Everyone’s Confused. Including Me.

**Spoilers**

Now it’s time for the oldest sister Shari’s story. I really liked Shari in the first one. She was very fierce and sarcastic in protecting her sister against Andrew who did her dirty when they were teens. The movie opens shortly after the first one as Andrew and Jenna are an established couple although Andrew does not appear in person but only on the phone. Shari is coming back home to D.C. after divorcing her diplomat husband in Zurich, Switzerland. It starts off kind of cute as Shari and her siblings are on the phone, each one accusing the other of not going to pick her up from the airport and leaving her to find her own way home with a ton of luggage. When Shari walks outside the airport though they are all there together to pick her up as a surprise with signs and balloons and stuff. Group hug.

As we know, Shari is an artist, and she has snagged a huge commission for a painting, as well as a spot in a very luxurious apartment/studio/gallery for a below market rent called an “Artist’s Co-Op and Studio.” Except she seems to be the only one to ever be there. Except for the GQ/romance novel-cover-model-handsome-caretaker/handyman who turns out to be the owner, that is. It’s a little unnerving. Their whole romance consists of “You Lied to Me!” “I need some space!” “No, I need some space” “It’s a date” “It’s not a date” “Is something Wrong?” “I just got divorced and can’t get involved with anyone right now.” “Leave me alone. I need to chase my own dreams.” “I need some some space and told him to leave me alone but he’s pushing me away. What did I do wrong?” “Maybe he’s confused?” Ya think? The sisters’ advice consists of encouraging her to pursue love with this cute guy and then telling her to back off from any relationships because it’s literally days after she got divorced after hoping for a reconciliation. That last part made a ton of sense to me and I am sure any amateur or professional therapist would advise the same. But this is a Hallmark and we can’t have a happy ending unless that happy ending includes a pair-up. At the end, Evan the cute owner, gets a huge opportunity to repurpose some warehouses in San Francisco. It is the chance of a lifetime. And we have another round of confusion. “I must go to San Francisco to chase my dreams.” “Do you really want to go?” “I’m really happy for you.” “I love you but I can’t ask you to stay.” “This job is incredible. I want to take this job.” “I want to see if we fit”. “Maybe it will lead somewhere. Maybe it won’t.” “You must go. I love you but I can’t ask you to give up your dream job.” “Please stay.” “This is my dream job but it’s missing you.” They decide to take it slow. They kiss. She introduces Evan to her family as her best friend, muse, and soulmate. Yikes. Slow down, girl. It’s been how long? Two weeks? Three? At the end, I really don’t know if he went or not, or if he went, if Shari went with him. I kind of doubt it. Unfortunately for all concerned, I think he stayed.

We have some side stories too. The brother, Coach Josh, helps a troubled teen and his sister. Their father gets some help in the end too. Kiki can’t  decide whether to go to a funeral. Evan’s grandmother, a former artist who doesn’t paint anymore (why?) had to sell off all of her work “for pennies” and regrets it. It is Evan’s life’s work to find one of the lost paintings to give back to her. Grandma must have been pretty renowned and celebrated because one of her paintings is auctioned off to a collector or dealer for $10,000. Questions questions. It turns out one of her paintings was right there at Foster Mother Angie’s house all along. Thank God Shari stopped him from selling his car to up the $10,000 bid. She takes it right off the wall. No charge.

What really got my goat is that Shari never works on the painting she was hired to paint. She claims that she just can’t paint out of nowhere but must wait to be “inspired.” The thing is that Shari is a portrait painter, so she must have been commissioned to paint a portrait. Just paint the damn face. No inspiration needed. She paints Evan’s portrait. At the end, I guess to symbolize that she has finally found herself and her inspiration, she paints about a dozen self-portraits. But she never paints the portrait she was hired to paint. BTW, she is not a good painter. The paintings she painted at the end are not good, in my opinion. I do not see success as a painter in her future.

Shari was not the same Shari as she was in the first movie. If she had been, I would have liked this more. The romance was ill-advised from the get go. Between the dubious viability of Evan’s “Artist’s Co-Op”, and Shari’s half-baked “I have to be free” approach to her painting career combined with her lack of talent (in my opinion), I’m afraid we have another case of what I call “Bad Business.” This is usually death to stars-This a 4, which is bad (swear words were uttered), but with a few bright spots and not actively revolting.