I was searching on Netflix for a movie to get me out of a bad mood (too many family illnesses) and came across "My Fake Fiancé." Let me start out by saying I had no idea that Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence were child actors who had hit television shows, as I seldom watch commercial television.I will not give away any of the plot, which was indeed predictable but amusing. Hart and Lawrence are SO likable that I could not stop watching. Their dialogue delivery is very natural plus on screen, Hart & Lawrence have great couple chemistry. An added bonus is your entire family may watch the movie as it is simply charming.

Coincidentally, I have been currently watching Melissa and Joey on ABC Family, and I love everything about those two! They have an amazing chemistry (that i cannot deny) together, so I was beyond extremely happy to find that they had done a movie together! I can't believe I haven't watched this before!! It was a sweet,cheesy,hilarious, predicable movie and I loved it! I was so close to tears at the end, and I could not have asked for a better ending!! Some dialog here and there could have been much better, but the cuteness that is Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence was all I could see!!

So about two weeks ago I decided to watch Melissa and Joey on Netflix. Well, something clicked in its old school sitcom feel and now I'm hooked...I love it! I've always been a sucker for the ABC Family/Disney Family type movies. So having become a fan of Melissa Joan Hart and Joseph Lawrence I was pretty excited to discover this little movie they did before Melissa and Joey. I knew it wasn't going to be stunning or anything but I expected cute, fun and it was exactly that. In many ways it was almost a direct precursor to the TV series. Their characters were vaguely similar though toned down versions, and their tempestuous relationship was also vaguely similar to the playful hatred Mel and Joe have for each other. The film starts out stumbling a little. It doesn't really know where its going and their personalities were a little grating at first. But then around the middle of the movie it starts to find its groove and turns in a cute adorable little romance that is your typical (in a good way) ABC Family rom-com. They still don't have near the chemistry that they manage to have in their ABC Family sitcom but it was fun and simply and you just have to sit back and enjoy.I never really considered Melissa Joan Hart or Joseph Lawrence to be A list actors but you know watching this and knowing their characters from the TV show I can say they are both very talented at what they do. They are both just very down to earth and you can relate to them and their characters in the film go through a lot of different developments to end up together. Both are very comfortable in their roles and clearly have good chemistry. The supporting cast are decent if not very predictable (another surefire sign of an ABC Family film but who cares really?) Steve Schirripa is cliché to a T as a mobster/loan shark/book that Lawrence must contend with. They even poke a certain amount of fun at the cliché characters. But he does it well. Hart's parents are played by Rhoda Griffis and Mike Pniewski and they are really great. They don't have a big role but they have some great lines and good chemistry with Hart and Lawrence.Director Gil Junger is no stranger to directing. He has been directing Television shows for decades and some of them are classic shows. He has a great understanding of Family type films (though I would still classify My Fake Fiancé as more of a PG-13 type movie.) I have no doubt that many people reading this will roll their eyes and talk about how bad this movie was because its the furthest thing from a Hollywood blockbuster. But I firmly believe there is NOTHING wrong with fluff!! Fluff can be good and this was good!! Not great but good. The romantic ending was sweet and perfect. As with many romances everything happens very quickly in a mostly unrealistic time frame but sometimes you can't put realism to something that is simple fun. Sit back and enjoy it for what it is and try not to take life and movies so seriously!! 7/10

I was watching this last night while trying to avoid actually finishing my American Lit homework, and I have to say, while it is a romantic comedy, and we all know how predictable they are, this one was actually pretty clever. Every turn I knew what was going to happen, but the filmmakers made it in such a way that you forgot that it was being predictable, and I think that's what succeeded for it. It will most likely never join the ranks of "When Harry Met Sally" or "10 Things I hate About You" in terms of romantic comedy classics, but standing on its own, it was an endearing film that shows that when you marry, you're not marrying one other person, you're marrying their entire family. It is a family movie, but all in all, a cute one.