A Valentine's Date

Decent storyline. I'm a fan of Elisa Donovan, beautiful horses, country music, the Christian song "Your Love Never Fails"... (and the pig was cute). But for the love of all that is Texas, don't show aerial footage of downtown Austin and then try to pass off what's obviously SoCal as Texas Hill country! And the characters' horribly fake Texan accents! Super distracting from what could have been a more enjoyable movie. As a Texas transplant living in California, I'm guessing Santa Monica mountains, Santa Clarita, maybe Ventura county locations were used for this film? Texas doesn't have mountains like these in the movie. It would have been better to set the story anywhere else than insult Texans with this hogwash.

The Elisa Donovan character tells the husband whom she refuses to divorce, he needs to grow up; yet she harbors a petty high school jealousy for the girl who beat her out of h.s. Drama role and talks down to the diner owner (also a h.s. Friend). She is so self-absorbed, she hasn't been home in 6 years, she throws childish fits in front of the judge who is deciding the custody of the couple's 9 or 10-year-old daughter & even tries to compromise the judge on the street (can you say stalking). And, oh yes, misses important business deadlines and teleconferences she has sworn up and down she would meet when she knows she up for an EVP position at her bank. I definitely want this broad on my team. Not.

He certainly shares responsibility for not traveling to NY to visit, but when it comes to maturity - he's got her beat.

Ridiculous. Opening shots of the City of Austin, then a cut to a huge mountainous backdrop of their central "Texas" ranch (which is obviously set in California--unless I've missed seeing that mountain for the past 40 years that I've lived in Austin). Two blue-eyed parents with a brown-eyed kid--genetically impossible. Yes, casting agents, people notice these kinds of things and it makes films even less believable. The leading lady wearing cowboy boots to ride a horse in Texas-with an English riding saddle. A meal of enchiladas (Tex-Mex) paired with dirty rice (Cajun). Hint--no one here does that. A supposedly sophisticated now-New Yorker who shows up to court without a lawyer--(oh, but wait-later her NY attorney flies to Texas to represent her, apparently with a magical license to practice in Texas). The lead, supposedly raised in Texas, soooo worried about her ~10 year old daughter being around animals like piglets and horses because "she could get hurt," since she's "a city kid." Giant eye-roll from me. Did anyone on this film do their homework first?????

Of course this is a "good" movie. If you're looking for good, clean, inoffensive and somewhat inspiring, this is the movie for you. Basically this is why I picked it at the videostore, because I'm tired of movies with violence, sex and witchcraft. So in this sense, it was great.

Now for the technical side of things... The story is more than predictable (despite what the cover says). First of all, the original set-up made me think so much of "Sweet Home Alabama" with Reese Witherspoon and What's His Name (Luke Wilson, I think?), even down to the "I didn't know he was an artist" side of things, although they really did not do anything with that last bit at all. I think the daughter was added just to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Speaking of the daughter, she's pretty good in her role, but the mom... I really had a hard time believing she really was her mom. She sounded like a babysitter trying to sound cool with a kid that she doesn't know too much. She overplays horribly most of the time. The husband is not as bad. The grandpa is the best. Of course we're talking Tom Skerritt.

I'm still waiting to see this Christian movie with a plot that is not so predictable I can resume the whole story in 3 sentences even before the titles from the beginning are finished; where the dialogue is meaningful, but not full of clichés; and where the acting is really professional. Not saying this to be mean, we're getting there, this is better than other things I've seen before. I'm hopeful it's coming soon! Meanwhile, I encourage the studio and the producers to keep working and getting better and better!

Laura (Elisa Donovan) left her husband Dylan (Brad Rowe) in Texas over four years ago. She took their young daughter to New York, where she got a great job in the banking business. In addition, she has slowly climbed the corporate ladder. As she explains, Laura was hoping her husband would follow HER, as a support for her dreams, but he loves it at his ranch in Texas. Over time, mother and daughter have made various visits to the Lone Star State. But, now, Dylan says enough! He wants shared custody of their daughter and a divorce. Summoned to court, Laura must face Dylan and get the issue settled. Unfortunately, the judge (Catherine Hicks) postpones the hearing until certain conditions are met. Thus, Laura has to bunk with her father (Tom Skerrit) and try to appease her boss on the phone for a week or so. Naturally, Laura and Dylan meet several times and its a reality that the attraction between them remains strong. Will this visit to the south wreak havoc on Laura's plans? This film is a nice romance but it has some major problems with credulity. Its very hard to believe that a husband, deprived of his wife and daughter, would wait four years to settle the matter. But, whatever. The cast is quite nice, with Donovan and Rowe shining as the stars and Hicks, Skerrit, Hicks, Tracey Gold, and John Schneider giving great support. Moreover, the scenery in Texas is lovely. Although it won't rank as a "must see" flick, romance fans who long for new material will find it acceptably entertaining.