An Unexpected Love

It’s not like one expects TV movies to be the place for the most surprising narratives or visual artistry. But even grading on the curve of TV movies, An Unexpected Love feels extremely predictable and has little new to offer.

An Unexpected Love is yet another story of an unhappy housewife who strikes up a lesbian affair. At least in this one, the housewife is already separated from her husband before said affair. In this case, our protagonist is Kate. Kate feels unfulfilled as a housewife. She struggles to find a job because she has limited work experience. Luckily for her, Margo Martindale shows up to offer her a job and a close circle of friends. The job is in real estate. Kate’s boss is a lesbian named Mac. Kate starts to have new feelings towards Mac and eventually, they begin a relationship. There are various hurdles to this relationship to round out the movie, the main one being Kate having to come out to every person in her life.

I’ll talk about the movie that actually exists in a second but I’d like to take a moment to pitch a better movie. Margo Martindale and Irma P. Hall are in this. Martindale as the conveniently friendly co-worker/friend who offers everything from advice and support to a job she’s unqualified for to our main protagonist. Irma P. Hall plays the maid of Kate’s mother. Her character is at best simplistic and at worst, a bit racist. Both actresses go underutilized despite being the most talented and charismatic actresses in the film. A better movie would be about Margo Marindale and Irma P. Hall falling in love. Maybe they bond over being motherly figures to random white ladies. Maybe they bond over being the best actors in an average movie. There are many options, all of which would lead to a better movie than the one we got.

Really, any character would be a lead than Kate. Kate’s extremely bland and not the most likeable. Her love interest, Mac is interesting. Mac is already out as a lesbian so has more to say about that lifestyle. The movie does a lot of scenes talking about what it’s actually like to be a lesbian. Besides this, I think writer/director Lee Rose took more time in the creation of Mac’s character. Kate’s a pretty flat, stock protagonist and Rose doesn’t really try to elevate her beyond this. Mac however seems to be a combination of a character similar to Rose herself and also someone she wishes to date. It ends up that Mac has way more personality than Kate. I don’t think it’s good that not only the love interest but also most other characters in this movie would be a better protagonist than the one we got.

On every level, An Unexpected Love feels entry level. Its direction is very much point and shoot with little artistry. Its writing is cliche after cliche. Kate and her husband start their speech about their divorce to their child by saying, “you know your father and I love you very much”. The homosexuality angle as well is not even entry-level. It’s a movie made for straight people so it really holds their hand and explains this whole “gay thing”. Kate asks Mac what it’s like to be gay and when did she know. Their scenes often lack any romance and are there as more of an info-dump about what it means and what it’s like to be a lesbian. It’s not even homosexuality 101, it’s remedial homosexuality.

The third act is almost entirely scenes of Kate coming out to important people in her life. It’s repetitive and tiresome. Most people don’t even act homophobic but with genuine confusion. They don’t understand the concept of homosexuality or how Kate could have a husband and now be gay. Kate is full-on not believed by most people in her life. It’s frustrating to see because it’s 2003. Even if people in 2003 weren’t supportive of gay people, I’m pretty sure most people at least understood the concept.

In all of these coming out scenes and the movie overall, no emotion ever rises past a 6/10. The only way An Unexpected Love could’ve had emotional impact was based on the performances. The story is pretty bland but if the actors had swung for the fences, it might have worked. This doesn’t happen at all even a little bit. Emotional scenes seem stilted and nothing ever seems like a huge, dramatic event because it’s acted so blandly. Even the relationship between Kate and Mac is bland. They have no chemistry to begin with and despite all of the angst they go through, their big, serious enlargements about their future and lifestyle have no life to them. Margo Martindale and Irma P. Hall are both obviously exempt from these critiques. They’re the only actresses who showed up ready to give it their all. Both are underutilized in the movie.

An Unexpected Love is competent but feels wholly perfunctory. There’s so little passion here. I’m giving it a passing grade because it never really dips into being full-on bad but it’s a very forgettable and uninspired movie. Still, at least Kate and Mac end up together at the end and some of their family comes around to accept them. It’s always nice to see lesbian couples get a happy ending. I just wish it had been in a movie I cared at all about or for a couple that I had any emotions towards.

Overall rating: 5.0/10

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