Scott Amundsen
Most made-for-TV movies come into this world with more than a couple of strikes against them. For starters, maintaining interest is getting harder and harder with the advent of longer and more frequent commercial breaks. And the restrictions placed on the content of movies aimed at prime time further hobble the filmmakers. So a TV movie rating a ten is a rarity; as a result, a six is a respectable rating for this sweet and pleasant vehicle that gave Roma Downey a chance to shed her angelic persona for a couple of hours and play a real, loving, and sexy woman.Roma and Tim Matheson play Maggie and George Weston, a couple on the brink of their twentieth wedding anniversary who are in somewhat less than a celebratory mood. Their marriage has grown cool, which is something that usually happens to most of us in long-term relationships, but which poses a problem for the Westons that they can't live with nor seem to resolve. Divorce is something they've been dancing around for some time, and as the film begins, they have decided to go ahead with it.However no one has told the kids, who in all innocence throw a grand party for their parents' anniversary and present them with tickets for a romantic trip to the Caribbean.Distinctly uncomfortable at having been backed into a corner, George and Maggie elect to take the vacation, figuring they can break the news to the kids when they get back. Meanwhile, a couple of weeks of sun and sand can't be too bad, can it? Well, when you're a couple on the brink of divorce, finding yourself booked into the Honeymoon Suite can be distinctly uncomfortable. And predictably enough, there isn't another room to be had in that hotel, or apparently anywhere else on the island.There's nothing new here; George and Maggie decide to pursue separate-yet-equal vacations, a distinctly difficult proposition to sustain when there is only one bed for the two of you. But there's a lot of good-natured fun here; one of the funniest scenes being one where Maggie gets quite drunk on Jell-O shots and suffers the requisite hangover the next morning as her husband stumbles around the room making her headache even worse than it already is.Meanwhile, a local official, who seems to wear as many hats as Lon Chaney had faces, has quietly taken the Westons under his wing. They apply to him for a divorce; he tells them it will take forty-eight hours to become final. What happens next is so predictable that one wonders if he planned it for the couple, though the movie never explicitly says so.One of the perks that comes with the trip is the rental of a sailboat. George attempts to find a boat of his own, but is told (of course) that there are no other boats available. Long story short, the boat gets scuttled, leaving the couple stranded on an uninhabited island within sight of the island they sailed from but with no way to get back until someone figures out they are missing.The rest is pretty much by-the-numbers, though George is, to my mind, unnecessarily cruel to Maggie, something which is never satisfactorily explained: has she done her share of cruel things to him that we don't know about, or is he just a selfish bastard? Frankly, an answer in the affirmative to either one of these questions fails to satisfy.But Maggie does not, and neither does Roma Downey; when the final and inevitable confrontation between the two comes, it is Roma who bares her soul, as Maggie, seeking desperately to escape what has become an unbearably ugly situation, demands that if George can't love her anymore, he should at least show her some respect for all the years that she loved him...and still does.The reconciliation that follows is, of course, a shade too easy, but this movie is not going for depth. It is light, airy, pleasant entertainment, and Roma Downey is not only gorgeous and sexy but, as she did as Monica on "Touched by an Angel," she provides the film with its heart.I enjoyed it immensely, and even a second look was fun.
edwagreen
Predictable, but extremely humorous. There was absolutely fine chemistry existing between Roma Downey and Tim Matheson here.Putting the soon to be divorced couple in a Robinson Crusoe like atmosphere really hit the top. Perhaps, we see the realization that a couple needs quiet time together in order to work things out.Otherwise, the scenes dealing with the vacation, arranged by the family who don't know about their separation, are quite humorous.The film also invariably proves that love conquers all.The magistrate was great. Apparently, he saw that the 20 year married couple had potential and he worked feverishly for a reconciliation.A light, heart-warming film. It shows a couple that lost touch with each other due to their immersion in work. This time out film really works.
danceguy
Keywords: "Second Honeymoon" (2001) movie, windsurfing, razor bay...I only have comments on how the windsurfing was portrayed in this movie. While being humorous and funny, some of the windsurfing was grossly and incompently depicted.First, Tim Matheson says "I want to go windsurfing while the waves are good". Does this imply that he wants to windsurf in the waves? If so, the fact that in the next scene he is shown taking a beginning windsurfing lesson is contradictory. If the references to "good waves" means "whitecaps" or "high wind" that is also contradictory, since the very next scene shows Tim windsuring in light (estimated) 5-10 mph winds.Second, after Tim has mastered the "basics of windsurfing", 2 hours later on, he is enticed by a woman to try "advanced windsurfing" in Razor Bay. He is shown as going fast (hydro-planing or skimming fast on the water) before he falls in. It is highly improbable that he would be able to do this after a 2 hour introductory lesson.Anyway.. its refreshing to see some windsurfing in a regular movie.
