Some Smart Soul Searching
Journalist, Mary Landers (Amy Smart - 12 Dates of Christmas) and her boyfriend, Carl (Brandon Ray Olive - Wrapped Up In Christmas), have been together for 5 years and with Valentine's Day approaching she is thinking that maybe he will pop the question. Turns out Carl has decided he needs someone new in his life and breaks up with Mary as she is too predictable. Still dealing with being dumped, Mary makes eye contact with a handsome stranger (Adrian Grenier) on a train, and finds herself with his phone after he leaves it behind by accident. After contacting the stranger and agreeing to meet when he returns from France on Valentine's Day he also gives her permission to write an article on him using his contacts on the phone to learn more about him, leading to Mary's life becoming anything but predictable.
"Love at First Glance" is a bit of a surprise as for a Hallmark Channel movie it doesn't stick to one of their predictable formulas yet at the same time you still feel there is something still familiar about it. I suppose that sense of being predictable comes from it being a romantic Hallmark movie so you expect that Mary and the stranger, who we learn is called James, will end up falling for each other by the time the movie ends. Although with "Love at First Glance" being a little different to the norm you do wonder whether maybe just for once some thing else will happen, maybe a bit of a curveball.
So what you get in "Love at First Glance" is Mary meeting various people from James' contact list and learning what a great guy he is from him helping a waitress who hates her job to find another which she loves whilst also encouraging a gifted child when it comes to playing the piano. At the same time Mary learns some important lessons when it comes to love from her parents and friends. Now I am not going to lie, some of "Love at First Glance" is a bit corny, in fact some of it borders on the cringe-worthy. Yet there are scenes which have real heart especially when we learn more about James' past and the event which changed his life and made him the man he is.
What this all boils down to is that "Love at First Glance" isn't just another Hallmark Channel romantic movie, this has some heart and soul. Yes at times it borders on the cheesy, especially when it comes to some of the humour, but when it wants to be soulful it makes up for it in an unexpected way.
