MovieChat Forums > The Convenient Groom (2016) Discussion > Twenty-eight Years Old??? Come on now. ...

Twenty-eight Years Old??? Come on now. Spoilers

posted 8 years ago by Windoflower
7 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong. I love Vanessa Marcil, and she is a stunning woman. However, neither she nor Daniel Sutcliffe can pass for a 28 year old.
Near the end, when one of the characters speaks of the high school incident taking place ten years before, I understood what had not worked for me in this movie. The movie, an enjoyable Hallmark creation, is better than many, but I couldn't, even with suspension of disbelief, match the actors with the characters they portrayed, especially Vanessa Marcil's performance. Compared to the ranunculus, she was more contrast than depth. A doctor of psychology with years of education but still held back by the loss of her bickering parents, she is to be a woman of both strength and fragility ... like the hummingbird.
I kept wondering the age of the two main roles. Although the actors are both nearing fifty, they can easily pass for mid-thirties; however, the portrayals were for even younger characters and the portrayals did not fit the appearance of the actors. Unfortunately, this situation negatively affects the relationships attempted to be established with the other characters--a wished-for sister, a mother's talk and advice, an immature boyfriend--which greatly harms the movie.
The casting choices doom this movie.

[–] shona_916 8 years ago

Yes I also wondering how they thought those two would pass for late 20's. Ohhhhh Hallmark!

[–] ebeth81 8 years ago

I just finished watching the movie today on Hallmark. It sounded to me like the person said "twenty years ago." Maybe the folks at Hallmark heard the complaints & had the line changed.

[–] adouthit-1 8 years ago

I watched on re-run but he did say 20 years ago. Although probably should have went with 25 to be more realistic.

[–] rugle111 8 years ago

I don't know where all you bloggers got the idea they were supposed to be 28 years old; near the end of the film Lucas says the incident with the broken glass bird happened 20 years ago. Since Lucas and his high school friends were 17 and 18, that would make him presently 38 not 28, as you all say.

[–] Windoflower 8 years ago

I watched the tv movie the first day it was shown. The line was "ten years ago." It may have been altered since, but even then the movie does not work.

Obviously, a young couple is wanted, and an actress or couple close enough to that age could have made this movie work. However, a woman of age 38 is not of the same mindset as a woman of 28.

Vanessa Marcil attempted to be a 28 year old in the movie. She has used some type of appearance enhancement, continues to cover her neck and a good portion of her face with her hair, and even hides her eyes with those glasses. Her appearance, no matter how lovely her figure is, cannot pass for a pre-thirty woman. As far as characterization is concerned, a 28 year old may be a person with education but still lack life experience, which this character demonstrates with her naive philosophy about love, her inability to overcome the loss of her parents, and her lack of confidence on so many levels.

What the script must have called for and what the choice of actors allows do not mesh. Even if the movie people changed the line to "twenty years ago," the set-up of a teenage girl seeing Vanessa Marcil's character as a hip, older sister does not work, nor does the male lead's mother striking fear into a 38 year old or successfully providing motherly advice.

[–] rugle111 8 years ago

And I as well; not to dispute what you are saying you heard, and I suppose an alteration might be possible after the movie had already "wrapped" and been broadcast at a later time, but I DVRd the movie, reviewed it; clear as day it said
20 years ago.

[–] Windoflower 8 years ago

"A young celebrity marriage counselor discovers herself left at the altar of her own highly-publicized wedding. To save face, she accepts an offer from her contractor, who secretly has a crush on her, to step in as groom and marry her."
Thirty-eight, although not old, is not young.