'The Salzburg Story' (2018)
Opening thoughts: Admittedly, 'The Salzburg Story' was not seen with high expectations. Everything seen and heard about it was negative and was mixed on the premise. Cute but quite uninspired. Still watched it because of it being set in beautiful Salzburg. My biggest reason though for watching was Kelly Bishop, absolutely loved her in 'Gilmore Girls' (my summer binge watch of it a few years ago was one of not many high points of a difficult year) and have liked her a lot ever since regardless of the state of the rest of the film etc she's in.
While Bishop comes off quite well (though she has been better and better utilised), most of the rest of 'The Salzburg Story' does not come off well at all and is a waste of a beautiful location. Have definitely seen far worse films, of this type and in any genres, but what could have been quite cute and fun if done right was done in a very indifferent, uninspired and cheap manner. Which is really quite frustrating, as good potential (like lovely locations, talented casts and good premises) being wasted is a big pet peeve of mine.
Good things: Bishop is charming in her screen time and Heinz Trixner is very engaging.
Salzburg itself looks gorgeous and extremely picturesque.
Bad things: It did however deserve far better production values to do it justice. With the film having too much of an under-budgeted, hastily made for television look, evident particularly in the very over-saturated colours and quite self-indulgent and disorganised photography (the pannings for example being too frequent).
Another major problem is the script, which contains some of the most banal dialogue this reviewer has heard in any film for some time. Especially in the very undercooked and underwritten romance. The story is excessively predictable and dully paced, there is very little if any charm, fun or heart. Emotionally, it is indifferent, which sums up the rest of the performances (didn't feel the rest of the cast had their heart or faith in it). Especially in the romance, where the leads looked lost. Didn't detect much chemistry, any sporadic glimpses being static.
With the direction, there was more effort. But it had the opposite problem, in that it tried to do too much in a disorganised and show-offy way that screamed of inexperience. The music is forgettable at best, didn't remember it almost immediately afterwards. The characters are not fleshed out enough to make it easy to care for them or make them interesting, basically one-dimensional cliches with nothing freshness.
Closing thoughts: All in all, very poor.
3/10.
