Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Love At First Sight – Netflix
Breeze rating from 1 to 4 palm trees, 4 being best.
When Oliver (Ben Hardy) was young his family was surprised by his mother’s cancer diagnosis and that’s when he decided he never wanted to be surprised again, so began studying statistical analysis in the belief that with enough data everything would be predictable. While studying statistics at Yale he received the unfortunate news that after fourteen years in remission his mother’s cancer had come back and was asked to return home for an unusual living memorial.
Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) missed her flight to her father’s wedding in London, and usually her perpetual tardiness and uncharged phone led her to get into trouble but this day it led her to Oliver. She met Oliver while trying to charge her phone at a charging station, but with none available Oliver offered her his charger. They discovered they were on the same flight to London, and with a while until the flight departed decided to get something to eat together.
Time passed quickly and before they knew it they were almost late for their flight. Hadley was in business class (due to it being one of only two seats available on the next flight) but Oliver was in economy. As fate would have it, due to Oliver’s seat belt being broken he was moved to the only other seat available on the plane which was next to Hadley. Hadley was fearful of flying and grabbed Oliver’s hand during take off.
They spent seven hours on the plane learning about and falling for each other, and joked since they already had a meal the meal on the plane was their second date. Oliver charmed Hadley by wearing the pajamas provided in business class and they woke with the plane landing in London. Oliver gave Hadley his number outside customs but Hadley’s phone died before she could store the number, and was an hour in customs so when she came out Oliver was no where to be found.
Hadley called her father who arranged for her to get all setup, but during the wedding Hadley could only think about Oliver. When it was over Hadley overheard a couple of wedding guests talking about leaving to attend a memorial at Peckham House which seemed it could only have been for Oliver’s mother. Hadley decided to try to find Oliver, though she really had no idea where he was and headed out the door saying she’d be back for the reception in four hours.
The story then backs up at this point and tells it from the perspective of Oliver from the point at which they were separated at the airport. Oliver’s brother showed up in DJ gear and a music box, immediately drawn the attention of police and were asked to leave. They did so quickly and drove away in Luther’s big green sprinter van. The brothers visited, then changed into Shakespearean costumes for their mother’s unusual farewell living memorial where all her friends and family performed songs, dances and poetry in her honor.
Being reminded of his parent’s love by his mother’s speech, Oliver kept thinking of Hadley. Oliver spoke to his mother privately that he was upset that she was refusing treatment, but she didn’t want to go though needless suffering. When Oliver rejoined the party, Hadley was there and they hugged as if they had known each other forever. They visited out by the river but had a misunderstanding leaving both uncomfortable, so Hadley left but accidentally left her bag behind.
Hadley got lost and called her dad to come get her to take her to the reception while Oliver decided he needed to return Hadley’s bag, so the whole family loaded up in the van to find her. With fate appearing on their side thus far, would these seemingly destined lovers find each other.
Runtime: 1h 30m
