Cupid & Cate

What a delightful movie. I especially liked the interesting and rapid character development. Hallmark has already added this to is online store. And I have added it to mine collection. A heart is awakened and a passion for life restored in this video filled with hope, love and the power of commitment. When sisters play 'Cupid' and introduce Cate De Angelo (Mary-Louise Parker) to Harry Dietrich (Peter Gallagher), lives suddenly change. Watch as the couple faces life's trials and challenges together in this celebration of the human spirit.

Cute little television movie ."Cate" Mary-Louise Parker (The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, Fried Green Tomatoes) has a small boutique where she sells vintage clothes. She is dating some snob who's mother thinks that Cate is a second class citizen because of her line of work. "Harry" Peter Gallagher ( While you were Sleeping) meets Cate and they fall in love instantly. "Francesca" Bebe Neuwirth ( Cheers) is a doctor who finds out that he has an illness, and tells Cate so that she would break up with Harry, but on the contrary she marries him. I like romantic movies. This is really cute and will move you. The cast is very good. I enjoyed it.

I like this movie because everyone in life sometime could relate to it. It's a typical story about being with someone you're trying to tolerate versus being with someone who's more alive(like her sister in the movie quoted). I can relate being in a relationship where the parents didn't think I was good enough either because I wasn't prosperous or I couldn't do anything for them, and this is what Cate went through with Philip. He was okay but kind of starchy, but Harry comes along and make everything better. With all happy relationships there's adversities, which is what happens with Harry. A good film which makes your heart go out to them both. A little slow in the beginning, and it could have had a better ending but how much can you expect from a tv movie?

This film is a grabber for the extreme attractiveness and likeability of the cast--Mary Louise Parker and Peter Gallagher in particular--but, sadly, fails to live up to its initial promise. The first half is strong, with good establishing scenes and dialogue. The viewer is drawn into the dilemma of lead character Cate--a beautiful young woman with a pleasant but clueless fiance--who is debating her future when a handsome lawyer comes into her life. Unfortunately, the plot loses its way later on, with dialogue and a plotline that seem so random you're unsure what the next odd turn will be. Still, Parker is a winning heroine and makes this mishmash almost worth watching.

Besides having an irrelevant title, this Hallmark television movie suffers from bad structure. In the beginning, it feels like the traditional Hallmark romance story. Mary-Louise Parker plays Cate DeAngelo, a likable owner of a vintage clothing shop. Her committed relationship seems to be headed nowhere, so we expect this film will be about her journey to find real love.

But the story splinters into a few offshoots that concern more serious issues, effectively leaving the viewer with a narrative chaos.

Worst of all, there are sudden transitions and jarring changes in story that suggest bad editing. Unfortunately, this undermines some good acting. It feels like the integrity of the film was destroyed by some bad choices in post production. Perhaps these were made to reduce the running time, but the final version is no better than average.