What I Did for Love

OK, it's just a Hallmark movie, I shouldn't take it too seriously and a lot of the production crew will be on autopilot, but I wanted more nuance than this. I'm a little surprised at some of the "pro family" reviews as well. The main theme seemed to be "be as obnoxious to your unfamiliar guests as possible and maybe your daughter will marry someone like you".

This hardly seems the stuff of Christmas sentiment (unless you count The Grinch). I just couldn't buy into the bigoted hick stereotype as being gruff but lovable, just unpleasant. The daughter's role seemed to consist of smiling weakly while her boyfriend was metaphorically spat on from all sides. If the roles were reversed and the boyfriend's parents made her take ice cold baths every morning and strip naked to serve drinks to their society friends, somehow the family friendly motif would be put into sharp relief. Everybody's family could be this loathsome to strangers if they really tried, but why would you celebrate it? Why would you reward their climb from boorish vindictiveness to grudging acceptance as attaining a state of grace and forgiveness?

I know that TV movies tend to have broad-brush plot lines with little room for subtlety, but the creative contempt and continuous humiliation that the daughter's family put him through just irritates after a while and is too obviously there simply to hang the sub-plots from. No one would keep putting up with this level of abuse with little or no help from their partner and the unreality reminds you that this is just a product. You can't lose yourself in something this caricatured.

I enjoyed this movie very much. I believe it to be very realistic. Many city people really do act like this guy when they go to the country. I found it to be a nice clean movie that the whole family can enjoy! There needs to be more movies like this one made. If you like a good clean romantic comedy, this is a must see. I would recommend it to anyone.

I think the actors and actresses do a great job of portraying their parts. You do not see to many movies that are based on reality. This one has hard times and good times. It also has some good morals brought out in it. For instance, the father didn't see the boyfriend's inner self--all he could see was a big city lawyer that he didn't like. He thought the guy was dumb and did all he could to make his life miserable. His daughter, however, remained very loyal to her father and waited for her father's blessing on her marriage. It also shows that crimes don't pay. The ex-boyfriend was out to get her current boyfriend and blamed him for things that he had not done. In the end, the truth came out.

The movie doesn't end there though. Everyone that was at odds with each other reconciled at the end. It has a very happy ending. I think that most people would enjoy this movie a lot. It is worth seeing at least once. I myself have watched it several times.

Typical Hallmark movie fare...not very good...with canned, repetitive music. Only reason to have this movie on is the scenery in Lone Pine, California. This is the setting of so many great westerns. It is just beautiful.

Obviously some people care more about the acting than the whole point of the movie.

This is a VERY positive movie showing that one does NOT have to be set in their ways and can change. The father DID NOT like Sadie's boyfriend until he saved him from a wolf and survived outside overnight in the cold mountains.

The theme of people being able to change is a theme which is positive and is more important than how great the acting was. I didn't care to observe the acting critically because I was drawn into the movie.

After all I thought that's what good acting was .. being able to draw your audience into your story. At least that is what our director told us...a director who does this for a living.

I recommend this highly for those who are fed up with the normal Hollywood fare and want a movie that your whole family could watch and admire.

OK, I realize that this steaming pile is a Hallmark (makes me nauseous) production, but it's even more lame then the usual Hallmark crap. I like James Gammon, but his character makes me want to kick him in the you know what. Going through the motions trying to deal with a really poorly written screenplay. I almost didn't recognize Sally Struthers as the aunt. I instantly recognized the scenery from personal experience doing a lot of hiking around the independence and Lone Pine area and Bishop California. In the background it shows Mount Whitney in a couple of scenes and the Alabama Hills are a reall fugged place with amazing rock formations, so the cinematography is outstanding and in my opinion the only redeeming quality at this movie can claim. If you like the sickly sweet thing like Hallmark cards usually are you might like this. Personally I was struggling to watch it all the way to the end, but at least the family comes around to the boyfriend's side.