And Then Came Love

I went to the 7:30pm screening at the Clearview Cinemas in Chelsea with the chance to see Vanessa Williams and Kevin Daniels in a Q&A. Both actors were adorable and came across very, very nicely - which doesn't say anything yet about the movie.

While I enjoyed watching the movie, and I still liked it shortly after I've seen it, I look at it differently now, three days later.

In contrary to what the script writer has said during the Q&A, or what her intentions were, the outcome is a very conservative message. It's not just "a child needs both parents" but it is "a child needs his/her biological father" - and I am not certain if this is what has been intended. It's just not true that children would bond automatically with their biological Dad - that's a movie fantasy and maybe even a dangerous one.

This movie could have been so much better on so many levels if it would not have fallen into the usual stereotypes. Again, what makes it likable are its main actors/actresses but the story itself is not.

And Then Came Love is a cute little film about a single mother tracking down her child's sperm donor. Julie (Mom) decides to do this because her son has been struggling with school and getting into fights. What follows is the same old love story as Julie struggles to balance her life as a single mom with a boyfriend and her feelings for her son's father. It's very cliché, but kinda cute Anna Camp has a small role as the babysitter Kiki. Even though it was her first film, her small part is one of the best performances in the film, which isn't saying much. The acting felt very forced at times. Also, as someone who was raised in a single-parent home, I felt this film was too preachy at times about how a child needs two parents. But as long as you don't think about it too much, it is a cute film if you have nothing else to watch.

Julie (Vanessa Williams) is a single mother employed as a journalist and author. Unusually, she does not have a past broken relationship but, instead, opted for artificial insemination. Her darling son, Jake, now six, suddenly has some problems with attention span and anger. Thus, Julie is presently curious about the donor who gave Jake half of his DNA, even though she knows a few simple things such as he was bright and college educated. She begins a search for Jake's father. In the meantime, Jule's longtime boyfriend, Ted (Michael Boatman), a photojournalist who travels the world, suddenly gets serious. It seems a fellow shutterbug was killed in a war zone and it shook Ted up. Julie's mother, Mona (Eartha Kitt) is pleased, for she has been urging her daughter to get married, believing some of Jake's problems stem from his fatherless situation. Just at that point in time, Julie finds Paul (Kevin Daniels), Jake's biological papa. He is a handsome man struggling to become a successful stage actor. But, since he is somewhat younger than Julie, she decides to not reveal the truth and to simply get to know him better. As the days go by, a love triangle develops, for Jake and Paul get along well. Who will Julie choose as her "ideal" man? This was a nicely romantic film for those ever-searching genre fans. Williams is surely one of the most beautiful women on the planet and she does a fine job here as the well-meaning but sometimes confused single working mother. Daniels and Boatman are also very handsome, engaging performers. Kitt and the rest of the supporting cast is nice, too, with Ben Vereen slipping in a fine cameo performance. Also, the costumes are wonderfully chosen, with Williams and Kitt looking so stylish that one could watch the film for this reason alone. The Manhattan setting, the mildly intriguing script and the steady direction also contribute to the movie's enjoyment. Dear romcom fans of the world, you will be happy to find this film, as I did, for a mere three bucks at the markdown store and it will bring you pleasure twenty times its price or more.

First of all, I gotta give credit to the actors and actresses for their wonderful acting, even with the rather weak plot. Vanessa Williams Williams, Kevin Daniels, Michael Boatman and the adorable Jeremy Gumbs are a fun to watch. Despite his young age, Jeremy Gumbs is able to portray his feelings in a believable way and the audiences can not help but to feel connected to his acting.

However, the plot left much to be desired. The plot is weak, uninspiring, and seem to have lost its direction halfway through the movie. I wish the director could spend more time researching about problems facing single mothers. It'll certainly made the movie much more insightful as these problems are not cut and dry situations.

Julie (the always appealing Vanessa Williams) is a writer and a single mother who conceived her only child through artificial insemination. When the boy begins having trouble in school, she goes in search of the anonymous sperm donor to find out if the man was really the Ivy League genius he claimed to be on his application. Naturally, meeting him leads to all sorts of personal complications and romantic entanglements, especially since Julie is already going steady with a well-meaning executive who, in spite of all his protestations to the contrary, is actually every bit as commitment-phobic as she is.

Despite a fair number of halfway decent scenes and an overall feeling of goodwill, "And Then Came Love" is simply too slick, too contrived and too insubstantial to rank as anything more than just a negligible romantic comedy. For even though the movie earns points for neither sanctifying nor demonizing its major characters, the set-up and resolution are simply too formulaic and pat to be taken very seriously. Moreover, the performances tend to be a trifle rough around the edges, except for the wonderful Eartha Kitt, who steals every scene she's in playing Julie's high-strung, intrusive, and hyper-critical mother.