Cloudy with a Chance of Love
Hallmark is known for its sappy romantic comedies, mediocre plot lines and generally bad movies. Unsurprisingly, “Cloudy With a Chance of Love” is no exception to this rule.
This Valentine’s Day special follows the story of Deb Metcalfe (Katie Leclerc), a quirky young meteorologist, and big time news director Quentin Sterling (Michael Rady). Metcalfe has her heart set on earning her Ph.D. in meteorology and a fellowship position at her university, but after a series of unlikely events, Metcalfe is offered a job at Sterling’s news station as a weathercaster.
As Metcalfe becomes more invested in the station, sparks fly between her and the dynamic Sterling.
Consequently, Metcalfe’s work on her Ph.D. and fellowship suffer from her new life as a popular weather girl, and she must choose between Sterling and everything she has worked for as a meteorologist.
If it isn’t clear by the title of the movie, “Cloudy With a Chance of Love” is lackluster and poorly executed. This so-called romantic comedy is wanting in both romance and comedy. Metcalfe’s character is the only one that is half-way funny and the movie fails at even the lamest attempt of comedy. The dry one-liners she delivers are noticed but poorly received. The developing love story between the two main characters is unfortunate as it seems forced and passionless. They only seemed to be in love during the last few minutes of the film.
While this movie has many negative factors, one thing it does do right is make relatable characters for the viewer to have an interest in following for the movie’s run time without getting bored or changing the channel. (Kudos to Hallmark for making a movie about the weather where the best part is the actual meteorology.) When you care enough to watch the very best movie, don’t watch “Cloudy With a Chance of Love.”
Elevator Girl
This movie is truly terrible. One may have already determined that from the five large yet empty stars to the right of this review.
The plot of the movie is as follows: successful lawyer takes an elevator and falls in love with the film’s awkward (yet quirky) title role: “elevator girl.” Even though they fall in love instantaneously, it still takes a bundle of quirky office friends to push the happy couple together.
All this begs the question: why would anyone subject themselves to one hour and 28 minutes of lukewarm entertainment? Between the hollow, soulless acting, the cookie-cutter Cinderella plot and the generally poor camera angles, this movie has only one occasion where it belongs: when you have nothing to watch but want the presence of comforting white noise.
With the volume set low — and any lights in the viewing room dimmed — “Elevator Girl” becomes cinematic ASMR. This property allows the film to follow the viewer through any activity. Whether it be cooking, eating, doing homework or lounging on the couch, “Elevator Girl” has the right amount of mind-massaging content to soothe the subconscious.
There is nothing new or unique about this movie. Its scenes and the viewer’s time are filled with endless tropes. Anything one might expect from a romantic comedy is there; any quality one might hope for is disappointingly absent.
In fact, its limited bank of content and new ideas ends up being the best part of the movie, if indeed any of it can be called “good.” The film is a perfect fit for Valentine’s Day, both if you are talking with that special someone or just trying not to think about it.
When your search on Netflix has extended past half an hour and there is truly nothing else to do, feel free to watch this movie.
