Le jardin de l'amour

source: Let Love Grow

I think this is the fourth Reel One Entertainment TV movie in 2023 season about single dad which I watched in the last 30 days. For some reason, they are fully on single dad train. I mean, if it served Hallmark so well, why not? Sadly this otherwise good drama movie was completely ruined by poor audio production. When you watch ROE TV movie, you just know there is high probability that it will be ruined by some technical issue(s). 30 seconds in, the very first dialogue in movie, and loud background music is already too much loud so I had to read translated subtitles which are done badly in this part of world. Whole Act I is ruined by it. Acts II and III are a bit better because there were short breaks without any music, and loudness vary from tolerable to can't hear dialogue. But there is more. Audio recording in the most outside scenes was abysmal like it was recorded with dumb phones. Even some indoor scenes suffered so Jennifer Bonner sounded like she was yelling and not talking. Furthermore, it was so bad that you can hear screeching birds better than actors talking! This is definitely the worst audio recording in any ROE TV movie, and I watched them probably close to 100. High school videos shot with mobile phones are better. I checked production company, and it's Sunshine Films Florida and I posted the same for their other movie - "Romantic Rewrite" so it's not an isolated coincidence. Cast was pretty good. Britton Webb again played guy who has trouble with business woman who tries to impose mostly her new vision (just like in "10 Steps to Love"), but this time as I already wrote, he was widowed single dad of two little daughters. What I didn't like was related to his daughters as in few scenes they had agressive makeup and acting your intellectual age trope was used which unnecessary pushed drama to light comedy. I like that movie is mostly light hearted drama with some romance mix. Comedy is really minimal. More dramas please. If audio production was ok, it would be 6*, maybe even 7*, but sadly, I had to give 4*, and it's probably borderline on 3*, but cast, writing, directing and location are all right. Speaking about location, it takes place in Florida, and it was actually shot there. And as every other ROE TV movie, don't watch trailer if you plan to watch the movie as it shows everything! Actually, it is made that movie looks like typical romance comedy, but it's not - it's drama mostly done right. And ironically, background music in trailer is normal, and not loud like in the movie. How is that even possible?

The lead male character is so boring! He was written to be dull, soft-spoken, unemotional, uninteresting, and unfunny. He has all of the charisma of a pet rock. His interactions with the rest of the characters almost feel unhuman -- like a robot with bad AI guiding its actions. The lead female character was more interesting, but I just couldn't see what she saw in him. He is obviously good looking, but even the most shallow person needs more than that from a relationship. In real life, I think she would be bored by him halfway through the first date, though her best friend in the movie claimed they had sparks and chemistry. They sure kept those hidden from us. And that's the problem with the movie. It's a relationship movie where the relationship has no fire to it.

Bon film !