Flower Girl (2009) starring Marla Sokoloff, Marion Ross, Kieren Hutchison, Terry Maratos, Brook Kerr, Christina Pickles, Bonnie Root, Nicolas Coster directed by Bradford May Movie Review

Flower Girl (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Marla Sokoloff and Kieren Hutchison in Flower Girl (2009)

Every Rose has its Yawn

Vanilla, it's nice when you talk about vanilla ice-cream but on its own it's a little bit boring it needs something to add a different layer, a spark of excitement. Vanilla is a good description of TV Movie "Flower Girl", a pleasant, inoffensive romance but one which is lacking something to make it exciting, to give it layers and to make it keep hold of your attention. Technically there is nothing wrong with it but I doubt "Flower Girl" will be a movie you remember the next day or one you would go out of your way to watch again.

With all her friends either married or getting married florist Laurel Haverford (Marla Sokoloff) is starting to wonder whether she will ever meet her Mr. Right. Her grandmother Rose (Marion Ross), who raised Laurel after both her parents died, meets Dr. Evan Cooper (Terry Maratos) who she thinks would be perfect and sets them up. And they have a lot in common as Evan knows all about plants, except there is no romantic spark for Laurel. There is spark when she meets Stephen Banks (Kieren Hutchison), a mysterious romantic who writes for a living but keeps what he does a secret. It leaves Laurel stuck between a rock and a hard place does she risk things with the man of mystery or settle for security and a man who adores her but she doesn't really love.

Marion Ross as Rose in Flower Girl (2009)

To say "Flower Girl" is routine is no insult, this is a standard romantic fairytale where we have a young woman looking for love and is torn between security and risk. Now there is nothing wrong with that except that with the exception of one slightly enjoyable twist there is nothing else going on and it seems like a movie in a hurry to get from A to B. What I mean is that we see Laurel have dates with both Evan and Stephen but there is no poetry to the scenes, no real air of romance which leaves them feeling like scenes included because they were expected but lacking heart.

As such for the most "Flower Girl" just goes through the motions using standard elements from the best friend who offers advice to the match making, meddling grandmother. It makes it very predictable and if anything slightly cheesy when it comes to the ending but it is what it is and that is a pleasant, inoffensive romantic fairytale.

And to be honest whilst Marian Ross is amusing as meddling Rose and Marla Sokoloff is sweet as Rose these are not characters of hidden layers. It is the same with the men from Kieren Hutchison as Stephen to Terry Maratos as Evan; they are nice guys but nothing more than your usual flat characters at opposite ends of the romantic pole.

What this all boils down to is that "Flower Girl" is an inoffensive, nice romantic fairytale but it is ordinary and forgettable. In fact it is so ordinary and forgettable that less than 24 hours after watching it I am struggling to remember anything which made it stand out from the crowd.


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