Fishing for Love

Who creates these trailers? I wanted to watch a trailer not a short of the whole story. Trailers are supposed to entice you to watch the movie not give the whole story and ending away. Okay yes, duh, it's an atypical sappy girl goes back to home town has a chance encounter...blah blah but at least let me see how it comes out.

So yes it' might be unfair that I am only giving it a 4 star without watching but I've already seen enough in the trailer and don't need to watch the whole movie.

Bad job on the marketing.

Sadly, Fishing for Love is a movie that had some wonderful scenery, a great story, and, yet, missed using the right bait to convey all of the above. There were enough plot possibilities to make this a really captivating film. The big city successful architect comes back home to her very charming and colorful seaside town. Her father is contemplating retirement. Her family boat, which has great historical and sentimental value for her is being sold so that her father can begin the next part of his life. There is great conflict for the daughter about losing all these ties to her childhood, particularly ties to her mother who has passed away.

The visual aspects of this film are truly charming and well-photographed. And Andrea Brooks does an incredible job of acting . She shows all the appropriate emotions, her face is alive with feeling, her eyes sparkle as she speaks. However, she is coupled with one of the most unemotional leading men! Spencer Lord has a very appealing role as a widowed father of a charming young daughter. He has every opportunity to show a whole range of emotions, but is sorely limited in his ability to convey almost anything but a stoic, serious face.

One very comical aspect of this film, for seasoned viewers of this genre of movies, is that while all movies of this genre have the formulaic. Interrupted first kiss, this film has three of them before the final successful kiss. For an avid romantic comedy movie fan, this was quite a departure from the predictable pattern of these movies. And really quite amusing.

All in all, a good story, great location and scenery, wonderful leading lady, and a missed opportunity in the choice of leading man. Worth watching, though, for the lovely story and the beautiful seaside locale.

The story starts out like many others. Busy design exec goes back to hometown for inspiration. She has a big project to complete in a short time. So much of the movie is about community pulling together. There is a widower and his daughter recovering from mom's death. Everything is pointing toward a festival and a contest. Then there is the big misunderstanding based on a partially overheard conversation.

There is a lot of "smoke and mirrors" in the story. So much didn't make sense or seemed stretched. Kendall's quick redesign of the festival (twice) without even knowing what she had to work with is one example. The preoccupation with selling the boat to the "right" person was overworked. Kendall facilitating Zack's entry into the community also seemed forced.

I often scoff at overuse of musical montages. There are at least 4. Even if they are short. The first two include Brooks with what seems to be forced laughter. I scoff because overuse of these seems to me to be cheap writing.

Another reviewer, in a properly marked spoiler, pointed out a character inconsistency or two in the last part of the movie and I agree.

Andrea Brooks has presence. She is always upbeat and energetic. She went so many years in supporting roles and this year already, I've seen her in 3 which is a lot even for established Hallmark type stars. Her performances were decent in all of them. In this movie, she and Spencer Lord had chemistry and managed a fair amount of screen time together. I doubt there is a movie with Brooks in a prominent role that I would turn down, but even so somehow her performance got lost in all the other static.

This was such a cute movie! Although the storyline was predictable in many ways, it had a fresh feel to it. The acting was great; Andrea Brooks was so vibrant in this movie. I loved seeing the bond between her and Dad. I would definitely recommend this movie and would see it a second time.