WHY wasn't this FILMED on Kaua'i?!?!
As a resident of Kaua'i, i was completely confused by the setting & scenery & simply can't fathom the choice of NSW in the land of Oz over the actual island where the story was set!?! It was like watching something taking place in a parallel universe or something…I was absolutely baffled as to why I didn't recognise any of the locations or buildings (including Lihue airport and the County building!!) or even some of the standard lei flowers (! - those pretty purple petal thingies didn't pass as our orchids; sorry!) & only @ the very end of watching all the credits, did the riddle reveal itself but still left me confused by the choice to set a whole story in a very specific location, i.e. a very special and VERY SMALL island (where we have few secrets - as evidenced by palming off a movie filmed OTHER than here, shows/proves!) which we indeed do believe IS Paradise; whassup with this?? Couldn't our married woman in Boston have a flirtation (with a 24 year old man - who has a 15 year old son?!? Even on our magical island, that's pushing the fertility envelope a tad too far..!) somewhere in Australia instead?
Basically, it was a bizarre business to set a story on an island where as a rule, people make movies pretending it's somewhere else (e.g. Jurrassic Park, Tropic Thunder, Curse of the Crystal Skull - etc) but film it (primarily - I recognised only a few 2nd unit or possibly just stock-photo shots?!) elsewhere; I just don't 'get' it!
SO far as storyline, etc, goes - there were a few solid moments, but basically it had many of the pitfalls of the classic TV movie sort which was a pity, because the cast was mostly strong and could have supported better, with better direction and script. (Personally, i've yet to come across a handsome local surfer boy who can emote & express himself half as well as this hunky would-be home-wrecker haha!?! More like 'Eh you wanna come fishing? Jump up in my truck let's go girl - woo, u lookin' GOOD in that bikini!'…just listen to local radio for locally-composed reggae-style songs to 'discover' the average range of enthusiastic emotions vis young dude to his beloved/coveted/intended for further information and I guarantee you won't find anything remotely along the lines of this Hawai'ian heart-throb's eloquence…we Wahine WISH! What a ridiculous fantasy to serve up to presumably restless late-30s married females with bratty kids and an inattentive husband - IMO…hey, just keepin' it real!)
Until the credits rolled, I was seriously questioning how-come I'd never swum into &/or found The Blue Room..?! Also, why everyone wore shirts and tops with sleeves when we here are all almost always sleeveless (feel free to develop an anti-perspirant/deodorant which defies our tropical climate AND keeps our shirts/tops stain-free, please!)...
- LUVED the music which WAS mostly authentic, i.e. Made in Hawai'i, and which made the confusing collage composition of this bit-of-a-movie-mess almost palatable. Whereas the core storyline held promise, which disappointed - instead, the pandaring element of older married woman being flattered by the avid attentions of hunky younger man diverted, to the detriment of the movie overall, and marred the choice of title (I almost skipped watching this because of the title, BTW, but the 'return ashes to Hawai'i' part of the summary/synopsis pulled me in…); something tasteful along the lines of 'Return to Paradise' or 'My Other Mother' or even 'My Hawai'ian Nanny' would've worked so much better. All in all, a wasted opportunity for some small gem which could have transcended standard TV movie fare.
Please DO come make movies on Kaua'i - AND say/set them IN/ON our beautiful Paradise island!!! I am happy to provide some scripts if anyone's seriously interested…
;)
(Sorry & fair warning: all fantasies will be limited to the non-bored housewife variety!!)
:)