MovieChat Forums > From Friend to Fiancé (2019) Discussion > did not like this movie

did not like this movie

posted 3 years ago by melissah1982 (883)
3 replies | jump to latest

I love Hallmark movies. I get into the escapism and can over look plot wholes and the like when they are decently made. But this movie was awful. I find most of the wedding themed movies obnoxious; maybe because I am a single girl who will probably never get married (even though i want to) or maybe because I find these movies the most petty annoying types of stories. The men are always the afterthought and it's just a lot of female cattiness.

Too many leaps of story line and too much like other movies prior just not as good.

I think I may have hated every character except Patrick even Ryan Paevey's Ted and he was the whole reason I watched the movie. Below are just some observations just to get it out of my system

1. I hate fast weddings. I'm not saying engagements should be 6 years long but how long were Ted and Kim dating before getting engaged? a month? and I find it ridiculous that Ted didn't tell Jessica about him dating the HS mean girl. He said he knew she would be mad...so instead of telling her at the time, he waits until they are months out from a wedding to tell her and then not only that but then expect her to PLAN the wedding? I hated this whole plot.

2. Both women wanted Ted for the wrong reasons. BOTH of them. Kim because she was rebounding and Jessica because she got jealous. People always complain about how men objectify women but the way men are treated when weddings are involved offend me to no end. They are always the after thought. No one ever talks about after the wedding or why they are marrying the guy in the first place. The only thing that matters is the cake and the dress. And poor Ted had no character or motivation on what HE wanted. The whole wedding premise felt more like an arranged marriage than something two people who loved each other wanted; especially when it was ended so abruptly.

3. Not having the boyfriend break up this wedding was a plot twist or subversion of expectation that I hated. I felt there needed to be an outside element that broke this wedding up or to make the characters realize they weren't meant for each other. To have Kim do it just didn't work for me. She fought the whole movie to keep Ted and there was no catalyst for her to see she was absolutely making the wrong choice. The 'Jessica knew where he was' excuse was dumb. she was fighting with the BF on the phone the whole movie. I wanted/needed to see him show up and ask her not to marry Ted. I needed that to be resolved. It was being set up the whole movie between the two friends so for it not to happen was a cheat. Overall, I felt there were a LOT of set ups that, in the end, went nowhere. All for the sake of saying 'fooled you!' to the audience.

I could say more but I'll leave it here for now. I was disappointed in this movie. The best part was Patrick driving the grandma to the engagement party on a scooter. THAT was hilarious.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

Both women wanted Ted for the wrong reasons. BOTH of them. Kim because she was rebounding and Jessica because she got jealous. People always complain about how men objectify women but the way men are treated when weddings are involved offend me to no end. They are always the after thought. No one ever talks about after the wedding or why they are marrying the guy in the first place. The only thing that matters is the cake and the dress.

That's in general the case in romance genre. Male characters are simply trophy dudes. As a man, I can tell that they don't feel real.

But that's the standard.

I guess it's the same from a female point of view if you see the usual female romantic interests. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind in any case. They're just there to play the romantic interest role, I understand that's part of the romantic interest trope. Not every character needs his/her own dramatic roller coaster. It's true that the double standard when it comes to female and male romantics interests is quite dishonest, but that's no news.

What I mean is that's more or less the usual stuff in romance. Perhaps here it's more noticeable, but that's it.

[–] melissah1982 (883) 3 years ago

I can agree. And there is no problem with having the romantic interest not having a huge part in the story; not everyone needs to be the deepest most important character. I get that completely. I just find some movies write them better than others and this movie just didn't do a good job in my opinion.

I actually thought the story was going to be the other way around with Ted chasing after the girl because he always loved her secretly but she always friend zoned him. But instead, they flipped it on it's head and made HIM the one engaged and then suddenly he turned into the object of the drama while these two very unlikeable characters fought over him for the stupidest reasons. I may not have minded if the girls (or at least our heroin) was more likeable or had a better reason for their actions but as it is it just came off so shallow.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 3 years ago

Well, there's a couple of thing I've noticed:

1. Male writers use to have interesting male characters and dull female ones, and female writers use to have interesting female characters and dull male ones. Some writers can write great male and female characters, but that requires talent, which is rare.

2. Last years, some male writers are trying to imitate female writing. It usually feels weird. Most of times, it ends up in having bad male and female characters.

This case, the writer is male, so perhaps he was trying to aim to a female market (without enough talent to do so).