Bridal Boot Camp

Got through the first 10 minutes and turned it off. The sexism within the first 5 minutes was just over the top and the next 5 minutes got worse and worse. Don't know what the point of the movie is at all. The fake exhausting women preach about making their husbands happy, cooking for them and making themselves look good every day- did we travel back to the 1920s? Give this one a pass.

(I will preface this review by saying, I am the epitome of the target audience for this type of movie. I'm an absolute sucker for made-for-tv rom coms, and I've watched hundreds upon hundreds of them. Seriously, I have a list.)

The writing in this movie is, in a word, atrocious...

Shortly into watching, you are introduced to the "Bridal Boot Camp". The theme: If you don't conform to the 1950's stereotype of the "perfect" wife, you suck, your marriage will suck, and your husband won't love you. Yep, you read that right. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

The "instructor" starts off with the cliche of insulting all the participants, and then proceeds to give a set of rules which may have well been titled "How to set gender equality back 60 years". And she's actually serious about them, it's not written as a joke. Any self respecting woman who wasn't born 4 generations ago not just walking out of the class at this point defies belief, but yet...

I made it through the second segment of the "Boot Camp" (which was just more of the same message), about 30 minutes in, before actually turning the movie off. Perhaps only the second or third time I've ever done that in my 500+ history of rom-coms. It's among the worst writing I've ever seen in a rom-com.

If you want to see women desperate to learn from an instructor trying to mold them into Donna Reed while treating them like crap, then this movie is for you! If not, then avoidance is suggested.

Bridal dressmaker Andy Phillips (Spencer Locke) just wants to be herself with her fiancee Jordan. Her best friend Felice Davis convinces her to join a bridal boot camp. Whitney Walsh is the hardcore teacher. Then Andy meets delivery guy Casey Connor (Jake Sandvig) while cake tasting alone.

I'm not rooting for the Andy and Casey pairing. Sandvig doesn't have it. Jordan is a blank. I get the premise but the movie doesn't execute it. Locke is an appealing lead but it's also hard to nail down her relationship with the men. I'd rather Casey stay in the friendzone. Andy's fight with Felice is confused. I'm not feeling much of this.

Went into this thinking I was not going to like it but I stayed with it and it turned out to be a good Movie, Yes I will recommend it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 1/31/2021

The story seemed to me to be all over the place. Andy seemed like two different people, or more even. This story was filled with philosophies on love and marriage and they were even more all over the place. Andy's speech at the end made no sense for the setting because it was in the movie to contrast to the boot camp rules, but only 5 people would have known about them.

The whole idea of an engaged woman flirting with another single man turns me off. As to what was wrong with her relationship with her fiancé, what was she thinking going into it? The guy is in med school and apparently working a job too. Of course he is going to be tired and not around much.

As for acting, it seems like Spencer Locke was shouting way too much. And Jake Sandvig seemed to be working real hard to enunciate everything he said. Even so, they had some chemistry.

Totally irrelevant observation: I watched this on UpTV, yet the engaged couple was already sleeping in the same bed. No judgment, but it surprises me a little. Because that is so unrealistic, I joke about the fact that Hallmark, which is slightly less conservative than UpTV, never has unmarried people sleeping together.