Sand Dollar Cove

I had a hardtime watching this. There is no chemistry among the leads. Story drags. Taped it and tried three times to get through it. Don't waste your time.

It was a great surprise to see Glynnis in this movie. I recognized her right away from "Ode to Billy Joe" and a few other of my favorite 70's movies. It was Glynis and Chad Michael Murray that held my attention in the movie. Unfortunately, the leading female character wasn't a good fit. She seemed like she wasn't into the film. Better casting for female lead would've made a huge difference in this movie. I liked her in other films, but this was not the part for her. I wanted to like her in the movie, but there was no emotion nor spark. (I hate to write anything negative about anyone) I even checked to see if maybe she was going through something that would affect her acting, but I didn't see anything. Chad Michael Murray was perfect for the role. His charisma jumps off the screen. On a side note, I'd love to see Robbie Benson and Glynnis in an upcoming Hallmark movie. I know, my generation would love to see them together. Overall, cute movie.

I had a good laugh with how often they talked about the pier. Frankly, they didn't do a lot else in the movie, at least not anything worth noting. It was a snoozefest. If you need a nap, this would be great background. You could skip 30 minutes of plot and catch up in two seconds. It was a pleasant cast and the scenery was comforting, but the writers must have bored themselves to death writing this.

While its nice to have something filmed on a location other than the Hallmark factory in Vancouver, the scenery doesn't make up for the truly awful script. Although Hallmark movies are predictable some at least have entertaining dialog. In this move the actors are just spouting random dialog and since the script is yet another "mean outside developer wants to ruin nice little town" plot there are not a lot of reasons to watch. If you want to be entertained for 90 minutes just skip it. If you have some walls to paint it you could keep it running as background noise. The actors aren't too bad although its a little hard to tell since they have nothing interesting to say. Kudos for the CT coastline, but its not very authentic with no mention of the Patriots (or maybe the Giants).

Not a fan of the dirty, old CMM here. His accent is bad in this, sounds more of a coastal southern than north-eastern. Neither have chemistry with the other. The main actress, Aly, feels like she didn't want to be in the movie or cast opposite as CMM. Also, didn't seem to be interested in doing her job she was there to do. It's what I call a filler movie for Hallmark; there's no purpose to it other than to fill a slot for a new movie.

I hate that movies based on this premise start out with 15-20 minutes of the boss promising the lead negotiator a promotion and drilling into her how important the deal is. This movie opens with a scene of a storm destroying the pier which is the lynchpin of the plot and the next thing we see is the negotiator driving into town. We get to skip 19 minutes of boring threats mixed with promises. (Unfortunately there are still plenty of those spread out later.) BUT. Then we get about 45-50 minutes (commercial run time) of business negotiations combined with some banter between the leads, but mostly negotiations. I think this is part of what turned so many reviewers off Aly Michalka, but it's not all of it. She's just too stiff throughout. If there's chemistry with Chad Michael Murray, it's hard to find. Meanwhile, Murray is too laid back. Michalka lightens up a little with Lily Jane, as Milly, the kid. The overall story is a common one. The Developer wants to destroy town history and nostalgia. As the business progresses, the negotiator takes part helping with the local Jamboree. And she enters a contest. There's an adorable kid. The story is thin. Almost exactly 3/4 mark (commercial run time) something happens that I didn't expect because it was earlier than usual. After that the movie stalls until the moment of truth after which the story runs to the usual conclusion in the usual way. Actually, thinking about it, the whole movie drags. Usually, the relationship picks up the slack, but there wasn't enough spark between these leads. Usually Hallmark movies have some great scenery. This one had nothing really spectacular. One thing about Michalka did stand out and that was her wardrobe.