It was only 87 minutes. But, yes, it did seem Lifelong.

**Spoilers Galore**

Annika is a poet whose lifelong dream is to get an “anthology” of her poems published. Unfortunately, she has no idea of how publishing works. That is, that no publisher is going to invest good money in taking on her work unless there is good reason to believe it will sell. When the publisher asks this nitwit why anyone would pay money for her unmarketable anthology of poetry she becomes very confused and explains to him that her poetry book is poetry, not a superbowl ad. Whatever that means. Her “pitch” as to why he should publish it is because it will help her “branch out as a writer.” I kid you not. I guess she thinks the publishing house is some kind of non-profit and she is applying for assistance. Needless to say, the publisher is not impressed and leaves her post haste sitting in the conference room alone in a state of shock. Someone actually said “no” to her. This is a Hallmark classic case of an entitled dewy-eyed dimwit who thinks people should be begging her for the chance to invest their talent and resources into making her dreams come true with no benefit to themselves. And we have to deal with her special snowflake attitude throughout the whole movie.

After she leaves the conference room bristling with self-righteous indignation she runs into (literally, of course) the love interest whose proposal of marriage she rejected back in her college days. He is now a famous photographer who is going in to pitch his own book to the same guy. While catching up with each other, she mentions that she is trying to find her widowed grandfather’s first love whom he lost contact with before he married her grandmother. Then she runs into her manager who tries to give her a reality check to no avail. Flush with ignorance and arrogance, she decides she is not going to take no for an answer and bursts back into the conference room where her former boyfriend is trying to make his pitch to Rory, the publisher. Look up the words “unmitigated gall”, “rude”, and “unprofessional” in your Merriam Webster and you will find her picture. Unfortunately, famous photographer Ryan’s pitch is not going well either for much the same reasons. Ooof-these creative types. But, against all odds, by the time they leave the conference room, the publisher will consider publishing their new joint project: A book about their quest to find Grandpa’s lost love augmented with poems and photography about other love stories they find on the way. Rory wants teasers for this possible book featured on Annika’s popular website, and to be sent updates and poems on a regular basis. And of course, since this is the real world, there are deadlines, to her dismay. Yes, Sweetie, writers have deadlines unless you’re Stephen King. And I’m pretty sure he does too. The pair enlist the help of Ellie, Ryan’s niece, whom he is taking care of while her parents are getting a divorce. She is a reader who loves mysteries and is especially enamored of one mystery series in particular. While Annika and Ryan are out following leads and collecting love stories, Her grandpa and his niece bond over books and detective work finding his first love. This movie could have been vastly improved if the love stories had been interesting, funny, or touching, but no such luck. They are as bland and boring as the principal romance.

Meanwhile, true to character (or lack thereof) Annika sends no updates to Rory as required while out and out lying about it to her partner Ryan and her manager/friend. No, she will not share anything unless she has honed and polished it to perfection. Instead, all of her efforts are focused on going behind Rory’s back to a colleague of his that she used to work with to get an extension on the deadlines. When Rory finds out about her slimy behavior on top of not being sent any updates, he pulls the project. Everyone, even her loving grandfather, is pretty disgusted with her and she finally learns her lesson which is explained in many ways by many people, but boils down to “It’s better to get something accomplished than have to be perfect about it and get nothing done.” I wish I could say she learned not to be a liar but I can’t.

Well, she gets her book because they find Grandpa’s old girlfriend who turns out to be the author of the very mystery series Ellie is so obsessed with. And she gets her man because, despite her behavior, they end up with their book thanks to the merciful Rory.

There. That’s the whole thing. I watched it and I’ve explained it so you don’t have to.