The premise of this movie was interesting, and the movie itself started out pretty strong! The second half, however, is such a rapid downturn that the impression it leaves behind is remarkably bad. A few things:
1) This plot almost immediately reminded me of one of my favorite Hallmark movies, Love on the Air, in which, much like this movie, two semi-celebrities (in this case, radio show hosts) are forced to work together because of their brilliant banter after one of them is broken up with live on the air. Love on the Air was fun and complex, while Love in Store misses the mark on several occasions.
2) I got the strong impression that whoever wrote this movie has never actually watched a home shopping network segment. The salespeople behind the camera have to be energetic, fast-talking, and enthusiastic. The hosts in the movie are rather drab, and fill their programs with fluff words rather than genuine attempts to market the products ("what are you going to do with your one wild and precious life" is an adage that is much too heavy for someone trying to sell a fishing rod). This complete separation from the QVC and HSN we all know is such a break from reality that it makes the entire movie difficult to immerse yourself in.
3) The two leads bark and banter at each other for a good chunk of the movie, then spend one tandem bike ride and one home-cooked dinner together and are suddenly extraordinarily friendly with each other, if not more. From this point forward, the movie drags itself downward by seriously belaboring the problem between them (should they host together or not, a stance they proceed to torturously flip-flop on) and dwelling on a ridiculous metaphor about vacuuming. The male lead is suddenly so committment-phobic that he can't make up his mind about his job or his love interest, and to make matters even more unnecessarily convoluted, the boyfriend who the female lead broke up with at the start of the film is abruptly back in the picture to dramatically propose on TV. The movie is then forced to wrap up tremendously quickly, where (once again, on live TV), the main characters kiss in front of all their colleagues and decide to be together. The entire second half of the movie needed serious reevaluating as well as help with time-management.
On the bright side, I actually found Alexandra Breckenridge and Robert Buckley to have good chemistry (although it would've been much better had they given their relationship more time to organically flourish).
1) This plot almost immediately reminded me of one of my favorite Hallmark movies, Love on the Air, in which, much like this movie, two semi-celebrities (in this case, radio show hosts) are forced to work together because of their brilliant banter after one of them is broken up with live on the air. Love on the Air was fun and complex, while Love in Store misses the mark on several occasions.
2) I got the strong impression that whoever wrote this movie has never actually watched a home shopping network segment. The salespeople behind the camera have to be energetic, fast-talking, and enthusiastic. The hosts in the movie are rather drab, and fill their programs with fluff words rather than genuine attempts to market the products ("what are you going to do with your one wild and precious life" is an adage that is much too heavy for someone trying to sell a fishing rod). This complete separation from the QVC and HSN we all know is such a break from reality that it makes the entire movie difficult to immerse yourself in.
3) The two leads bark and banter at each other for a good chunk of the movie, then spend one tandem bike ride and one home-cooked dinner together and are suddenly extraordinarily friendly with each other, if not more. From this point forward, the movie drags itself downward by seriously belaboring the problem between them (should they host together or not, a stance they proceed to torturously flip-flop on) and dwelling on a ridiculous metaphor about vacuuming. The male lead is suddenly so committment-phobic that he can't make up his mind about his job or his love interest, and to make matters even more unnecessarily convoluted, the boyfriend who the female lead broke up with at the start of the film is abruptly back in the picture to dramatically propose on TV. The movie is then forced to wrap up tremendously quickly, where (once again, on live TV), the main characters kiss in front of all their colleagues and decide to be together. The entire second half of the movie needed serious reevaluating as well as help with time-management.
On the bright side, I actually found Alexandra Breckenridge and Robert Buckley to have good chemistry (although it would've been much better had they given their relationship more time to organically flourish).