Sometimes I don’t pay enough attention to things that I often regret. Like looking at brake fluid, but grabbing transmission fluid instead. I learned the hard way that using the wrong fluid will warp all of the rubber parts in the entire brake system of your Park Avenue. I thought that watching The Bouquet was going to be a similar, albeit far less expensive, mistake.
Why? Because it didn’t register that the girls’ father died when I read the brief synopsis of the movie. If I had, I would have put it off for a while. With the tenth anniversary of my father’s death this coming Friday, that theme isn’t something I’d have chosen.
However, by the time I realized what was going to happen, I was already invested in the story and knew if I could just make it through that part, the rest should be good…and include at least one decent romance angle. I will say that if your parents are both still alive, you might not actually cry. If one is gone, especially your dad, you may have a few rough moments.
That said…this is what I thought of the rest of The Bouquet.
First we have two very competitive sisters…who don’t get along well at all. I think the writer(s) went a little overboard here, but it wasn’t a huge focus all of the time, so it was tolerable.
Early on it was easy to see that Terri (Kristi Swanson) was going to wind up with Sam (the very sexy Michael Shanks from another movie I enjoyed – The Christmas Lodge). It was also clear that Mandy (Alberta Mayne) would wind up with Noah (Jeremy Guilbaut…another cutie I’m not familiar with at all).
I’m writing this as I’m watching it, which unfortunately means it’s not like my current favorite (beating a dead horse here)…My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (which is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen). With that movie, the only things that would have warranted clicking on pause would have been for a bathroom break, an emergency, or Tony Stark showing up at my door.
Just now Terri was crying, wiped her nose with her hand … and then put that same hand … that same unwashed hand … on her hair. The germaphobe in me just reduced the star rating I’d give it by one.
Danny Glover had a small role as the family’s pastor and, as always, nailed his role. It made me sad though because I remember him as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series. Of course that was twenty-six years ago, so naturally he’s older. It was just hard to reconcile today’s Danny with the one that lives in my memories.
One thing that kind of annoyed me is that during a storm, just days before she heads back to the big city, Terri is injured when a tree falls on her mother’s greenhouse. She winds up in a sling, the kind with straps that keep it immobilized … and she’s still wearing two days before a job interview. Miraculously enough, she’s sling-free at her appointment, her arm just fine. In two days.
All in all…it was a decent movie, but with too much (read dramatic) sibling rivalry. The fact that the relationships between the sisters and their beaux were not terribly involved until very near the end, and an ending so abrupt that it surprised me…I can only give it a 3-star rating.
Unlike the other movie I mentioned, but won’t mention again cause I’ve talked about it too much (you know … My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend), if I ever watch this one again, it will only be because I want to drool over Michael Shanks.
