Una vita da star

As a Debbie Gibson fan of my youth I actually looked forward to this movie. This movie was a let down especially because of the fact it had the potential to be a lot better. Hallmark in the last few years have mandated the rom-com format for all its movies instead of letting them go where they go.

In this moview the romance seemed very forced and the movie wasted its time focusing on that. It could have been a nice C plot to tie up at the very end. However, as they key plot of the moview it did not work. The most interesting relationship in this movie was between the sisters. One became a pop star and the other moved away to be a teacher and really was not proud of her. Also, it could have focused on her career plummet a litte more at the beginning. Finally, while her becoming a teacher is a nice plot device her becoming an effective educator and embracing that role probably would not have occurred between the 1st and 2nd day.

In summary while not awful it was very disappointing because it good have been really good.

Surprising for me, I liked it. Just very much, against the absence of my taste for the Hallmark productions. I liked for the beautiful job of Debbie Gibson, charming of realistic. For the simple motif than I am teacher . For the gentle - precise portrait of middle age romance. For cliches and their smart use, too. For something easy to define as refreshing. And, no doubts, for the end.

The first V is for "V"egetarians only. Why? Because this made for TV movie is oh so CORNY.

The second V is for you over the hill, past your prime time "V"ain people who can't help yourselves and just want to live in your past.

Debbis Gibson, singer, songwriter/actress agreed to this vanity project because it allowed her to re-live some of her past stardom, but she is not relevant today, nor are her songs.

This made for TV film high school redemption of a former teen singing star is "ALL ABOUT DEBBIE GIBSON" and I gave it a 2/10 just so some people who watch it and want to live their own dream may feel there is at least a sliver of a chance of living your own dream.

The 2016 Summer Nights block was a mixed bag but mostly actually in retrospect pretty good. Certainly much better than the June Weddings output that year especially, where there was only one good film. While liking 'Summer Villa' and 'Summer Love' a lot, 'My Summer Prince' did very little for me. Have liked Pascale Hutton in other things and she is the most familiar name to me actually, am aware that for many others it would be Debbie Gibson and fair enough.

'Summer of Dreams' is pleasant enough and is better than its follow up, 2018's 'Wedding of Dreams'. It is though a bit half and half as a film and not particularly great, a good number of good things are here but also some not so good things too big to overlook. As far as the 2016 Summer Nights films go, 'Summer of Dreams' is possibly second weakest, though a lot better than 'My Summer Prince'. While not being either among the best or worst films for Hallmark that year.

As said, there are good things. The scenery is lovely and photographed lovingly. Hutton has the most likeable and real character and gives a very honest and charming performance, her dialogue is the best in the film too with the advice being relatable and well intentioned. Some of the music is also quite pleasant.

Robert Gant is also charming and looks very natural in front of the camera, his smile is lovely and more natural than Gibson's, and does have some decent chemistry with Gibson. Enough of the story is light hearted, heart-warming and sincere.

Having said all of this, 'Summer of Dreams' is not great. Did find Gibson rather wooden and she could have had a wider variety of emotions and less of the slightly too forced smiling. While there is chemistry between her and Gant, the relationship itself is not developed very well (her chemistry with Hutton actually has more heart) and could have been warmer. The music has pleasant moments as said, but too much of it also sounds dated within the film and Gibson's singing at times sounds tired.

Did find the dialogue too stilted too often and too heavy on the sentimentality, while the story is predictable and unevenly paced, with some dragging going on in the second half where the story got thinner. The ending is too neat, but that's not uncommon for Hallmark.

In summary, not a great film but not bad either. 6/10.

The casting was well above average for a Hallmark movie, except the record label exec was way too young. Maybe it can't be a Hallmark movie unless casting completely blows it somewhere? The story is a bit slow to start but the pace does improve. The initial awkwardness and renewed relationship between sisters was very well done. The movie ends well but seemed abbreviated.