I don't always trust the judgment of other of other reviewers. But I found most of the comments were pretty accurate for this film.
Negatives 1. Absolutely no chemistry between the characters. 2. They did not develop the romance at all so you didn't feel any sense of rooting for the characters. Luke seemed nice, but he never had anything interesting to say so he wasn't really impressive. Diane was stressed about a lot of things and taking it out on everyone else. The writer really didn't give you any reason why they should be together. They should have done some flashbacks of their previous relationship, some interactions with her ex so we can see him treating her not so nice, and some cool conversations or fun times with the main characters. They don't even show a date unless you call asking for a cup of coffee while standing in a restaurant a date. 3. The subplots were not well-developed either. They would introduce a potential issue and your interest might be piqued. But then they would just drop it without any resolution being shown... Instead they would drop it or explain it away..."Oh yeah that could have been a problem but not anymore." 4. It was unrealistic. Everything fell together too easily 5. My biggest annoyance was the house. It is supposed to be a big disaster, but it's really a mansion with some dirt on the siding. They walk around saying Ew, gross to antique furniture covered in drop cloths. The best thing they could muster to carry the idea of an overwhelming project was showing a brief cleaning scene where they get rid of some old newspapers and hired someone to fix the squeaky door. 6. She keeps talking about how awesome it was there and how many good memories she has but never shares anything specific, never shows anything (like cool places she remembers) to her daughters. 7. Nobody seems to have any friends. 8. Just stupid goofs that make me feel like there was no editor. Like the daughter comes home from school and is told to do her homework. After dinner, she's told to do her homework. Like, would it have been so hard to change the line to "Did you finish your homework?" Or have the child say, I did it already (missed opportunity to characterize the mom as checked out or not as bad as you think. Instead, it's just bad writing." 9. The main actress wasn't great. Maybe the script limited her but the furrowed brow and vapid smiling did get kind of old after a while. Even the dog didn't want to be there... he was just as checked out as everyone else. Anyway, I could go on and on. But I want to list the positives too...
Positives 1. It was clean. The teenager communicated her "teenagerness" just find without cussing her mom out. You can watch it in a classroom with kids without worrying about inappropriate content. No sex either.
That's all I got. I didn't turn it off like some movies that are completely unwatchable, but I won't remember it tomorrow, won't recommend it. It's one of those movies that makes you think you have a career in screenwriting just waiting for you because anyone can do better than this.
Negatives 1. Absolutely no chemistry between the characters. 2. They did not develop the romance at all so you didn't feel any sense of rooting for the characters. Luke seemed nice, but he never had anything interesting to say so he wasn't really impressive. Diane was stressed about a lot of things and taking it out on everyone else. The writer really didn't give you any reason why they should be together. They should have done some flashbacks of their previous relationship, some interactions with her ex so we can see him treating her not so nice, and some cool conversations or fun times with the main characters. They don't even show a date unless you call asking for a cup of coffee while standing in a restaurant a date. 3. The subplots were not well-developed either. They would introduce a potential issue and your interest might be piqued. But then they would just drop it without any resolution being shown... Instead they would drop it or explain it away..."Oh yeah that could have been a problem but not anymore." 4. It was unrealistic. Everything fell together too easily 5. My biggest annoyance was the house. It is supposed to be a big disaster, but it's really a mansion with some dirt on the siding. They walk around saying Ew, gross to antique furniture covered in drop cloths. The best thing they could muster to carry the idea of an overwhelming project was showing a brief cleaning scene where they get rid of some old newspapers and hired someone to fix the squeaky door. 6. She keeps talking about how awesome it was there and how many good memories she has but never shares anything specific, never shows anything (like cool places she remembers) to her daughters. 7. Nobody seems to have any friends. 8. Just stupid goofs that make me feel like there was no editor. Like the daughter comes home from school and is told to do her homework. After dinner, she's told to do her homework. Like, would it have been so hard to change the line to "Did you finish your homework?" Or have the child say, I did it already (missed opportunity to characterize the mom as checked out or not as bad as you think. Instead, it's just bad writing." 9. The main actress wasn't great. Maybe the script limited her but the furrowed brow and vapid smiling did get kind of old after a while. Even the dog didn't want to be there... he was just as checked out as everyone else. Anyway, I could go on and on. But I want to list the positives too...
Positives 1. It was clean. The teenager communicated her "teenagerness" just find without cussing her mom out. You can watch it in a classroom with kids without worrying about inappropriate content. No sex either.
That's all I got. I didn't turn it off like some movies that are completely unwatchable, but I won't remember it tomorrow, won't recommend it. It's one of those movies that makes you think you have a career in screenwriting just waiting for you because anyone can do better than this.