years too), with some good efforts like 'A Ring by Spring' and also some major duds like 'My Gal Sunday'.

'Looking for Mr Right' is one of the major duds and one of Hallmark's worst that year. It is not one of their very worst overall, but it is close and is not a good or fair representation of Lancaster. It is also a film that does nothing to change my negative feelings about the premise and if anything is a perfect example of why the premise too often doesn't work well. 'Looking for Mr Right' is not an irredeemably awful film, but there is almost nothing that feels right.

Good things: Only the nice scenery and some nice shots feel right.

Everything else came over as very wrong. Lancaster is well above what she was given here and her performance feels very affected with everything coming over as overdone as a result of being made to act younger than she is. Her character is also dreadfully written, very indecisive and immature and it made me constantly feel frustrated and annoyed towards her rather than rooting for her. None of the rest of the cast shine well either, with them being able to do nothing with so little to work with. The male lead is especially underused in a role that is thankless and could have been left out, which one does not expect considering the title.

Didn't care for any of the characters, who never come over as real people and instead standard Hallmark cliches and underwritten and under-utilised ones at that. Complete with an annoying and unrootable protagonist. Any romance is next to non existent, with it being practically lost amongst everything else. The chemistry between the cast is static and never looks natural or genuine.

The script is very stilted, especially Lancaster's with so many incomplete sounding sentences that come over as gobbledegook. The story is very predictable, has very little charm, heart or lightness, is very forced in conflict and dragged out. Did find it too easily resolved and there is nothing distinctive about the direction. The music is also far too loud and constant.

Concluding thoughts: In conclusion, very bad with only two things not feeling wrong.

2/10.

Passed a chilly afternoon, but not one I'd rewatch. There's so much crammed in that we don't get to see much of Mr Right. In a way, that makes it different from other movies, but it also reduces the emotional depth.

The female lead is suppposed to be a successful writer who acts as if she is 16. Cannot make a decision, heat up food. Grow a backbone. I was pretty much disgusted after the first 20 mins, but finished this train wreck and cannot get that time back.

I watch pretty much all Hallmark Channel romances. I'm a sucker for a happy ending. This one was far more tedious than most. There was very little romance to it. The hero was on screen a very low percentage of the time. I actually liked him, but never really got much of a chance to get to know him or root for him.

The heroine was not a great person - naive in a bad way (only to further plot points) and thoughtless. I think the fault lay mostly with the screenplay. I didn't mind the general directing and the actors actually seemed pretty good. They just didn't have much to work with but a formulaic script. Came here to rate it primarily to remind myself not to watch it again.