8.1 stars.
I really like this film because the leads have great chemistry. The story has been done and done, but I don't get bored of a standard theme as long as there is chemistry and charisma. She owns a shop, he works for a real estate tycoon. He is in charge of buying out all the businesses on the block, including hers, and she is fighting back. Inevitably, this causes friction in their relationship.
From the start when they meet on the bus it's magic. That scene is a bit too sappy for someone who hasn't felt or experienced unadulterated connection with another person. Most of us will experience this at least once in our lives, when you meet them, and it feels like fate, a once in a lifetime moment with your "person". For 99% of us, that moment fades and the hope of them being "the one" also fades with it.
The rest of this review is personal, a note to self, so feel free to move on.
Let's be real, love is a numbers game. You have to find love by bowling through the numbers, the insurmountable person after person, on and on until you land on the right one. Some people get lucky, they meet that one person and it's the first time and it lasts forever. For most of us that person is not the first or second, but maybe the third is the charm. Maybe it's the 15th, or the 20th. For me, I really don't know. I think I met my "soulmate" when I was 12. It didn't work out, obviously, and for all the logical reasons. We were too young, she moved to California, I stayed in WA State, we had no choice, we were pre-teens. We wrote each other for 2 years and she came back to visit. Things were different, I hit puberty, I was a wreck, she seemed too adult and experienced, I was intimidated, it was weird. I guess it wasn't meant to be. I am a cynic when it comes to love at first sight, which is why I said above that love is a numbers game.
Recipe #1 for finding your soulmate: fix yourself, improve, be the best you can be, become your best self. Rule #2, don't change who you are, be yourself and true to yourself, stand for what you believe. #3: be on the lookout for "the one" and when you find him/her, refer to rules 1 and 2. Why haven't the rules worked for me? Because I didn't follow them, plain and simple. You will likely never find a soulmate if you aren't your best and real self first, because how can you be "the one" for them, if you are not "the one" for you? I've waxed philosophical here, don't know why. Take it or leave it and sorry for the waste of time, but it's a good bit of advice for myself and maybe it will light a fire under me for once (and you too, if you're still here).
