I actually liked this movie a lot better than I thought I would, based on the weak rating on IMDb. It was a gender-reversed takeoff on the movie "Groundhog Day", one of my favorite films. It was, in no way, as good as that movie, but it still had a lot of charm and a lot of heart. I think the IMDb reviewers were overly harsh.
I especially liked Marla Sokoloff's performance as Rebecca. She is kind of mean at first, as she must be to achieve the required character arc from uncaring and selfish to caring and nice. I thought her performance was heartfelt, genuine, funny at times and touching at others. I recently watched her in a silly teen rom-com called "Whatever it Takes", and she was one of the few shining lights in that otherwise stupid movie. I'm kind of sad to see that her career never really took off that much, as I think she has a certain sparkling, nice, girl-next-door appeal, similar to Sandra Bullock. With better roles, she might have been a bigger presence in film these past 20 years.
Chris Carmack as Rebecca's old flame Chad gave a decent performance too. He played the handsome leading man in a way that made him relatable and approachable. I thought the two of them had decent on-screen chemistry together, at least after the first few initial repeat days, when she was a real jerk to him.
Okay, so the script could have been better. It was uneven an choppy in spots. One thing they never did was provide a convincing backstory as to why Rebecca had changed into this career-obsessed woman who basically turned her back on her family and friends. The reasons for her breakup with Chad back in high school seemed weak also. She apparently heard rumors that he was cheating on her, which ended up not being true, but she never confronted Chad about it at the time, and apparently, it was a mystery to him and everyone why she broke up with him. I also thought that her getting engaged to Chad and deciding to stay in her small town at the end seemed too rushed and abrupt. They had just reconnected after 12 years, after all. I wish, at some point that she had confessed to someone that, contrary to her facade of success, she was unemployed with no clear prospects. That would make her decision to stay in her small town much more credible. And, with her new-found cooking skills, maybe she could help her boyfriend Chad with his restaurant.
I could spend a lot of time pointing out the flaws of this movie, but they are relatively minor. On the whole, I found this to be an enjoyable, feel-good movie with a good message and likable, relatable characters. Definitely worthy of a watch.
I especially liked Marla Sokoloff's performance as Rebecca. She is kind of mean at first, as she must be to achieve the required character arc from uncaring and selfish to caring and nice. I thought her performance was heartfelt, genuine, funny at times and touching at others. I recently watched her in a silly teen rom-com called "Whatever it Takes", and she was one of the few shining lights in that otherwise stupid movie. I'm kind of sad to see that her career never really took off that much, as I think she has a certain sparkling, nice, girl-next-door appeal, similar to Sandra Bullock. With better roles, she might have been a bigger presence in film these past 20 years.
Chris Carmack as Rebecca's old flame Chad gave a decent performance too. He played the handsome leading man in a way that made him relatable and approachable. I thought the two of them had decent on-screen chemistry together, at least after the first few initial repeat days, when she was a real jerk to him.
Okay, so the script could have been better. It was uneven an choppy in spots. One thing they never did was provide a convincing backstory as to why Rebecca had changed into this career-obsessed woman who basically turned her back on her family and friends. The reasons for her breakup with Chad back in high school seemed weak also. She apparently heard rumors that he was cheating on her, which ended up not being true, but she never confronted Chad about it at the time, and apparently, it was a mystery to him and everyone why she broke up with him. I also thought that her getting engaged to Chad and deciding to stay in her small town at the end seemed too rushed and abrupt. They had just reconnected after 12 years, after all. I wish, at some point that she had confessed to someone that, contrary to her facade of success, she was unemployed with no clear prospects. That would make her decision to stay in her small town much more credible. And, with her new-found cooking skills, maybe she could help her boyfriend Chad with his restaurant.
I could spend a lot of time pointing out the flaws of this movie, but they are relatively minor. On the whole, I found this to be an enjoyable, feel-good movie with a good message and likable, relatable characters. Definitely worthy of a watch.