Quase Casadas

This Hallmark movie had no characters worth rooting for. All 3 of the husbands were class "A" stupid jerks. All of their better halves could have done so much better considering their beauty, overall niceness, and successful careers. But they still settled for their men with one (thank-God) exception with a minimum of grovelling on their part. Naomi Judd (why do women who aspire to be actresses freeze their faces?) is a truly evil pervert and her husband, oops, son, is so in her thrall and so weak and naive that words fail. She literally almost murders her daughter-in-law, a doctor, by the way, and all is forgiven after a not very believable apology. The solution to their little problem is that the couple pay her to move out of the house she should not have been in to begin with. Stupid girl #2 makes a fool out of herself longing for and stalking a husband who hires as his secretary his ex-high school sweetheart, "his first love," he tells her, who tortured and bullied his new (very cute) wife when they were teenagers. And he has the gall to leave her when she dares to call him on it. Our heroine #3, actually does not take her psychotically controlling male chauvinist future wife abuser back, even though he begs her (quite satisfyingly). She would have been OK had it not been for her devotion to her very irritating dog, causing a modicum of sympathy for the husband. It is hard to enjoy a movie when 5 out of 6 protagonists is worthy of nothing but contempt.

The movie portrays the important lesson that a wedding isn't a happy ending. It's just the start of a new journey, one that takes daily effort from both spouses. After the weddings and honeymoons, the three marriages run into trouble. It's mostly the husbands' fault. One husband takes his wife for granted, and becomes emotionally neglectful, heightening her sense of paranoia when his high school sweetheart becomes his secretary. Another husband hasn't learned to tell his manipulative, overbearing mother "No." And the third husband doesn't get on the same page as his wife regarding what she wants out of life. When it is discovered that the minister died before signing their marriage licenses, the relationships are made more fragile by the easy way out. All three girls are likable. They are kind people, and they're good friends who support each other. They deserve better than how their husbands, and the one mother-in-law, treat them. But the plotline comes to a satisfying conclusion, and I think all three girls make the right choice.

This Hallmark film starts out brightly when the priest speaks to the camera but once he collapses it rapidly descends downhill.

Erin, Casey and Stella all decided on a June wedding so these gals are newlyweds but it seems that the minister who conducted all of their ceremonies passed away before he could sign the marriage certificates. They will have to go through a ceremony again but some of them might have second thoughts after the first few weeks of marriage.

Casey gets upset when an ex-girlfriend gets a job working for her new husband. Erin a doctor finds that her mother in law is pushy and resents her for taking her son away. Stella has a rich but domineering husband who does not want her to have a career.

The film is derivative, fails poorly as a rom-com. The husbands are so bad you wonder why these ladies married them in the first place.

Good acting, good cinematography, and good direction cannot save a boring screen play. During the first 85 minutes I wondered to myself several times whether it was worth it to continue watching. The only thing that kept me from turning off the TV was a made-up game I created, where I tried to guess the outcome.

I did enjoy the interactions between the three almost married couples, and the interactions between the three girl friends.

The three things that most detracted from the story were: 1) The dog. 2) The mother-in-law. 3) The ex-girlfriend. As written, these three characters were over-the-top to the point of being painful.

The story is derivative, and I've seen a couple of treatments in movies from years ago. Couples who got married find out the marriages aren't legal because the minister forgot to sign and file the marriage certificates. In this case he had a heart attack before he could get the job done.

All three marriages already had some hiccups going on, and for some reason the writers decided it added tension for the three "wives" to get the official notice and not tell their "husbands" for a week. We didn't buy that particular piece of business.

Then a husband hides a job offer in the trash because he doesn't want his wife to work? Again, not believable.

All three strains were as cliche as they could be, but despite that the last act was tolerable.