This was very very frustrating to watch. Almost unbearable. But before I get into it, I just want to say how sad it is to see so many narrow minded reviews on IMDb criticizing Hallmark's impressive move towards being more diverse and inclusive. The people who throw around phrases like "woke garbage" and "woke agenda" just because Hallmark no longer ignores the lives of the billions of people who aren't heterosexual or White really need therapy. It's "disheartening" to read reviews that characterize tame vanilla depictions of same sex love as "immoral" and "filth". I'm a huge Hallmark fan and have been for many years. I have been generally impressed with how these new kinds of characters have been added to story lines, usually quite effectively (Love, Classified for example). But having diverse characters doesn't magically transform a bad movie into a good movie.
Teri Hatcher (who's 57) plays Mindy, who's turning 50 in the movie. She spends a lot of time telling everyone she's having a mid-life crisis and whines about getting older even though she's generally attractive and seems to have her health, a daughter who loves her, a fulfilling job, and lives in a beautiful home on a lake. None of that insulates her from feeling depressed, of course, but it's hard for the average viewer to have much empathy for someone like her, or be entertained by a movie with wall to wall whining and irrational behavior.
James Tupper (who's also 57) plays Sam, Mindy's first love from high school. He's a month younger than Mindy and, coincidentally, the uncle of the woman that Mindy's daughter Rita wants to marry. He is, according to Mindy, very "chill" and seemingly unbothered by the aging process. But, he later admits to feeling "insignificant and lost" and complains that in high school, Mindy made him feel that he "wasn't good enough". He certainly does his share of whining too. Indeed, one gets the feeling that all this angst and unhappiness would have played out better in a lengthy novel than in a Hallmark movie.
For reasons that are never explained in a satisfactory or believable way, Sam joins his adult niece Emily at the home of Emily's future mother-in-law (even though Emily didn't then know that Mindy was going to be her future mother-in-law). She's basically there for her girlfriend Rita, who's determined to plan an over the top birthday party for her mother- over her mother's repeated objections. Meanwhile, Sam and Mindy haven't said a word to each other in over 3 decades but, suddenly, he's staying at Mindy's place for a week because ....?
Mindy's home is quite nice, and presumably has plenty of room for her, her ex husband, her ex boyfriend, her daughter and her daughter's girlfriend. It also has a lovely private dock, a private beach, a lakeside fire pit, amazing rock work, a huge kitchen, a long wraparound deck, and it has a lake on one side and something akin to a National Park with a thrilling suspension bridge on the other. I realize that her EX husband is a doctor, but that house would have been pricey for 2 doctors who were still married. And yet she is somehow able to live there even though she's divorced and living on a teacher's salary. And she inexplicably thinks nothing of giving up her job as a teacher with no plan for what's next, or how to pay the mortgage. And her ex, who was presumably paying her alimony (which would have been based on their incomes), isn't thrilled with that development. But, as usual, Hallmark doesn't bother with pesky things like financial realities.
And no one thinks it's weird that Mindy's ex-husband Marc is invited by his daughter to live at Mindy's home for a week? Joining Emily, Rita, Mindy, and her ex boyfriend Sam? Actually, Mindy's therapist/friend does question the odd (ridiculous) arrangement:
Nathalie: "You could have said no"
Mindy: "We both know that's not my forte"
Really? She couldn't say no, even though she was all too willing to share her strongly held opinions about what her daughter Rita should do with her life? No one who's been through a bad divorce, following a long marriage, would think of this arrangement as anything other than BONKERS. In the real world, Mindy would tell her daughter: "No, I don't want your father, who was the one who wanted the divorce, moving back in with me for a week, while my old high school boyfriend is also living with me for a week, while your future wife is also living with us for a week, while I'm having a complete mental breakdown over the fact that I'm turning 50."
There's a lot to not like about Mindy:
Sam: 'I can't say yes to you if I don't mean it"
Mindy: "Really? I do it all the time"
What a peach. She even steals Sam's line later in the movie because, you know, growth.
But one of the worst moments occurs when she screams at the Octoberfest bar maids. Ugh. I REALLY hated her character at that point.
And then revealing special secret plans in a self absorbed hysterical fit? Ugh.
Although the love between Emily and Rita was believable, they shared Mindy's unrealistic approach to life. Quit their jobs and travel the country for a year together ? With what money? The problem wasn't that they were gay, the problem was that they were making very questionable choices which, as usual, ignored the fact that food, gas, shelter, etc. Costs money. Ugh.
This was a really unpleasant viewing experience. But it doesn't represent the far better quality movies that Hallmark has been making. See one of those instead.
