Late Bloomer (2016) Madison Pettis, Italia Ricci, Nathan Parsons, Beth Broderick Movie Review

Late Bloomer (2016)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Italia Ricci in Late Bloomer (2016)

Prom Again

At high school in Pine Hill, Jenny Taft (Italia Ricci - Fatal Memories) was left humiliated by a prank played on her at the prom by her high school crush, Shane (Nathan Parsons - The Nightmare Nanny) and his girlfriend Alison (Brooke Newton). It not only left her desperate to leave town but also jaded when it comes to true love. 8 years later and having become a botanist, Jenny, along with her boyfriend Owen (Derek Krantz), have tracked down the rare heart orchid which is said to only bloom in the presence of true love, not that Jenny believes in the myth. But after her mum (Beth Broderick - A Perfect Christmas List) calls up to say she is selling the family home Jenny returns to Pine Hill to collect her stuff and comes face to face with Shane who is not only now a teacher at the high school but feels bad for what he did and so asks her to help him chaperone the prom.

I enjoy watching made for TV movies like "Late Bloomer"; I think that I have gotten to the age where sometimes the easy, familiar nature of a TV movie is what I want more than big action or complex storylines. But as a movie reviewer that can be a problem as writing reviews of these easy going slices of entertainment can make me feel like a broken record, how many times can you dress up the same story ideas and make it sound fresh. And as such if I say that in "Late Bloomer" we have a young woman, a clearly not perfect boyfriend, a trip back home, a high school crush and not to forget the heart orchid which will only bloom in the presence of true love, well I am sure you can guess how all this plays out.

But whilst "Late Bloomer" is incredibly predictable it works, it has the important ingredients of nice performances and the right romantic tone. As such when we have Shane apologising to Jenny for what happened 8 years earlier at prom there is this attention grabbing sensitivity to it. But what "Late Bloomer" also has is some nice embellishments from Shane still being friends with his High School girlfriend who was behind the prank to history repeating itself as a young girl called Frankie who is dealing with a similar situation to what Jenny faced in High School.

What this all boils down to is that "Late Bloomer" offers up a slice of easy to watch predictability which whilst not going to be to everyone's tastes will appeal to those who enjoy the inoffensive and easy to watch nature of a good TV movie.


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