I really wanted to like this movie - I rented it with high hopes while I was sick. The leads are appealing, and the plot seemed interesting to me. Unfortunately, the more I watched, the less I liked.
My main issue is the clichés. They are everywhere, and they are huge. You've got your controlling mother with the evil smile who wants her daughter to date her social equal. You've got the snobbish, supposedly charming chosen boyfriend who is not at all what he seems; in fact he attempts to rape her at their very first meeting.
There's the best friend, the source of a constant stream of advice, some good, some bad. There's the dead mother who provides strength and inspiration to her son. And the not-so-secretly drunk boss who has a kind heart but a failing business.
Then there are your leads, Danny and Ariana/Sam. Danny has a heart of gold; he buys the newspaper every day from a street person but never reads it. He's saving up to buy recording equipment so he can record a demo, because all waiters in NYC are aspiring musicians. Sam is deaf, which in itself I don't consider a cliché, but her sheltered life because of it is.
Danny and Sam meet, fall in love, and conduct an innocent yet clandestine relationship until Mommy Dearest finds out.
Said mother then contrives to keep them apart while her own assistant sabotages those efforts. Somehow, Danny and Sam find their way back to each other, just in time for...SPOILER ALERT!
...Danny to be diagnosed with end-stage brain cancer. Great. I realize from reading this site that Kent Moran wrote this screenplay in tribute to his young cousin who did die of cancer, and I don't mean to take anything away from that, but that should have been a different movie. In this one, it felt like it was just thrown in near the end because he didn't feel like the movie could stand on its own without someone tragically dying young. The cancer angle makes this seem like two movies in one, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
As if that wasn't enough clichés, Sam gets cochlear implants (another thing her mother tried to prevent in order to maintain control of her daughter) and the first thing of consequence she hears are wails of grief at Danny's bedside.
And the music. Ay-yi-yi. The lyrics are what I might expect to hear from a seventh-grade poetry class.
I'm sorry to say this movie was manipulative, trite, and predictable; the only thing I didn't predict was that it would be this disappointing. The acting is unfortunately sub par as well.
I am not usually this harsh when discussing a movie because I feel bad for those responsible for bringing it to the screen. I know it would make ME feel awful to read a review ripping MY work to shreds. But I honestly can't summon much positive to say about this one.
It had a few good moments, but they are few and far between. I realize that there are a lot of people who will love this movie, and that's fine. To each his own. This is just my opinion.
My main issue is the clichés. They are everywhere, and they are huge. You've got your controlling mother with the evil smile who wants her daughter to date her social equal. You've got the snobbish, supposedly charming chosen boyfriend who is not at all what he seems; in fact he attempts to rape her at their very first meeting.
There's the best friend, the source of a constant stream of advice, some good, some bad. There's the dead mother who provides strength and inspiration to her son. And the not-so-secretly drunk boss who has a kind heart but a failing business.
Then there are your leads, Danny and Ariana/Sam. Danny has a heart of gold; he buys the newspaper every day from a street person but never reads it. He's saving up to buy recording equipment so he can record a demo, because all waiters in NYC are aspiring musicians. Sam is deaf, which in itself I don't consider a cliché, but her sheltered life because of it is.
Danny and Sam meet, fall in love, and conduct an innocent yet clandestine relationship until Mommy Dearest finds out.
Said mother then contrives to keep them apart while her own assistant sabotages those efforts. Somehow, Danny and Sam find their way back to each other, just in time for...SPOILER ALERT!
...Danny to be diagnosed with end-stage brain cancer. Great. I realize from reading this site that Kent Moran wrote this screenplay in tribute to his young cousin who did die of cancer, and I don't mean to take anything away from that, but that should have been a different movie. In this one, it felt like it was just thrown in near the end because he didn't feel like the movie could stand on its own without someone tragically dying young. The cancer angle makes this seem like two movies in one, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
As if that wasn't enough clichés, Sam gets cochlear implants (another thing her mother tried to prevent in order to maintain control of her daughter) and the first thing of consequence she hears are wails of grief at Danny's bedside.
And the music. Ay-yi-yi. The lyrics are what I might expect to hear from a seventh-grade poetry class.
I'm sorry to say this movie was manipulative, trite, and predictable; the only thing I didn't predict was that it would be this disappointing. The acting is unfortunately sub par as well.
I am not usually this harsh when discussing a movie because I feel bad for those responsible for bringing it to the screen. I know it would make ME feel awful to read a review ripping MY work to shreds. But I honestly can't summon much positive to say about this one.
It had a few good moments, but they are few and far between. I realize that there are a lot of people who will love this movie, and that's fine. To each his own. This is just my opinion.