Love at First Glance (2017) Reviews

• Uncomfortable

  MIamiReviewer2017-03-02

  Were the other reviewers paid to give this high marks? I love Hallmark movies, but this one was terrible. It made me physically uncomfortable. It's like Hallmark scored some very high profile actors, and then got too comfortable with the presumed success of the movie, so didn't bother paying for a decent script/director/cameraperson/editor. To start, the timing of this movie was all off. I can't tell if the actors didn't know their stuff or if the problem was with the editing. But the whole thing just felt off. More importantly, the entire premise is off-putting. Sure, I get why she falls for him, given that her job has her learn all kinds of stuff about him. But he knows nothing about her, but is sending creepy texts to her the whole time, and then comes home and immediately tells her he loves her. If this movie had instead been aired on LMN instead of Hallmark, I would have been waiting for the "twist" when it turns out he is trying to lure her into an Eastern European human trafficking ring. I know we are supposed to suspend belief for TV, but even suspending belief made me feel like I needed a shower to get off the creepy feeling. Finally, Adrian Grenier, did you even read your lines before doing your 3 scenes? He had maybe 5 minutes of screen time in the whole movie, and I think they just paid him to show up, not to actually put any effort in. His weird, script-reading performance only amped up the creep factor. I felt physically uncomfortable for most of this movie. Ugh.

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• Horrid script- Texting non-love story - Theft of love sub-plot

  stevepat992017-11-13

  I have been an Amy Smart fan ever since she starred in Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds. This time around I felt my stomach churning as I hoped against hope this film would turn the corner. Instead it got worse. The film begins with a typical theme to wit: girl (Mary) expects long-time boy friend to pop the question over dinner only to learn he is dumping her. Soon thereafter she finds a phone on the subway, writes a story about the handsome owner James who then texts her from Paris. Despite cell phones and Skype they do not say a word to each other, just brief texts, meaning she remains a total stranger to him throughout the film. Mary plans to learn about James by visiting his phone contacts. As glorious tales of James accumulate he is sounding like a Christian Saint. Now, I am wondering who produced this film. Worst was James back story. A man she interviews tells Mary a mind boggling tale of James first love and his life's soul mate. James found her, Carey, at age ten. The two were inseparable through schools, living together and planning to marry when Carey suffers a brain injury. James never leaves her side during her coma. The man telling Amy the story was her male nurse/therapist. Happily Carry recovers but has no memory of James. Incredibly, on the day Carey is to be released a happy as a lark James rushes to her room, balloons in hand. The nurse/therapist is telling Mary that James looked in and saw him, the nurse/therapist holding Carey's hand as he and Carey planned their first date! Yes, the nurse/therapist had stolen Carey from James and is telling this to Mary. There is zero explanation of how this could happen, Especially since James would have spent all the time needed to be with Carey to revive old memories or build new memories using their past experiences, photos, videos, friends, family and the deepest love they had for one another for 15 years. How the nurse/therapist wormed his way into Carey's life is beyond comprehension. It should be obvious the nurse/therapist had committed sexual misconduct against his patient, Carey. The NCSBN defines sexual misconduct as "engaging in any verbal behavior that's seductive...such as suggesting or discussing the possibility of dating prior to the end of the professional relationship." Here the nurse/therapist admits to Mary he discussed 'dating' Carey while he was treating her. We see Carey reminding him of his 'promise' to date her upon her release. Horrid! Adding salt to the wound the nurse/therapist brings Amy to his home for an awkward meeting with Carey and their kids. Then, the screenplay has Mary taking a picture of the family James dreamed of having with Carey and then putting the photo into James cell phone! In the final scenes Amy returns the phone to James and has him view the photo of his lost soul mate Carey and her 'new' family. Why would Mary want to torture James this way? There are only a few minutes of screen time with Mary and James and zero chemistry in the final scene when they meet for the first time. Also, no acting ability on the part of James who has only a few scant lines. Final nail in the coffin. Last scene has James giving Amy his most personal possession, a Valentine's day card hand made him for his mother hours before she died. He was to give the card to the love of his life. It would be impossible for James to have the card since he would have given it to the love of his life,Carey years earlier. Instead he gives the card to Mary minutes after meeting her. Utter nonsense.

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• The premise doesn't convince

  phd_travel2017-08-20

  I like Amy Smart - she has a bright engaging personality without being annoyingly perky like some other Hallmark actresses. However this movie just doesn't have a convincing story. After finding a cell phone left behind by a guy on a train this reporter decides to write a story about him and falls in love with him via what she finds out about him from the people she interviews about him. As if! Adrien Grenier looks ill at ease in his few scenes. At the end a kiss? People aren't like that.

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• Very confusing and didn't love it

  tashinaknight2017-04-09

  I do love the actress (loved Twelve Dates of Christmas), but I didn't love the movie. It was mostly a bunch of smarmy stories (and I love Hallmark, so I can take most smarmy but this was over the top) put together about this way-better-than-perfect guy that she thinks she likes, except that she doesn't know him, who was conveniently out of the country for the whole movie. Meanwhile her male best friend/roommate (who is one of the regular cast of Hallmark guys) was being kind and supportive and always there for her. You know how in a Hallmark movie, even if there is an ex and a new guy and a guy best friend, it's always clear who the girl will end up with. Well, not this one. Does she fall in love with the perfect guy she's never talked to in person? Does she fall in love with the super nice roommate or best friend (I even watched the beginning again, and it didn't explain their relationship at the start of the movie)? I won't give spoilers, but I didn't know the answer until late in the movie. I was so unsure that I wasn't rooting for either of them, so when she picked, I actually didn't care.

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• An inspiring love story

  AngelCullen2017-02-18

  One of my favorite Hallmark movies .. ever!! It was so well made, jam packed full of emotions that I got teary eyed a couple of times during the movie! And I was do deeply touched! I'm so glad me and this movie crossed paths because it inspired me and moved me in ways that hasn't happened before. You'd think this is a simple story.. A Love story .. You'd be wrong.. it's so much more than .. It's a story about a woman who's finally discovering who she truly is .. A woman who finds love by chance .. A story of love in it's many shapes and forms .. While it still kept all of Hallmark's movies trade mark, Calling this a simple love story is doing the movie injustice.. THIS IS AN INSPIRING LOVE STORY ❤ You should really watch the movie, it's one of Hallmark's best work.

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