Finding Love in Mountain View (2020)

(On Cable TV, November 2021) Having given relatively good grades to Finding Love in San Antonio, I was curious to see if its stablemate Finding Love in Mountain View would be equally charming. To save you from any harmful suspense (considering that this is a kind of film that does not believe in suspense), let me begin by saying that there is no common character, plot point, thematic intention or structural gimmick in common between the two romantic comedies:  As best as I can determine, they’re similar titles given by the production company for marketing purposes and that’s it. Having acknowledged that, perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Finding Love in Mountain View is how, in the grand tradition of Lifetime/Hallmark romantic films, it works overtime to systematically de-dramatize plot elements that would power entire other melodramatic films. As the story begins, for instance, our architect protagonist receives the news that her cousin has suddenly died, entrusting her two children to her. The subdued, almost inexistent, grief in those early scenes is noteworthy — this is not a film that wants viewers to wallow in pain. The thrust in abrupt motherhood has been used elsewhere as premise for entire movies, but here it’s mere backdrop for the protagonist moving back to her childhood home in Mountain View (unusually shot on location — perhaps that’s the point of the “Finding Love in…” series: location shooting rather than a Canadian production) where the real and familiar story of her rekindled romance with a past boyfriend gets going. This is, as usual, innocuous material: we know how it’s going to play out, and having the kids around simply adds more sweetness to the foregone conclusion. But even in the very rigidly defined subgenre of Hallmark romances, Finding Love in Mountain View struggles for distinction. Lead actress Danielle C. Ryan is unremarkable (trying to pass her off as a musician is a stretch when she can’t convincingly fake playing a guitar) and the use of location scenery is disappointing. But Finding Love in Mountain View is the kind of film that makes for a specific, unadventurous audience — blandness is an asset, and being able to predict plot points (such as the no-good boyfriend totally ignoring her while speaking on his phone!) is expected. For everyone else, though, Finding Love in Mountain View is hardly worth the trip.