Kiss at Pine Lake

Watched 'Kiss at Pine Lake' primarily because of liking the idea of the story. It may not be life changing or original, but it did sound very cute and have seen a lot of films recently that went the serious themed route and mostly did it well. Have seen some of the cast in other things and liked them enough to keep watching them, seeing Brennan Elliott in an early supporting role prior to the romantic lead roles he would be cast in regularly later was an interest point.

'Kiss at Pine Lake' was watchable enough and worth a watch for fans of the genre, thanks to a great male lead, good production values, some nice emotional impact and its good intentions. It didn't really wow me though and instead left me with mixed feelings, due to not all the cast working, the romantic chemistry not igniting enough and the flawed story execution. Have certainly seen far worse films recently than 'Kiss at Pine Lake', but also have seen a lot better. This is one of the middling ones.

The best thing about 'Kiss at Pine Lake' is Barry Watson, who is an incredibly likeable and charming lead. There are moments of sweet understated chemistry between him and Mia Kirshner. Generally the supporting cast are more than competent and do sincerely with what they are given.

Furthermore, the production values are attractive with the picturesque scenery being very easy on the eye. The film has enough moments where it is sweet, charming and poignant, and its good intentions in its approach to the subject were obvious and commendable.

However, 'Kiss at Pine Lake' could have been a good deal better. Kirshner looks and sounds bored in her blandly written role. On the whole, her and Watson's chemistry was too lukewarm and took too much time to get anywhere. Do agree that the villain was too overplayed and very annoying, also found him too at odds with the rest of the film. Concerning Elliott, having mentioned him as an interest point in the first paragraph, he definitely went on to much better things, this role doesn't suit him and it looked as if he knew that.

While there are emotional investment and good intentions, for me the story was too draggy and does too little new with familiar and overused territory. The dialogue could have been tighter and less awkward sounding and the ending has a too neat quality.

Concluding, watchable but rather average. 5/10.