A Country Romance

It was a very formulaic film, city girl reconnecting with roots blah blah blah, put her in cute country clothes which never get mucky (dirty for non northern English people). The lead actress seems sweet and extremely pretty but lacked acting ability or emotions, whether that was because her character was two dimensional or on the actor's part, I don't know. The supporting actress is a much better lead and actress when I have seen her previously, so would have made a better lead. None of the males shined but possibly also due to a dire script.

The grapes with synthetic leaves, daffodils in harvest time and very red, waxed apples, just fallen from the tree were, as usual, very silly.

The positives were a beautiful setting, lots of sunshine to enjoy on a dull winter's day and an inoffensive way of relaxing.

A man farmer, who is uncle to Curly Sue, falls in love with a robot on an adjacent grape farm. The acting is pretty bad. Main characters are as stiff and interesting as a cardboard box.

There are just too many things that don't make sense. To be fair, I was multi-tasking while watching, so I could have missed some things.

1. The dad goes on vacation during harvest time and makes no arrangements to pick the crops. All the neighbors have to come in and save the day.

2. The dad asks her to go review the sale papers, however, when he comes back, she is still in charge - and making all the decisions.

3. She grew up on a farm and doesn't even know the basic lingo or anything about farming what so ever. So the neighbors always came around to help, but apparently, they didn't make their able bodied kid help. And they must not have every spoke about their livelihood in front of said kid.

4. The main character said she left shortly after her mom died, so she never learned anything about the farm. She also said she left when she was about Mabel's age (12). Again - she should have known the basics of farming and where did she go and who did she live with? Her dad stayed on the farm.

5. Do you really need to do a fashion show when buying clothes to pick crops?

6. She had on as much make-up as a clown right after getting out of the shower.

It's all in the details!

6.5 stars.

Just barely rounds up to a 7. It's somewhat difficult to manage placing this story in the realm of possible for several reasons. The main actor is not straight, so envisioning him as it is already difficult. But that's the reality of Hollywood, once an actor comes out, there's no stuffing themselves back in. Sure, we could say it's no different than trying to believe a straight portraying a non character. So be it. It's all about getting into the romance and enjoying the experience of attraction between two leads, knowing that one of them isn't capable of being that for the other. Ok, like I said, so be it.

Now let's talk about the movie. This story is presented to us in slow motion. I am not kidding. The tempo of conversation is literally turned down to 65%. Every sentence is deliberate, so the 90 minutes of run time is telling a 60 minute story. The story itself is not original in any way. In fact, this is about as unoriginal and monotonous as they come. So what was good about it? It's very relaxing and ASMR-like. This is a good film to unwind and end your hectic day with. Just too slow moving for any entertainment, but it has value in other respects.

The other reviewers are pretty much echoing my sentiments about this film. The lead actress is just awful, although it's hard to make to like a character who is so dumb about harvesting grapes that she Googles "graping" to find out what to do. Jonathan Bennett, who was the main reason for watching, doesn't seem to be working all that hard. And the plot holes are ridiculous. The dad doesn't have farmhands he hires on a regular basis to harvest the grapes? Who puts a hotel in the middle of a vineyard? The acting, save for the niece, is BAD. I know films like these aren't supposed to be great cinema, but that's not an excuse to have a lame story, weak actors and terrible pacing.