Monday, July 21, 2014

Expecting Amish

Yes, I watched this lame Lifetime Original Movie and, despite, its numerous issues, I will watch it again.
Hannah (AJ Michalka) is Amish but struggling with her lot in life. Her mother has died so she has tons of extra responsibilities. She is also supposed to marry Samuel (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), because that has always been the plan. However, at the last minute, she decides that she will go on Rumspringa with some others and journey to Los Angeles. At first, she is such a party pooper, not joining the others, including Mary (Alyson Stoner). She finally does shed her Amish clothing and goes to a frat party where she literally almost trips over Josh (Jesse McCartney). He is finishing up his degree in computer science and works part-time as a DJ, which is how he impresses Hannah.
Naturally, the film becomes incredibly predictable. Josh and Hannah hang out, though, at Hannah's insistence, only as friends but after an almost kiss, she tries to completely sever things with him. Of course, that doesn't completely work. On her last day there, before returning to Lancaster, PA (pronounced incorrectly throughout the film), she is walking along the beach and runs into him and things get serious. She decides that she would like to stay with him, but first, she must return to her old life to break ties with them properly.
However, once she has returned, she is back to her old compliant self, putting off what she really wants to do. And then, in yet another plot twist, things get serious. Hannah is pregnant. Of course she is. This is what always happens on Lifetime movies. Now, I would have thought Josh would have been smarter than that and actually used a condom, which leads to rant number one. Number One: If you're going to be stupid enough and have sex before you're emotionally ready and with someone you don't know that well, don't be even stupider, use protection. In fact, I think unless the guy tells the girl, a condom is assumed. Hannah might not have known about protection, but Josh has no excuse whatsoever. People need to stop treating sex like it is something casual when it isn't. And these two people aren't ready to be parents, which I'll get to later.
Though Josh did give Hannah his old cell phone (which she takes into town for charging purposes, answering one of my questions), she tells Samuel the news first. Yeah. Samuel decides to act like the good guy and will claim the baby as his own, which means that both of them need to get baptized and married as quickly as possible, as Josh will want nothing to do with her now that she's pregnant and will force her to do something bad or will be alone in the cold, cruel world and have a baby to deal with. Though Hannah agrees to this plan, she does so with only half a heart. Still, she decides to do the right thing. She calls Josh (this is not something you should be telling a person over the phone, not that she had much choice in the matter) and says that she expects nothing from him because they only knew each other for a few weeks and she tells him the news anyway, hanging up with Josh barely having the time to react.
Fortunately, Josh is not a complete idiot, though probably close. He drives all the way from Los Angeles to Lancaster and begs her to come with him in front of her family and the whole small village, including Samuel. Awkward is right Josh. I knew the l-bomb would be dropped and it was, twice, with both Josh and Samuel fighting over her and telling her what she wants. She finally says that they need to stop talking for her, which is true, but only Josh realizes that she's right. He leaves.
Which means that the ball is her court. At the eleventh hour, she decides that she can't be baptized and changes back into her English clothes, packs her suitcase and prepares her good-byes. Samuel calls her ungrateful and calls out her pregnancy in front of everyone. She is shunned from the community and somehow, someway (she threw her cell phone into a pond) meets up with Josh and they have a nice reunion. Now, I have no clue where they met up, as she couldn't have gone across country, but whatever, just a lame plot hole.
The film, then, jumps eight months, leading me to predict that Hannah has had the baby, a little girl and named the baby after her mother. All of which turns out to be true, but instead of showing us, it is read to us in a letter mailed to her father. Yes, a cheap ending. Literally, it was cheaper to just tell us in a letter than showing them happy in Los Angeles.
Though the film isn't spectacular, it still gives the viewer some serious issues to ponder. Did Hannah really make the right choice? I think she did because Samuel would have held it over her head that he married her so her child wouldn't be a bastard. But at what cost? She abandoned her siblings, perhaps ruining their lives in the process. And I feel that no one really cared much about the baby. I was glad that Josh loved Hannah for just being Hannah, but you don't get that the baby was that important, though the letter says otherwise.
Mechanically, the film doesn't have any major issues. There are the plot holes and the acting is inconsistent. Michalka is rather wooden throughout. Now, I think part of this was by design as the Amish people in this film seem to be rather unemotional, but even when she is with Josh she doesn't brighten up much which bothers me.
Now, I could probably rant a lot more about this film, though I've gotten my main points across. Grade: B-

8 comments:

  1. You never mentioned the Amish father's beard! I think it deserved its own separate mention in the movie credits.

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  2. This movie is all wrong in so many ways ... first the Amish don't meet in churches. They don't have churches or hymnals and they don't sing Onward Christian Soldiers. Amish teenagers wouldn't know about Hollywood mansions and movie stars either because they are - segregated from society. They wouldn't know taxis are yellow either. I lost interest after about 10 minutes. I mean are they staying ... Airbnb? Sorry this was totally unbelievable, I doubt the screen writer even researched Rumspringa.

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    1. Actually, the Amish do know about the outside world. In Lancaster, PA they actually go into town, such as the outlets to get fabric and cooking utensils, etc. Their wagon was parked next to my SUV. As much as they are separate from the outside world, they do, on some level, have to interact with us. So to think they live in total isolation is completely false.

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  3. You perhaps should have given a spoiler alert on this since you basically revealed everything that happens in the movie. What was most unbelievable to me was the character of Mary - how she went from Amish youth to sophisticated and sassy and yet it was Hannah that got pregnant and who left the Amish way of life and Mary hits on the Amish man who loved Hannah. I didn't like this movie because it represents to me a victory of the world over God. The allure of sexual pleasure and exotic beverages and beaches and "romantic" love triumphs over that mean old Deity who calls His people to a life of obedience, sacrifice, and humility.

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  4. Thank you Ellen! I missed the last few minutes of this film and it's been driving me crazy to find out what happen. Your review was excellent.

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  5. She didn’t abandon her siblings. They can reach out to her still. The siblings are the ones choosing to shun her.

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