This movie came out of Candlelight Entertainment, a Utah-based independent studio that's basically a Hallmark wannabe. I've seen other movies from them, and I liked a few. But in most cases, as with this one, the difference between this small studio's productions and those of a major studio are painfully obvious for anyone to see.
The premise of this movie sounded interesting on the surface. Our heroine gets jilted by her fiancee at the wedding, then goes on a medical mission to the Philippines, where she, unbelievable coincidence of all coincidences, runs into her ex-fiancee's twin brother. This premise provides maybe 10-15 minutes of interesting film time, however, and the rest of the movie is basically filler. The whole time I was watching, I kept asking myself, "When is something actually going to happen?" It was pretty boring. They treat lots of patients with mostly mild symptoms, and administer a few vaccines. They travel around the island and have a good time (this looked more like a tropical vacation than a medical mission to me). Their truck broke down once, but they were never in serious danger, and the other guy came and rescued them the next day. I kept waiting in vain for someone to get bitten by a venomous snake in the jungle, or to get attacked by a vicious animal or something. Even the scene where they were treating the boy with the broken leg was not that compelling. He was never in any real danger.
You knew, of course, from the start that Charlotte and Seth would get together, but there was never much chemistry between them. They always seemed very awkward around each other. No witty banter. Not even the initial combativeness that you often see in rom-coms. The lead actors, Shae Robbins and Mason D. Davis, seemed competent enough. But the script gave them very little to work with. "Chemistry" in a romantic movie is as much a product of a good script as anything, and this script just didn't get it done. The final "romantic" scene, where they finally get together, was way too long. It's like they were talking and analyzing everything and there was no passion. Even after they kissed, I still wasn't convinced that there was any feeling there. The other romance between foundation head Henry and the doctor Maya was also pretty much a dud.
I loved the beautiful scenery. It was shot in French Polynesia, though, not the Philippines. Otherwise, this movie was kind of a miss for me. Too slow. Too boring. No chemistry with either couple. And bad writing. Giving it 5 stars is generous, and is grading on the curve, since this movie did come from a small studio. Wish I could recommend it more highly, but I can't.
The premise of this movie sounded interesting on the surface. Our heroine gets jilted by her fiancee at the wedding, then goes on a medical mission to the Philippines, where she, unbelievable coincidence of all coincidences, runs into her ex-fiancee's twin brother. This premise provides maybe 10-15 minutes of interesting film time, however, and the rest of the movie is basically filler. The whole time I was watching, I kept asking myself, "When is something actually going to happen?" It was pretty boring. They treat lots of patients with mostly mild symptoms, and administer a few vaccines. They travel around the island and have a good time (this looked more like a tropical vacation than a medical mission to me). Their truck broke down once, but they were never in serious danger, and the other guy came and rescued them the next day. I kept waiting in vain for someone to get bitten by a venomous snake in the jungle, or to get attacked by a vicious animal or something. Even the scene where they were treating the boy with the broken leg was not that compelling. He was never in any real danger.
You knew, of course, from the start that Charlotte and Seth would get together, but there was never much chemistry between them. They always seemed very awkward around each other. No witty banter. Not even the initial combativeness that you often see in rom-coms. The lead actors, Shae Robbins and Mason D. Davis, seemed competent enough. But the script gave them very little to work with. "Chemistry" in a romantic movie is as much a product of a good script as anything, and this script just didn't get it done. The final "romantic" scene, where they finally get together, was way too long. It's like they were talking and analyzing everything and there was no passion. Even after they kissed, I still wasn't convinced that there was any feeling there. The other romance between foundation head Henry and the doctor Maya was also pretty much a dud.
I loved the beautiful scenery. It was shot in French Polynesia, though, not the Philippines. Otherwise, this movie was kind of a miss for me. Too slow. Too boring. No chemistry with either couple. And bad writing. Giving it 5 stars is generous, and is grading on the curve, since this movie did come from a small studio. Wish I could recommend it more highly, but I can't.