Romantic Friction

Another pretty low budget Reel One Entertainment TV movie. The previous reviewer is wrong as this TV movie not only doesn't have anything with Hallmark, it targets different demographics, too. Let me start with technical issues.

Surprisingly, there is almost none. The only issue is fake location. Movie starts with Kelowna (Canada) stock footage which is really strange. I actually thought this time plot is going to take place in Canada, however we almost immediately found out that it takes place somewhere in USA. But there is more, never again movie showed stock footage till the end! This is double weird because in the last few years ROE TV movies are mostly plagued with stock footage which artificially prolongs run time. So it's weird because basically there is no stock footage after the start, but then why they showed Kelowna when movie takes place somewhere in USA?

I liked directing, I think cast was good, but writing was all over the place. This is the first TV movie written by Jon Bradfield so I won't be so much harsh. Dialogue is actually one of the better among ROE TV movie. I especially liked how Michael was flashed out. I admit I was suprised since he was awful in Act I.

What mostly killed higher raiting for me was Lea's backstory. With just one change it would be wastly better, but... We found out almost at start that Lea is a French woman from Paris who is temporarily in USA because of her failed pursue of some guy. And that's the huge issue. There is simply no way that French woman who lives whole life in France and is not an English language teacher can speak English perfectly. It's really immersion killer as Julie Roy is actually a French language native which she showed few times in the movie. Later we found out that she is actually half-French as is her mother, but still, she lived whole life in Paris. The simple and believable solution would be that she is from Canada (probably Quebec). Why Canadian production companies avoid mention of Canada is a million dollar question.

Few more issues. I didn't like Lea's wardrobe, it was mostly baggy and looked just bad. Of course there was almost always obligatory wardrobe change scene which is tiring as is basically used as time killer. And I don't why but Wade Coleman Publishing company looked like real life cafe which was repurposed for the movie.

In the end, it has some highs, and some lows, overall average.

And obligatory don't watch trailer as it's the ROE one and for some unknown reason(s) it shows whole movie compressed.

Books , gay roommate, a secret and romance . A nice film who seems real different by Hallmark recipe, not only for new lines in classic recipe , but for fair option for actors.

No surprise, the supporting actors are the basis of interest-Brandon Fung being the good, provocative and nice example - but the relation between Lea and Michael is just interesting , in so measure than difficult to be preocuped by holes, unrealism zones or forced end.

Not exactly about chemistry between Julie Roy and Brandon Santana , but about real good job of each of them , defining in honest - precise manner their characters.

In same measure, a nice perspective about romantic literature and fair perspective about fatherhood in double senses.

In short, correct and nice.

The acting is horrendous especially Harrison Coe, but also the leads. Julie Roy has a scene where she does a terrible job of crying. There is negative chemistry between her and Brandon Santana.

The story has a little unusual premise but it does try to use a lot of formula tropes. But worse than that, it is incoherent with clumsy transitions. The sets are obviously low budget to the point of being insulting. An award party had about 15 guests including the 4 nominees.

In addition to all that, the characters are perfectly unlikeable. The synopsis says Michael is a snob. He is worse than a mere snob. He is arrogant and rude. Lea is also a bit arrogant and seems to have a chip on her shoulder. She vacillates between being a wimp and trying to work her advantage for gain. Like most of these movies that start out with characters showing unlikeable traits, both leads appear to soften their edges. Problem is that such a character development was totally unbelievable. It was equally unbelievable that they could fall for each other. Ever.