Love at the Shore

Jenna (Amanda Righetti) is a divorced mother of eleven year old twins. She is just beginning a new career as a teen book novelist, having had one successful book. But, alas, she has been experiencing writer's block so she takes her family to a beautiful duplex on Tybee Island. As there is a summer camp for kids, her children can go swimming and hiking while she devotes her energies to meeting her publishers deadline. But, wait, wait! Next door there is a great looking single man, Lucas (Peter Porte) who, nevertheless, proves problematic. He has a carefree attitude about noise, beach parties, and his wandering dog. This stresses Jenna in a big way and she immediately erects a larger fence so the canine can't wander over to her patio. More importantly, after initial bad impressions of this man, his winning ways and handsome smile are diverting Jenna the most! But, with his not-ready-for-marriage-kids attitude, should she let herself get to know him better? Will her son become a better competitive swimmer? WILL SHE FINISH HER BOOK ON TIME? At this point, what can a romantic comedy fan say but a thousand thanks to Hallmark for continuing to provide funny, wholesome, and very romantic films for those who love the genre best. Righetti is beautiful and assertive while Porte, a dead ringer for Jim Caviezel, is a handsome, head-turning star. All of the secondary cast, sets, costumes, script and direction combine to create a film to savor and sigh over. As its brand new, do try to catch a viewing at the earliest possible moment.

I've read some of the earlier reviews and they're right about some of the film's inherent flaws - ie a writer going to a busy Summer Camp to get quiet to finish her novel; letting a total stranger be alone with her kids; an uptight Mum ; a single bachelor is just going to want to take on a woman and 2 kids without even kissing her, and believing people on holiday in public places will keep the noise down ??!! However, I loved the 2 leads in Amanda Righetti and Peter Porte who elevated the film beyond kitsch. Amanda has such a beautiful smile that would melt even the stoniest hearts and their scenes together were cute. The kids too gave very mature natural performances and the scenery at Tybee Island was incredible - I just want to go there !

Opposites single mom Jenna and single surfer Lucas end up sharing a duplex on the shore for five weeks in the summer. These two are initially like oil and water. Jenna takes her two kids to the shore annually while the kids do day summer camp...she works on her book or she would like to if it wasn't for her noisy neighbor.

Harsh truth, as much as I like our lead actress formerly from The Mentalist, I thought she was stiff in this role and very un-mother-like. And my final complaint...is no collegiate volleyball player plays like that!

Now on to the parts they got right in this romance...the beach backdrop is gorgeous and Jenna and Lucas really do have chemistry...and that is what kept me watching till the end, that and Lucas was really engaging.

Best part...rules and guidelines at the end...especially rule number one.

'Love at the Shore' is the first 2017 Summer Nights film, which somehow managed to be seen after the other films in the Summer Nights block from that year. Did actually like the idea of the film and have seen the leads elsewhere and liked them, Peter Porte being the more familiar one to me. Hallmark did make some good films in 2017 (such as 'The Birthday Wish' and 'The Perfect Catch'), and overall, but that year was very hit and miss for them (when it missed it really did).

While not one of the worst of the misfires, 'Love at the Shore' could have been much better. It could have been a nice, relatable if done right film, but the character writing of the female lead significantly let the film down. The 2017 Summer Nights block in general was rather mediocre, with the only watchable effort being 'Summer in the Vineyard' in my respectful view. 'Love at the Shore' is probably somewhere in the middle of the batch, though the Summer Nights films from that year geerally are quite close together in quality.

It's not all bad. It does look lovely and is one of the better looking 2017 Summer Nights films. Especially the scenery, which is gorgeous and is every bit as prettily filmed. The music isn't exceptional, but isn't discordant and is pleasant.

Porte does decently with what he is given and is quite likeable and the kids are charming.

Righetti makes a valiant effort in her role and has some winning moments, but she can also try too hard in the more melodramatic moments. Also thought that the film went well overboard on the overblown character flaws for her character, where she came over as too disproportionately controlling (i.e. That really over the top reaction to learning of the coaching) and quite cold. There are moments of nice chemistry between her and Porte, but it could have done with more development and generally could have been warmer if it had toned down the controlling.

Most of the characters didn't connect with me other than the children, and this was a scenario where rooting for the characters was somewhat necessary to me. The script is awkward sounding and is quite trite, not much substance here despite the subject. Wouldn't have minded the big amount of predictability that the story had, from the countless story and character cliches, but it was very difficult to overlook when the story also suffered from being dully paced, not particularly realistic and at times quite thin. The direction is workmanlike at best.

Concluding, pretty mediocre but not a complete loss. 4/10.

I think that her acting is much worse than his, but these two have the chemisty of two stiff robots--so okay, not the feeling robots with emotions--trying to connect. This is one of the worst Hallmark movies.

It was pathetic really, and that's the crux of my view. Why say more.