Meet Me in New York

The direction, sound, lighting and editing were up to the usual turn the crank Hallmark offering, but the chemistry among the leads was less so and the dialog leaned more toward irritation or annoyance than real relationship. Picking at each other over and over again might reflect an elementary school romance, but not a mature adult one.

The worst thing for me were the accents. They did not have to set the movie in New York City, but once they made that decision, how hard would be be for any competent, trained actor to do at least a minimal Yankee accent. Not one specific to a borough. One from anywhere in New England would help.

But no, every one here is mid-western or western Canadian throughout. Did the coffee guy, the leads, the animal handler, the relatives all arrive in NYC yesterday?

The street scenes were daylight and all but deserted. Has any part of NYC every looked like that?

Hard to carry the viewers into a place that none of them seem to have ever seen.

"Kelly" had a marvelous opportunity to blend a distinctive New Orleans accent with an overlay of Manhattan, but instead she didn't even attempt to sound either Cajun nor northerner.

Where do these movie companies get their actors from ? Because if those in this film are the best of those auditioned, then the movie industry is in dire straits. The "acting" was forced, and who meets their best friend in a coffee shop with squeals to tell them they need to see each other more ? The over-acting of the friend was cringe worthy, and she needs to have more acting lessons.

Then there is the precocious child who knows and demands everything. Once she came into the picture, we were in children's TV territory when a birthday party was mentioned and organised. At this point I'd had enough and switched off.

There's actually a line in the script that requires the lead man to state the immortal words "That was the worst acting ever". It suggests that the film's makers didn't take themselves too seriously and that is the best way to approach watching this movie. There is a sense in which the idea of a lavish party for a ten-year old child, complete with hired alpacas, is extravagant and beyond what most viewers will have experienced in their own lives. But this is escapist fantasy and, in any case, wait to see how the party turns out! There's a (lightly peddled) moral message here and I enjoyed watching it. There are several 'should they or shouldn't they' dilemmas running in parallel (a promotion, a move abroad, letting down a friend, should they even turn up to the party?) and I think it all knitted together quite nicely. This is not great cinematic art and neither is it a waste of time. Agreed, the New York depicted is a very clean and safe version and I'm not sure the Canadian lead actress convinces as a daughter of the South, but these are distractions. My advice is to follow the plot as it unravels and recognise it for being a simple, well-intentioned piece of family film-making. If you have a ten year-old child to watch it with you, it will be the perfect recipe and give you lots to discuss afterwards.

Let me see, a woman who works in high paying job meet a single father who she doesn't like but then fall in love with him toward end of the movie. Seriously, Hallmark loves to recycle their plots because it's easy to make and also their audience can't get enough of it. If you love Hallmark movies and love their tropes then this movie is for you. I would say avoid this movie at all costs because as I mentioned earlier that this movie is just another Hallmark where they recycled their plot. I kind of feel bad for the actors and actresses in this movie because they seem like they are trying but they aren't.

Just about handled the ridiculously dysfunctional lead pair but I couldn't get passed the supersize kids' party - when the venue suggested kids paint on the walls and the venue would just paint over - hello! Would cost a fortune to repaint that studio! Too often parties are a total nightmare ie when birthdays just become a competitive cash-wars extravaganza (or in this case guilty conscience) and not about the kids themselves. If they have everything young, there's nothing to look forward to later in life. One activity is a beautiful treat - stick with that and they'll appreciate all events, even when they are going through financial hardship.