The Love Gala

Another day and another Reel One Entertainment TV movie which takes place in the beautiful State of Florida, it was actually shot there, and that's a good thing. The less Hamilton or Kelowna pretends to be a random US city the better. Unfortunately, you won't see much of Florida except stock footage. The whole production is obviously low budget like so many other ROE TV movies in 2023. They basically hyper produce them so budget has to suffer.

As almost every ROE TV movie you can expect some technical issues. The most obvious one, and which was really distracting - Marc Herrmann has really bad makeup the vast majority of movie! Several scenes have minor audio issues, but nothing serious like in many other ROE TV movies. Music was passable - only few times they used signature ROE songs, and one time they even cut it abruptly.

Cast was all right. Marc Herrmann acted similarly to the "Love on the Reef" which is not a bad thing because it's rare to watch a strong male role who is not pushed around and stands for his views and beliefs. Similarly, Lesa Wilson played similar role like in "Our Take on Love".

Writing was passable. Yes, how many times we watched the planning of celebrity party / gala? Few issues - in Act I when Margaret is introduced, she was wearing a huge golden chain around her neck. She only needed a cap to look like as a full blown hip hop gangsta rapper. Just why? Another issue clearly influenced by the low budget, it looks like nobody works in Botanical Garden. Danny is the manager, and he's the only one. Only once past the half of the movie we actually see employees for a brief moment because they came to help. And then there is a planting competition scene between Danny and Mike. Who plants seedling with a spade?! On the flip side, comedic parts of the movie were top notch.

Overall, this movie is better than majority of ROE TV movies in 2023 season, and if not above mentioned issues, I would give it 7*.

And obligatory don't watch trailer if you plan to watch the movie as it shows everything as in every other ROE TV movie!