In all honesty, the premise was not that appealing at all and sounded very shallow and sleazy. Still saw 2017's third Summer Nights film 'Eat, Play, Love' as someone who likes dogs (was scared of them for a while but being with friends with well trained dogs has helped) and who has seen Jen Lilley give good performances in the right roles. As well as Hallmark completest sake, they were my main reasons for seeing 'Eat, Play, Love'. Also there have been Hallmark films with bad premises that turned out to be a lot more tasteful and better than expected.
'Eat, Play, Love' has its good things and the two main reasons as to why it was watched are two of the redeeming qualities. It however does nothing to make the premise more appealing, it actually accentuates it, and just never gelled for me. It never grabbed me in story and character writing and the leading man was just wrong. Hallmark have made a lot of good films, some surprisingly so, and made some good ones in 2017, but 'Eat, Play, Love' is a long way from being one of them.
The best thing about it is Lilley, who is a radiantly charming presence and works very hard in making the film without trying too hard. Her character is a flawed one but not overly flawed and she grows, unlike the other characters. Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner also register strongly and their subplot and roles are a lot more interesting than the central one and the conflict.
Also found the dogs truly cute and with a lot of personality. The scenery is very beautiful and very nicely shot.
Unfortunately, there are a large number of shortcomings. Jason Cermak is very stiff throughout and is also rather bland, furthermore he never seemed to fit. He and Lilley have very little chemistry together, too much of a mismatch in character and acting styles (with him being far weaker on both counts) and for me it was too much of a stretch that Lilley's character would find any appeal in such a characterless sleazeball. Plus the relationship itself is very underdeveloped and is rushed. Other than Majors and Wagner, the supporting cast are a mix of anaemic and obnoxious with the evil boss cliche veering into pantomime excess.
Really didn't care for the characters, other than Lilley and the dogs, too many of them are shallow, selfish stereotypes that only care about two or three things. The story takes too long to get going and even when any signs of a plot kicks in it is very slight and has too much of a mean spirited edge. Also found the pace pedestrian. The conflict lacks any tension and is strained to the limit when there is any, that it is very predictable (like the film in general) adds to the lack of tension. The ending is obvious from the get go, is resolved too easily and comes over as unrealistic because it feels unwarranted.
Overall, has some good things but rather lacking. 4/10.
