There was a lot to love about this movie. The premise was fun and interesting. A family pretending to be guests and staff for their dad's failing B&B so that they would make a good impression on a B&B critic. This definitely made for some amusing scenes. I think they could have played up the potential comedic aspects even more than they did. As it was, they went more for heartwarming and sentimental, and that worked well too. But every time that things could have really gone south, with potentially funny results, everything just worked out okay.
The characters in the story were all likable and interesting in their own way. I especially liked the dad, who just seemed so genuinely nice, even though he was hopelessly inept as a B&B proprietor. I also liked the daughter Amber, who stepped up to the plate as the B&B chef, and discovered that her passion was cooking. The grandma faking a German accent was a bit over-the-top, but fortunately, she didn't have much screen time. I also liked the guest Beth, and wished they had spent more time on the potential romance between her and the dad.
The one fail for me in this movie was the romance between Lucy and the guest Jake. They tried really hard to include interactions between them that would initiate sparks, but somehow, I wasn't feeling the chemistry. I feel like Victor Webster was miscast for the role, looking too old for Bethany Joy Lenz. He was actually only 8 years older than her, but looked nearly old enough to be her father. He also didn't seem that comfortable playing a lead role in a rom-com. Where is Andrew W. Walker when you need him?
So, overall, it was a decent movie. A fun movie. And a somewhat goofy, original movie. But as a romance, I'd say it was just so-so. Kind of sad, because it could have been so much more than it was.
The characters in the story were all likable and interesting in their own way. I especially liked the dad, who just seemed so genuinely nice, even though he was hopelessly inept as a B&B proprietor. I also liked the daughter Amber, who stepped up to the plate as the B&B chef, and discovered that her passion was cooking. The grandma faking a German accent was a bit over-the-top, but fortunately, she didn't have much screen time. I also liked the guest Beth, and wished they had spent more time on the potential romance between her and the dad.
The one fail for me in this movie was the romance between Lucy and the guest Jake. They tried really hard to include interactions between them that would initiate sparks, but somehow, I wasn't feeling the chemistry. I feel like Victor Webster was miscast for the role, looking too old for Bethany Joy Lenz. He was actually only 8 years older than her, but looked nearly old enough to be her father. He also didn't seem that comfortable playing a lead role in a rom-com. Where is Andrew W. Walker when you need him?
So, overall, it was a decent movie. A fun movie. And a somewhat goofy, original movie. But as a romance, I'd say it was just so-so. Kind of sad, because it could have been so much more than it was.