Betty, la chance de sa vie

This Hallmark romance left me a little disappointed. I think the two stars are very watchable, but the story lacked variety.

Betty (Laci J. Mailey) has gone through her adult life under the belief that she was cursed. Consequently, she has seen every romantic relationship fail, and she believes she is better off not getting involved. When a new neighbor moves into her building, she notices his charms, but she wants to keep Alex (Marco Grazzini) at arm's length.

They both feel the attraction, so they dabble in dating. Betty withdraws whenever there is a hint of a problem, but never tells Alex why. This kind of behavior occupies much of the film, effectively undermining the charm of the two stars.

I've got to start off by saying that I absolutely adore the two leads. They are great actors and I've loved them in other movies I've seen. BUT their acting skills and chemistry were wasted on this storyline. Not a fan of this trend I'm seeing in hallmark to throw in a witch or psychic with some lame curse or creepy prediction and call that a storyline. We need an actual premise please. Saw this again in another hallmark movie The Marry Me Pact. Again two good actors doing their best with a subpar "the psychic said" nonsense storyline that fell flat. I say my love of the actors made me stick it out but it won't be on a favorites list.

It's a fun, fresh idea: A woman who's convinced that she's a bad luck charm for any man she dates. Between this and her job as a risk analyst, she has become a nervous wreck. And it's hilarious!

In real life, would the guy be too scared off to give her any more chances? Probably! But this is one allowance I'll make for a romantic comedy.

Even though I guessed that the movie would go for that late plot twist with Eleni, I'm still glad it did. I think it was the only mature direction to take the story.

My only big complaint: Isn't men and women playing rugby together a huge no-no? I mean, it's a full contact sport. And men are bigger and physically stronger than women. That's just a fact.

I really appreciate how Hallmark tries to come up with new and different variations of their successful romance formula. But this story (about a bad luck childhood curse) was just annoying. It reminded me of "Just My Luck" with Lindsay Lohan, and that's not a good thing.

Laci J Mailey (from "Chesapeake Shores") and Marco Grazzini (from "Virgin River") are good looking and engaging leads. Grazzini had the easy aasignment of being smooth and charming and then understandably befuddled by Mailey's character. But Mailey was given the thankless task of being completely neurotic and unhinged throughout much of the movie "... because all the men in her life will have horrible things happen to them if they get too close."

I just didn't like the premise. I kept hoping she'd realize the curse was nonsense. But, instead, poor Mailey is constantly forced to act like her character is having a series of panic attacks (in an elevator, at a rugby match, on a camping trip, at a fire, etc.). And they're played for laughs that weren't funny.

I also wasn't amused by the MANY scenes involving Felix, the well meaning but socially inept and frankly intrusive office nerd. Fortunately, Mailey's character wasn't unkind, but the moviemakers clearly intended viewers to see him as an object of derision.

I was also appalled at the multiple loud talking scenes during yoga classes. It was extremely disrespectful behavior that did not reflect well on the characters.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this "love story" is the lack of focus on the love story itself. The lovers were kept apart from each other throughout because of Betty's fear that harm would come to Alex if they were together. Instead of watching these two spend time together and fall in love, we are constantly bombarded with Betty saying she can't be with him.

Ugh. I'd like to see the two leads in a different and better movie.

This is a bit of an unusual premise with the curse and all. Some of the adventures are a little quirky too. But what strikes me most is how uncomfortable everything is around Betty. As is often the case, our heroine is just that in her job. Extremely competent at least. But even in that I was holding my breath through much of the movie. By the time I let it out, I should have still been wary. And Betty is so neurotic that it makes me cringe. I just don't see how someone like her who jumps at absolutely everything can hold down a job much less be great at it.

Laci J Mailey and Marco Grazzini were OK together but the story just didn't sell how they reached the point of being in love. The acting was OK and the dialogue was OK, maybe better if you like quirkiness.

There was a nice role reversal in the awkward date scene.