Romance at Crystal Cove

Skye has a business headed for the dumps. Gavin and his dad are the names on the sign of a big corporate raider. Gavin wants to save Skye's business even before he finds out the owner is Skye his old flame. Well this premise has only been done a gazillion times. It's not one of my favorites either. From there you can pretty much write the story. There isn't much in the way of highs or lows or surprises.

When I first saw Jesse Hutch in a stiff 3 piece suit I couldn't believe it was him. Both he and Stephanie Bennett have a smile that doesn't look sincere.

Hutch seems to be able to have chemistry with most of his costars. Here it's good but not sizzling.

The viewers are led to believe there is a big secret that Gavin needs to tell Skye. When revealed, I found it a bit disappointing and the conflict and its resolution plays out about how you'd expect.

Some of the bath bomb creation is mildly interesting. My wife loves these things. This is one time it's too bad you can't smell TV.

It's a Reel One Entertainment movie. They produce a lot of UpTV movies. Now for the movie...

Stephanie Bennett has a nice smile. She smiles too much. Her friend Zoe smiles too much. The mother has the personality of a wet wash rag.

Jesse Hutch has good chemistry with most of his leading ladies. He smiles too much. His smile is creepy.

When Stephanie Bennett and Jesse Hutch smile at each other, it's creepy.

The plot of the movie is boilerplate. Big company tries to put small shop out of business. Love prevails. It's creepy.

The scenery is nice though. They go on a hike - she's in heels. Yeah right.

He's working from his brother's apartment in a three-piece suit. Yeah right.

I watch this movie and can't believe I did. Three stars is for the scenery...

Stephanie bennett and jesse hutch. When a small town shop isn't bringing in the profits that it should be, gavin is sent from the corporate conglomerate to juice up the business. But there are challenges all around; his business partner (his own father!) has set a deadline for results. And the store manager is an ex girlfriend, who resents his meddling in the business. I think we can all guess where this story line is going... if this film hasn't been shown on hallmark channel, it should be in the future. It's all a bit cutesie and sugary sweet. Some good acting and some not so good acting in here. And an uneven script... no-one says "she was returning your gaze", or some other odd phrases in here. Did you notice that people never pay for stuff they take from the bath and body store? No wonder they aren't turning a profit!! And don't we know better than to let loose wish lanterns in the air, and again near the end, a bunch of floating paper things in the water... SO MUCH pollution. Or the animals will choke on it. Bad humans! Directed by nicole leier. It's watchable. The title "love, bubbles, and crystal cove" is sometimes listed as "romance at crystal cove".

This movie is all-age appropriate and uplifting enough, but there isn't anything really special or outstanding. The plot is standard, the chemistry is average the shop/set is not particularly eye-catching because the items are by nature small. There probably needed to be more side stories to add interest, but this was made during the pandemic, so maybe a few things had to be simplified. I'm not sure I'd particularly want to watch it again, but I wouldn't turn it off either. Jesse Hutch is ok but shines more in some of his other rom-com movies so I'll most likely rewatch those. This needs more energy.

If you are looking for a template, run-of-the-mill romance movie, this is for you. There is no excitement in this, no sparks and it's just very plain. The set is so over the top romanticised that you really need to work hard at suspending disbelief. The characters are likeable, but there is no way you could get involved in their story, they feel like cardboard cut-outs from a romance book cover.

There are some positives though, such as the main male character surprinsing openness to a more feminine business approach and that's about all I can think of. It's a very tame story, with tame characters and personalities.