Jennifer Dolphin

Ariana Grande- who knew! Watching her performance caused me to see how truly made for film she is. Her acting was so natural it makes you feel like she's always been doing this. I kept waiting the whole first half for this to flop, especially in a movie age when imagery often times seems to overide substance, but this film blew my expectations away. It was flawless; every scene and each actors performance was full of feeling. The plot sailed so smoothly before you knew it, it was over and you could hear people whisper in the audience that they already wanted to see it again. When it was over the entire theater erupted into not just applause, but straight out hollering. I must've cried about 4 times throughout the whole thing. It is definitely a big screen watch and it is definitely a must see. This adaptation outdid itself and I hope the two protagonists will be rewarded for it.

Have mercy on yourself and just give it a hard pass. It was listed as "new and controversial" so thought I'd try it. It was so terrible though that I actually felt like typing this scathing review. 'Deceitful Love' is one of those mini series that is so awful to watch you have to tell yourself it's just a movie. (Spoiler ahead) A very young male model looking man (Elia) begins, out of nowhere, to sleep with a rich woman (Gabriella) who is almost old enough to be his grandma. Aside from his attempts to weasel his way out of the lies he ends up being caught in, there are no other conversations that ever take place between Elia and Gabriella throughout the series. So what we see is a con-man that ends up swearing overnight that he has transformed from psychopath to sincere based off of a few ackward sex scenes. No bonding between them, no brilliant script to fill the gaps. To top it, by the end of this wretched series Elia has sexually manipulated her grown son, interfered with her family hotel business, ripped apart her family and used her money to pay off a pregnant girlfriend (his child) that he had deserted. Gabriella finds out that all of the above is true, he says he really loves her all of a sudden, she then declares her undying love for him and stands by him. The end. We are left with a swiss cheese plot paired with zero character development that wraps up with an infuriating end. It is labeled as a "complicated relationship story," but I would label it as a sloppy, abstract piece of art. Life is too short to watch this series.

Liked it much more than I thought I would. I disagree with New York Times take on this one. Lonely Planet was a down to earth love story where the two characters had a believable, almost soul like connection with each other. Yet somehow instead of becomung aimless or falling flat, the script was entertaining and these two actors did have chemistry. The overall plot had some depth and the love story offered a few valuable takeaways to think about. Thank you for not being another typical, eye rolling romance, plus it's shot in Morocco. Watched it twice.