Starring: Sam Claflin and Veronica Echegui.

Directed By: Analeine Cal Y Mayor

Where I Watched It: Amazon

English Audio Description Available?: Yes

The Plot: A handsome but talentless writer (Claflin) releases a book that doesn’t seem to be making much noise, except in Mexico. That’s because the person who translated the book from English to Spanish, Maria (Echegui), basically rewrote the whole thing. And made it into essentially a trashy romance novel. This is a romantic comedy, so… love happens.

What Works: Is this the worst thing I’ve ever seen? No. So that’s something. I think the plot is initially interesting in concept, but I still have a hard time believing that a trashy romance novel would light up Mexico this way, especially since the writer is not previously famous.

This is supposed to be the positive section, and the most positive comments that I can find is that I enjoyed the mediocrity. It’s average, not great, and I’ve already seen worse movies this year. So, kudos for making a film I’ll struggle to remember five minutes from now.

What Doesn’t Work: There’s just nothing remarkable about this film. Where Marry me succeeds in taking a silly concept and pairing two charismatic actors together for a good time, here Sam Claflin (who I generally enjoy) is wallpaper, and relatively unknown (at least to American audiences) Veronica Echegui is left to carry the film. And, while I applaud her efforts, this film didn’t give her enough in the comedy department. She’s too busy selling her character’s own story arc to be cute or funny.

The fact that these two fell in love felt unearned. They really don’t have chemistry, and i don’t know if it’s just the script, or Claflin proving he cannot anchor a film.

The movie bogs you down with supporting characters that are largely pointless. The only two I haven’t named that are directly relevant to the structure of the plot are Maria’s son and her ex. She has a grandfather that lives with her who is in several scenes, but none of them require him.

The women in this film who are fans of the book are also really comfortable with showing their “pleasure” in public, if you get my drift.

Really, nothing worked, and this just felt like an elevated Hallmark movie of the week. They could have made this same movie with two actors who had been on a TV show 20 years ago, like most Hallmark movies are nowadays, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

The Blind Perspective: Yes, you need audio description, assuming English is your first language. There is a ton of dialogue in Spanish, so having that extra dubbing helps you understand what is actually going on.

Final Thoughts: I’ve already forgotten i watched this, and I literally just watched it. It’s so inherently in memorable my brain is prepared to delete it immediately. Maybe someone should have hired Maria to spice up the script. It’s not the worst film of the year, and there are worse ways to spend time, but I wouldn’t pick this film. Definitely not for a second time.

Final Grade: C-