Match Me If You Can

"Match Me if You Can" is a heartwarming rom-com directed by Marian Yeager about a computer nerd rejected by a dating app, blogs about her experience and ends up unintentionally leading a revolution for all the singles feeling left out. Set against my hometown of Austin, TX, the film's local charm adds an extra layer of magic for me. The characters' quirks and vulnerabilities make them instantly lovable and super relatable. And of course, who could forget the adorable mastiff and mudi pup that steal the screen for me whenever they show up :-) In a world of rom-coms, this one stands out for its genuine message - that you are enough.

What a breath of fresh air in the movie world. A wonderful blend of a good script, solid acting, good direction, and it all came together to make a sweet and funny movie with a happy ending. The movie will keep you chuckling throughout. This is a clever take on the all-to real world of online dating and all the hazards that involves. All the actors portrayals of their characters are just so well done. There is good chemistry between the two leads in the film. The director has done a impressive job of keeping the film moving forward and keeping the audience interested. The film photography is also worthy of note.

This had all the building blocks to make a great story but the was just something technically missing at each point. The story concerns Kip a female computer nerd. She works for a tech firm and plays some sort of computer game on the weekends. She is played by Georgiana Riley who is pretty. Kip decides to try at dating site called "I promise" -- sort of E harmony - promising an algorithm to match her. The problem not only does the site tell her that she is "unmatchable" it tells her she is a loser and needs to get a dog. Shocked she writes on a blog what happened and it goes viral.

Now we go to the owner and coder of "I Promise" Riley Detamore (Wilson Bethel) a shy computer geek guy who has involved his entire family in the business and when he gets wind of what happened to Kip - has no idea how his system could send that response. Of course his program isn't supposed to send responses like that. "I promise" reaches out to Kip and through that Riley and Kip meet and fall for each other.

The technical problem with the movie is that it has no "heart". There isn't a lot of music in the movie and that doesn't help it... the music that is in the movie is like random plain jane music - not keyed to the story. The script is ok but under written with just the basic lines you need to know usually cut off too quickly. There is a court scene that is so terrifyingly wrong I just wanted to jump into the screen and stop it.

I ended up watching the whole thing because I wanted to find out what happened with the email telling the main character to get dog. If not for that I probably would have turned it off.

Loved the message the movie send. Storyline was predictable but done in a a cute nerdy way. Very relatable and made me laugh which is what I was looking for. Loved watching a nerdy love story, female lead was funny, thought there was great chemistry. More realistic than most of these movies, or at least more relatable. The acting wasn't all great but it didn't take away from any it. I'm giving it a higher rating because being a bit nerdy myself the movie made me feel good, which the point of the kind of movies I suppose lol. Normally I never write a review but I would like for my fellow nerds out there to see this hence giving it a horrible first try.

As an old boomer guy I'm not really in the demographic for this movie, and I put it on for background noise while doing something else. I didn't expect it to begin with people battling zombies in a shopping mall! (OK, not real zombies, but still...) I ended up giving the movie 90% attention throughout, instead of the 15% I'd originally planned. It has an endearing main character, some delightfully quirky bits (the zombies, the crab and puffer fish, lawnchair man,...), and a plot which was totally predictable but still left open some questions about how it was going to unroll. Another director could have given the movie a screwball pace and tone, or made it cloyingly sweet, but that would have been a bad choice. They maybe veered a little to far in the 'sedate' direction for this one, but it works.

In 1999 there was another romantic comedy with a crab, Simply Irresistible (with Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Patricia Clarkson). If you enjoyed that movie, I would say this one has a very similar overall flavor...though they are very different movies, and the acting in that one was overall far far better.