A Tween, a Teen and a Mother review “Coffee Shop”

Coffee Shop is a romance starring Laura Vandervoot and Cory M. Grant.  Coffee shop owner Donovan (Laura Vandervoot) is in danger of losing her coffee shop when the bank that owns the building is sold. Ben (Cory M. Grant) is a playwright visiting the town to escape bad reviews of his recent play.  He sets up shop in the threatened cafe.

The “It” factor –The Teen and Mother: ❤️❤️ The Tween:❤️❤️❤️

Although none of us thought this movie totally had the ‘it’ factor, there was some disagreement on the ranking.  Emma thought it should have been three stars at least because the premise was good.  However, we didn’t really connect much to the lead characters, and Donovan’s sister, Becky (Rachel Hendrix), annoyed all of us.  Even my husband commented on her annoying behavior as he floated through the living room.

Mom’s Main Beef:  The background mood music played constantly, and was completely distracting.  Also, Vandervoot needs to work on her fake crying.  It was not convincing at all.  Lastly, the main two love interests don’t seem to have good on-screen chemistry.

The Teen’s Main Beef: The sister kept trying to set Donovan up with her ex boyfriend in annoying ways.

The Tween’s Main Beef:  There were some continuity issues for Emma.  In one scene, Donovan and Ben have a chance meeting in the town square and decide to go get ice cream.  It’s pitch black out, with white lights twinkling in the trees.  Then when they are eating the aforementioned ice cream on a park bench, the sun is just going down.  There was a lot of this kind of thing.

Him is So Handsome Factor : The Teen and the Mother❤️❤️❤️❤️ The Tween ❤️❤️❤️

We all were crushing on Ben (Cory M. Grant).  He really pulled off the tussled hair, scruffy beard look well.  However, the Emma thought that he “was not Mistletone Guy” hot, so she lowered her rating.  I told you, she is a tough critic.

The Overarching Tropes (cliches)

✔️Dead mother – I don’t know why Disney and romances are so hard on the mothers, but main female characters often have a deceased mother and Donovan is no exception.

✔️Wise African American man dispensing advice.

✔️A supposedly strong-minded businesswoman in need of rescue to save her business.

The Ewwwww Factor: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

No awkward sex scenes or inappropriate dialogue.  We were all comfortable watching together.

The Bechdel-Wallace Test: ❤️

Although there are some female characters, the majority of their discussion was around a man.  Even discussions about saving the business had to do with a man, albeit, not all of it was romance based.