A Veiled Tell: Nil Soli - 2/12/2008

One True Love (2000)

Today’s edition of A Veiled Tell: Nil Soli serves as a confessional for me. I was home, working on some projects, and had the television on in the background. At 2 o’clock, I did what no self respecting man should do - I watched a movie airing on the Lifetime network. That’s right “television for women.”

The movie essentially had three strikes against it to begin with. 1. It was on the Lifetime network; 2. It was originally a TV movie, originally airing on CBS in October 2000; 3. It has never been released on DVD (never a good sign). On the plus side, it was not a Lifetime original movie. That would have made watching it an unforgivable transgression. As further justification, the movie did star David Hasslehoff and may very well have been the most appealing thing on in the time slot, which clearly was not saying much.

The movie basically supports the concept of finding “The One.” Hasselhoff, who always seems to play a public servant of some kind, plays a fireman named Mike (he also often seems to play people named Mike) who gets in a wreck with a girl named Dana and naturally saves her. Both are coincidentally engaged to people they are not sure of with the same coincidental wedding date. An orphan, played by Cameron Finley (the Beaver in the remake of Leave it to Beaver), coincidentally happens upon the scene and then coincidentally ends up in both of their lives. Then, coincidentally of course, both members of both couples realize they are not right for each other at the exact same coincidental moment. Then, by shear coincidence, the two realize they knew each other as children and coincidentally wind up at the same cabin and decide to marry each other and adopt the orphan that had coincidentally crossed both of their paths.

Random observation: Has anyone else noticed that Hasselhoff always calls children, “Pal?”

The film was directed by Lorraine Senna, a TV movie specialist, who also directed the movie that preceded it, Our Son, the Matchmaker. (No, I did not watch it.) Doris Roberts, from Everybody Loves Raymond, not the Central Baptist secretary, also has a bit part.

Clearly, the movie is completely implausible and more predictable, but there is nothing in it that I would be embarrassed to tell my church I watched. Well, at least not do to issues of morality. The producers did misuse the Hoff by not putting him on the soundtrack. It is not a great movie, but is not terrible either. It is an average TV chick flick, but I tend to enjoy chick flicks.

And yes, KLTW, I know I am a fifty-five year old woman!

Confession is good for the soul...

Current IMDB rating: 5.7/10. Chanalysis: 4/10