Movie Review: Romantic Rewrite

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: The two leads and their characters

Cons: Writing could have been better, the rest of the characters suffer

The Bottom Line:

Editor’s romance

Main duo sweet together

Script needed polish

“I Try to Limit Myself to Wearing One Snow Cone a Day.”

I love to read.  (I know, that’s not exactly a news flash.)  As a result, the plot for the movie Romantic Rewrite caught my attention.  It sounded like something that could be fun when I was in the mood for a romantic movie.

Ivy Roberts (Kristina Cole) is an editor who specializes in romance.  But her boss has asked her to take a look at the latest book by mystery author Reed Shepherd (Russell Quinn).  His last couple of books haven’t stayed on the best seller list very long.  Ivy thinks that the romantic subplot in the book is weak, and Reed doesn’t take her suggestions well.

As fate would have it, Ivy and Reed wind up staying next to each other on the beach in Miami.  Reed is there to try to work on his novel and Ivy is there for a vacation culminating in a family wedding.  As the two get to talking, they also start to work on Reed’s book.  And Reed agrees to be Ivy’s fake date for the wedding.  What will happen next?

Actually, I’m pretty sure you have a good idea what will happen next.  This movie doesn’t break much new ground, although I did appreciate the occasional references to the tropes of the romance genre.  No, it wasn’t enough to call this self-aware or a parody, but it was a nice touch.

Now, I get that this was a low budget made for TV movie.  Even so, I feel like it could have been better written.  Like, who was it that was getting married?  The family was there and involved, but we meet Ivy’s sister early on.  Was this another sister?  A cousin?  How was Ivy’s ex connected enough to be the best man?  Likewise, some of the scenes involving the family were more cringe than funny.

However, any scene between Ivy and Reed was well done.  The lead actors have plenty of chemistry, and I really bought their growing relationship.  Yes, the romance was still a little light until the end, but even then, I bought it.  Fortunately, we get lots of scenes between them.  Ultimately, I found it sweet, which was what I was looking for.

If you are looking for a low budget TV romance movie, there are worse ones out there.  As long as your expectations are appropriate, you’ll enjoy Romantic Rewrite.