Love on the Right Course

I found this movie to be quite boring.

To be fair, though, part of that could be because I'm not a golf enthusiast. To be honest, I only watched it to the end because I have grown to love the actor, Marcus Rosner, & I enjoy taking in the scenery when the movies are made on location in Europe. But, my biggest pet peeve is when the background music doesn't go along with the movie. When they don't meld together, it's distracting to me & takes away from my enjoyment of the story. I hope Hallmark doesn't continue to take on a trait I have found in Great American Family movies. Hallmark can do much better than this.

The scenery is breathtaking and takes place in Budapest Hungary. The story is about a female tournament golfer trying to cope with the death of her mother and coach, and her father who is also is trying to cope with the death of his wife. Ashley Newbrough is great as the lead female golfer, Whitney who goes home to Budapest to prepare for a tournament and try to figure out whether to continue her golfing career, her father is deciding whether to sell the golf course he owns since it only brings memories back of his deceased wife. Whitney meets a handsome golf pro,Daniel, played by handsome actor, Marcus Rosner,who gives her a new perspective on her golf game and life. I enjoyed the chemistry between Whitney and Daniel, and wish there had been a bit more focus on the romance, but overall an enjoyable movie.

While the story was okay and the lead actors delivered their usual respectable performances, I found the narrow depth of focus chosen for much of the movie to be simply too hard on my eyes to keep watching. We do not see the world with such short depth of focus, so prolonged exposure to that effect neither feels natural nor is easy to process. So many scenes were shot with only the actors in focus, that the audience is deinied extended views of lovely waterfront scenes, quaint village alleyways, and interesting interiors. One knows these appealing scenes are there, but they're repeatedly obscured by somebody's idea of what makes cinematic "art." Rather than focusing my attention on the characters & story, I found this video technique was such a distraction that it killed my interest in the movie.

I've just watched Ashley Newbrough and Marcus Rosner in Flipping for Christmas and was greatly disappointed. So, I was hesitant to watch this movie, but decided to give them another chance, especially when I saw this one was set in Budapest. I have to say this one did not disappoint. I loved the scenery and found the acting and chemistry to be genuine. Ashley and Marcus are great together in this movie, their characters are fun and caring. I loved the dynamic between Whitney (Newbrough) and her father as they remember her mother who has passed. I loved all the supporting cast of family and friends, they helped make this movie enjoyable, even the dog. I really enjoyed seeing Brittany Bristow playing a competitor pro golfer. I rated this down by one star as Steve Byer who plays Whitney's caddy plays his usual character that is only looking out for himself. But I suppose there had to be some drama in the movie. All in all this was quite an enjoyable movie to watch.

Whitney is a professional golfer who has been having a bad streak since her mom passed away two years prior, so after a tournament she goes home to Hungary, to spend time with family and train for the next competition. There she meets Daniel, the pro golfer on the grounds. So, they bond after their love for the sport and he helps her find her groove again.

I think the movie had a different pace than a lot of Hallmark films. I didn't know where it would go. Which is good, different. Marcus and Ashley worked together before and I do think they have chemistry, just not the romantic one. I feel they are good friends in real life.

So while I didn't hate the movie and enjoyed some aspects of it, there are few things that were difficult to get into: the fact that they were all Hungarian (minus Whitney) and some didn't even have an accent. Or the fact that EVERYONE speaks impeccable English. And this may be funny but I just don't care about golf. I knew it was about golf going in, but I didn't care about it. And let's not even mention the miscommunication or the fact that the lead doesn't even try to speak up when necessary!

I do love when another Hallmark star appears in a movie in which they are not the lead, even if it's just a second. In here we see Brittany Bristow who in fact co-wrote this.