Peak Season

peak season

source: Game, Set, Love

Hello from the sane Hallmark viewer group, you should follow Netflix and quit bending the knee Notice at the 6 min mark the LGBTQ+ flag purse? Venus Williams as a consultant to this TV movie, one would expect nothing else. The main leads have no chemistry and are not a convincing couple. When Hallmark manages to create some worthy content with good story and convincing characters, then maybe a glimmer of its halcyon days would be in view. Bringing back Lori Laughlin to the Hallmark group is definitely going in the wrong direction. Hallmark values an unethical person says a lot. Paying her gobs of cash to be that self entitled prat is even more egregious.

Probably the worst Hallmark movie I've seen. Script was bad. Acting was bad. Davida Williams wasn't bad but Richard Harmon was 1000% miscast for this lead role. There was no chemistry and it was just difficult to watch. I was ready to turn it off about 20 minutes in. Finished watching it only to leave a review. It's dishonest to leave a review for a movie you only watched part of. And I agree with other reviewers about the tennis aspect being off. Most Hallmark movies at least have romance. This one misses the sport and the romance. My 2 stars was being generous. One step above horrible. There really isn't much more to say...but I keep getting the warning box that is telling me I haven't said enough.

While I enjoy many of the Hallmark movies, this was a total fail due to lack of research. You need to win 6 games to win the set. You need 3 sets to win the match. The far right screen stays at 40 on both players the entire time. Next shot in either result is game. The next shot EVERY time in the film script should actually give the entire match to the other team. Why people were tasked with this movie and no research team is beyond me. It would be like me making a movie about American football, even though I've never seen a match (actually as I understand it, scripting that may be easier...I just add loads of advert breaks?). However, I still wouldn't know how to do the scoring without visiting something simple like the Tennis Scoring System on Wikipedia. Aside from such a MAJOR mistake for international audiences, where we DO play tennis, I think the comments over story and characters in other reviews are also well made.

Both leads are clearly not athletes or even have the semblance of a believable athlete - plot was drab, cast not great. Please please please do not recast the lead man - side supporting actor, fine, just not lead. Female lead was decent though! Was hoping for a better more athletic tennis story with Venus Williams's name attached to it but was pretty disappointed there. It's a basically a tepid sports rom-com with two leads that have ZERO chemistry. Pretty sure the lead biddy had more chemistry with her best friend who was injured that she had to replace. And overall no one had chemistry with the male lead at all.

I tried watching it but couldn't even last 10 minutes in. The actors have 0 chemistry and the acting is beyond bad plus the plot is weak. I know it's a Hallmark movie and some would say that the standards aren't too high for them but some movies are quite pleasant for a lazy Sunday in. Also the fact that the Harmon brothers are linked to this project make it seem like its a total case of nepotism at its finest. Probably Richard Harmon did his sister a favor but it shows he didn't put any effort into his acting and it's dull and he comes off as bored and wanting to be anywhere other than the set of this movie. I'd suggest anyone who wants to watch this to maybe take a nap ... you'd be more satisfied by that than this movie.

My son was a nationally ranked tennis player before leaving the tournament circuit to go to college. As you might imagine, I've seen countless matches, practices, and pro tournaments. Sadly, despite Venus Williams' connection as a producer, the tennis scenes in "Game, Set, Love" looked like they filmed some mediocre high school players in a gym. Davida Williams (no relationship to Venus) plays coach Taylor and, after a clinic, she's shown working on her serve. Yikes. She gets no height on the ball, doesn't extend her body or arm up, and does little more than tap the ball across the net. And yet a woman "ranked top ten in doubles" comes up and says "killer serve" and tells a young girl that Taylor was "way better than me". Uh, no. Actually, that doubles player, Ashley Wong, played by Jennifer Khoe, is shown serving the ball with far better skill in a later scene. As for bad boy William Campbell (a fictional John McEnroe), played by the director's brother Richard Harmon (the 2 siblings were both in the long running sci-fi TV series " The 100") he just wasn't convincing as a tennis player. And instead of acting like the brat he was on court, he had a pleasant and affable personality that conveniently meshed with the very attractive Taylor. They had some fun banter and Willam actually had an insightful line about tennis player parents. When referring to the parents of the kids that Taylor coached, he called them "a bunch of people who put all their baggage and expectations onto their kids". I saw a lot of that. And I was probably guilty of that a bit myself. But there were some weird moments. Why were they playing in the rain?? That's generally frowned on because of safety issues, shoe traction problems, and heavier wet balls that don't reflect match conditions. And during 12 years of tennis clinics, lessons, and matches, my son never once played in the rain. Also, the big "Georgia Sun" tournament was likely a fake version of the Atlanta Open, which doesn't have mixed doubles. And even if it did, there wouldn't be TV coverage of it, let alone Tracy Austin. Another reviewer commented about the scoreboard which inexplicably indicated that the "previous sets" were 4-2 and that the total "sets" were 3-1, games 2-1. Later, the scoreboard indicated that the "previous sets" were 4-6, 7-5, and 6-6 and that the total "sets" were 6-4, games 5-5. Huh? The relationship between Taylor and her father was sweet, but the conflict between William and his parents didn't ring true. A player of William's stature doesn't get there without lots of parental emotional and financial support. And yet the father wanted him to join the restaurant business rather than play tennis? Really? But I did buy the growing attraction between Taylor and William, and I loved the Lake House. But the movie became all about their success on the court rather than off it. And the tennis just didn't seem remotely authentic. In fairness, sports movies are hard to do. They often seem fake unless there's a big budget. Wimbledon was a great tennis movie. This was not. But Hallmark did make at least one decent sport movie. Love on the Sidelines succeeded because it focused more on the off the field action. That's what they should have done here.

Not a complaint on this particular movie, but this year's Hallmark "Falling into Love" movies have yet to showcase a movie actually set in the autumn which I thought was the whole point. Certainly tennis is considered a summer sport, so it's not even close to being on point in that regard. Every movie so far has people in short sleeves surrounded by trees full of green leaves. Maybe the couple remaining movies will be better, but so far this year has been disappointing to say the least in capturing the season. Not to mention every year they push the seasons farther back such that the first Christmas movie will be out before Halloween, and the last fall movie will be done before October. Apparently Hallmark has forgotten how seasons work.

I know it wasn't even remotely realistic with the tennis playing, but no Hallmark movie ever is close to realistic with any sport they portray. Why anyone expects it of a Hallmark movie is beyond me. I thought the leads had nice chemistry. I agree, he should have been more tan, but honestly, not every tennis player is bulky. John McEnroe certainly wasn't. Richard Harmon is not the overly cutesy type we are used to seeing on Hallmark, but I thought he was charming. I thought the plot was refreshing, that there was no villian, no major catastrophe, just an evolving partnership turned relationship. I loved that the ending was more 'real' - no over-the-top declarations of love or forever - as is a usual Hallmark ending. I was also expecting William's agent to cause some type of problem for Taylor - he didn't - and I though his sudden support of her was a bit out of character. I felt that William's relationship with his parents should have gotten a little more development - since it was the source of his angst, but is not really explored. I know others didn't think so, but I thought the leads were good together. This was a nice, feel-good movie, and I haven't been able to say that about many of Hallmark's offerings as of late...