First, I wish I had a shot at someone as beautiful as 39 year old Taylor Cole when I was 25 (the age of Kanoa Goo who plays her love interest). She's absolutely stunning and a magnetic performer. Manu was very lucky to have Sara show an interest in him. And this just in- not every relationship needs to lead to marriage.
Many successful mainstream romance movies have featured far more dramatic age gaps between the leads when the male is the older actor. For example, Richard Gere was 40 and Julia Roberts was just 22 in "Pretty Woman." He was still 18 years older than her when they starred in "Runaway Bride." And he was 26 years older than Winona Ryder when they made "Autumn in New York." Catherine Zeta-Jones was just 28 when she filmed "Entrapment" with a 67 year old Sean Connery. Jack Nicholson was 60 when he starred opposite 34 year old Helen Hunt in "As Good As It Gets". Cary Grant was 17 years older than his costar Deborah Kerr in "An Affair to Remember." Humphrey Bogart was 17 years older than Ingrid Bergman in the classic "Casablanca." Tom Cruise was at least 20 years older than his last two love interests in the last 2 Mission Impossible movies.
And Leonardo DiCaprio famously only dates women half his age. The list of male stars who do the same is long. So what's wrong with a younger male being attracted to an older female and vice versa? The better question might be who puts a 25 year old in charge of a lush high end beachfront resort hotel in Hawaii?
Manu is supposedly the manager of his family's hotel and yet he's usually off playing with Sara. Or standing around looking concerned or confused. And she's there for a destination wedding, but spends more of her time with Manu instead of the bride and her bridesmaids.
The script also overplays the ecologist angle. I support efforts to combat climate change and develop more sustainable energy sources but Sara is, initially at least, painted as a bit of a caricature. And it was never really clear what she was supposed to do to help Manu run the hotel. Build a desalination plant? Buy him more electric golf carts?
It's all very lovely to look at, but the story didn't really support more than a vacation hookup. And Hallmark isn't in the business of making movies about anything less than Big Love. That's not what we got here in the few days these two knew each other.
Many successful mainstream romance movies have featured far more dramatic age gaps between the leads when the male is the older actor. For example, Richard Gere was 40 and Julia Roberts was just 22 in "Pretty Woman." He was still 18 years older than her when they starred in "Runaway Bride." And he was 26 years older than Winona Ryder when they made "Autumn in New York." Catherine Zeta-Jones was just 28 when she filmed "Entrapment" with a 67 year old Sean Connery. Jack Nicholson was 60 when he starred opposite 34 year old Helen Hunt in "As Good As It Gets". Cary Grant was 17 years older than his costar Deborah Kerr in "An Affair to Remember." Humphrey Bogart was 17 years older than Ingrid Bergman in the classic "Casablanca." Tom Cruise was at least 20 years older than his last two love interests in the last 2 Mission Impossible movies.
And Leonardo DiCaprio famously only dates women half his age. The list of male stars who do the same is long. So what's wrong with a younger male being attracted to an older female and vice versa? The better question might be who puts a 25 year old in charge of a lush high end beachfront resort hotel in Hawaii?
Manu is supposedly the manager of his family's hotel and yet he's usually off playing with Sara. Or standing around looking concerned or confused. And she's there for a destination wedding, but spends more of her time with Manu instead of the bride and her bridesmaids.
The script also overplays the ecologist angle. I support efforts to combat climate change and develop more sustainable energy sources but Sara is, initially at least, painted as a bit of a caricature. And it was never really clear what she was supposed to do to help Manu run the hotel. Build a desalination plant? Buy him more electric golf carts?
It's all very lovely to look at, but the story didn't really support more than a vacation hookup. And Hallmark isn't in the business of making movies about anything less than Big Love. That's not what we got here in the few days these two knew each other.