La guerra dei matrimoni

Some weaker movies take me a few attempts to watch the whole thing, but I quit outright after about 20 mins of this. I can't stand people getting obsessed with big weddings - it's the whole marriage that matters, so why put yourselves under so much stress for just day one? Therefore I couldn't connect with the lead character at all and was more on the side of the frowned upon fella.

I usually enjoy a good amount of Hallmark movies, even though they're not amazing, but this one was the worst movie I've ever seen! It made absolutely no sense and was just bizarre! The person that wrote this movie had to have been inebriated.

The male lead was likable. And the tension between him and the female lead got me laughing.

However, both the female lead and her bridal client look very immature, treating the male characters like they're cynical bad guys for advocating a responsible budget. Alexa PenaVega's character goes back and forth so many times, that I think it should scare off the love interest. At one point, she turns pretty nasty, and she never apologizes for it.

A lot of viewers have criticized the ending, and I will too. It came so totally out of left field. It's okay to have surprises in a story, but those surprises still need to be consistent with the plot and characters.

The 2016 June Wedding Hallmark films were a bit of a mixed bag. There were ones that were good, 'Wedding Bells' springing to mind. There were also ones that were real misfires, 'The Convenient Groom' being one. The 2016 Hallmark films varied, some good ones ('Love in Paradise', 'Summer Villa'), some bad ones ('Unleashing Mr Darcy', 'The Convenient Groom') and many of them somewhere in between. The premise for 'Ms Matched' did sound quite cute.

Unfortunately, the execution was anything but. Really do have to agree with everybody that has said that 'Ms Matched' is terrible and has almost nothing to recommend it. Personally have seen worse films overall, but as far as Hallmark films it is somewhere in the bottom end. It is definitely too one of their worst from 2016 and the worst June Weddings film from that year. Have liked Alexa PenaVega elsewhere but this is not a good representation of her or anybody else involved.

'Ms Matched's' least bad aspects are the production values and Shawn Roberts. The production values, especially the scenery are quite attractive.

Roberts, despite being an unusual choice for a love interest and maybe could have played the role softer, does inject some charm and charisma.

PenaVega is however completely flat as a character that is very sketchily developed (never rising above typical Hallmark cliche) and dull in personality. She and Roberts are hopelessly mismatched, do agree that they have nothing in common and the development of their very under-utilised romance is non existent to the extreme, they wouldn't even be believable as acquaintances. Neither of the two characters are interesting or likeable, with the film really overdoing Roberts' character's cluelessness. The supporting cast were clearly under-directed and act as if they had no idea how to play their roles, which to be honest gives them practically nothing to work with.

Furthermore, the direction is barely routine and is often static and aimless. The music is used too much and is too loud, also badly lacking in variety. The script is very stilted and is filled to the brim with the pongiest of cheese, cavity inducing sugary sentiment and dreariness, there is no wit or spark or anything emotional. There is no charm or heart in the storytelling, and the film badly suffers from the over the top lack of realism. Very little makes sense here, especially in the final act. Worst of all is the very rushed and sudden out of the blue-like complete 180 of an ending, which feels like an over convenient cheat.

Concluding, not worth bothering with. 2/10.

Libby Boland (Alexa PenaVega) is a hard-working wedding planner starting up with her assistant Michelle. She meets Ben Reynolds (Shawn Roberts) at a wedding convention and sparks fly. He's a writer and he's promoting his first book, 'Wedding Day Do's and Don'ts'. To her horror, his book advocates for cheap unadorned weddings.

This is Hallmark doing a Hallmark movie. Of course, Libby is a wedding planner. The guy is so clueless that he doesn't get why she's mad. He's literally destroying her business and doesn't know why she's not head over heels over him. It would be so much better if he doesn't do the puppy dog face and go full antagonist. He comes off as dumb which his character is definitely not. It's not endearing to her and it's very frustrating. He needs to understand her point of view or else he comes off as a bad match. That's the crux of this movie. They need to be a good match but the movie does nothing other than they're relatively photogenic. She's no catch either in her superiority. Neither are appealing and they only match as infuriating characters. There is a way to do this but this movie has no clue getting there.