One struggling actress waiting for her break. One scheming
and self-serving leading lady angling for an award. One A-listed good-hearted
hunk of an actor. One indie producer and her sure-to-succeed new movie.
Selene Ryan, an indie producer is putting together the cast
for her new movie, Barcelona. She wants to cast Hyde Butler, the current
box office darling. Hyde is also interested since this movie would help him
establish his acting chops and move beyond being just an action hero. Jennifer
Lamont, Selena's ex wants the role of the leading lady in said movie to
consolidate her position in the industry. Selena and Jennifer had lived and
split in public scandal. Selena feels used and misused by Jennifer and though
Jennifer is endlessly attractive, Selena wants nothing to do with her. Except
that Jennifer is perfect for the role. Gail Welles is cast as the other woman
in the drama. While the drama of the movie is being shot, Selena, Gail and
Jennifer have their own off-camera story progressing.
Selena Ryan is breathtakingly insipid. Her utter lack of
being anything interesting is exacerbated by having two women with very
well-defined personalities interested in her. Even her friend-cum-colleague Kim
is more interesting. She is supposed to be hardworking, efficient and a fair
employer. She is all that. But she is only that. It flummoxes us how
a person who is the centre of a triangle with two other very interesting
characters can be so beige. Even when Kim has an allergic reaction, Selena is
the only one who does nothing and finds herself being able to do nothing. (In
fact, only Jennifer kept her head in that scene and did something
constructive).
Gail Welles, currently-a-waitress-but-waiting-for-a-break
actress, is instantly likeable. Her likeability factor jumps many notches in
her audition scene where she goes quite berserk with the script. Then there is
the whole I-won’t-hide-my-eagerness-for-the-role part which is so endearing.
She singlehandedly creates chemistry between her and Selena and keeps it going
through the entire slow burn of a book. We love the fact that she’s not
traditionally beautiful but arresting nevertheless, and that she can out-act
all her co-stars.
However, the most captivating and charismatic person in the
whole cast is definitely Jennifer Lamont. Cast as the antagonist, Jennifer is
supposed to be a scheming, manipulative user but she comes across as honest and
genuine. Her scheming is transparent and she doesn’t try to hide the fact she
is ambitious. (A whole scene where she talking about her shelf life, about her
insecurity about Gail and then about confessing that she thought villainy was
the only path – it’s all just so upfront and authentic). There is, in fact,
something guileless and innocent about all Jennifer’s machinations. In all her
persistent approaches towards Selena asking to get back together, it never felt
that Jennifer didn’t have genuine feelings about the woman (Selena) who is
singularly and constantly rude (very rude) to her.
There's nothing particularly new or exciting about this
extremely predictable story (except maybe that Hyde is a genuinely nice guy --
literally scraping the bottom of the barrel here to find something) but Abby
Craden's smooth voice carries you through painlessly and engagingly.
We'd recommend this only for the Voice (Abby Craden) more than
the actual content or the story because frankly, there are way better romances
that this one that you can invest your time in.
⭐⭐
