Before You Say 'I Do' (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

Enjoyable for a made-for-TV, fantasy, romantic comedy

[napierslogs · 7/10 · 22 November 2010]

"Before You Say 'I Do'" is actually a pretty good made-for-TV movie, granted that standard is pretty low. As predictable and poorly fantastical as they come, it is still an enjoyable romantic comedy.

The plot is pretty standard romantic comedy fantasy fare. George (David Sutcliffe) must travel back in time to win back his bride (Jennifer Westfeldt). What makes this film enjoyable is the actors. Sutcliffe and Westfeldt are two of my favourite actors and it's great to see them in leading roles where they are both very engaging and add an air of light-hearted romance to the film.

Like most made-for-TV movies, the characterization is weak. We only know enough about the characters to move the plot forward. You also have to be willing to ignore the many plot holes that come with travelling back in time. But for those that like fantasy romantic comedies, "Before You Say 'I Do'" is enjoyable.

I say "do", do get this nice film, romcom lovers!

[inkblot11 · 7/10 · 24 March 2011]

George (David Sutcliffe) is very much in love with his beautiful girlfriend, Jane (Jennifer Westfeldt). During a night of holding hands by the fire and munching on fondue, George whips out a gorgeous diamond for Jane's left hand. But, although Jane initially says yes, much to the delight of her co-worker, Mary (Lauren Holly), the small newspaper editor gets chilly feet. That's because she was once married to a dirtbag (Jeff Roop) who cheated on her repeatedly, even on the night of the rehearsal dinner. So, Jane, weeping, tells George the wedding is off. Very distraught, advertising executive George, who has a habit of wishing and driving through "yellow" traffic lights, makes a big new request. IF ONLY he could go back ten years before, to prevent Jane from marrying the first time. Unhappily, he's not watching his driving and gets in a crash, bumping his head. All of a sudden, he IS back in time, with a chance to lure Jane away from her intended cad. But, since the wedding is only a few days away, will George be successful? This is a very fine film for romcom fans. The two stars are quite nice and attractive, as is the supporting cast, and the plot has a satisfying mixture of humor, fantasy, and romance. Costumes are wonderful, with Westfeldt looking gorgeous, and setting, script and direction keep the film nicely on track. Do say "I do" to this flick, romcom fans, before too long. You will in the same happy state as would result from a three pound box of Dove chocolates.

I thought it was good, Solid 6 Stars!

[huggibear · 6/10 · 13 April 2017]

I wish we could time travel, but even thinking or dreaming about it wouldn't be any good to me. We probably wouldn't be living more simple lives if we did adopt a travel back in time mindset. All we'd see or experience are the 'things' from back then, not the mentalities we had years ago when we never had to lock our doors at home or worry about leaving windows open, etc. We were clearly safer. This place we are now is unknown at what it's becoming. Luckily, I'm in full control of my life unlike so many others who have lost control. I still wish we could turn back time because we lived with higher standards and better values and morals than people are living now. I don't know what has caused this difference in the upbringing and growth of today's children and who is in control of them. It's difficult to believe that parenting skills today are making positive impacts in the behavioral aspects of now's children. But this is about the movie, I suppose. It's nice to see visions of people's growth (because adults need their parents as well), even if it is just fictional. The world will be the world! Easy to shut it out at this point. I love time travel movies though. Better fictional, than not at all. One can imagine or try! I like it different and Hallmark does it for me, good job and thanks!

forced to watch it to please my wife.

[lowferlectro · 3 August 2010]

What a bunch of obnoxious characters. Who cares how they manipulate their miserable self serving destinies. .. and what a sad fate for middle aged desperate victims of cosmetic surgery daytime TV jobbing actors to end up in tripe like this.

On the other hand my wife sat watching this with a big grin on her face and a tissue on stand-by in case the tears stared flowing.

We've had Hallmark Channel for at least 10 years and doubt if we could work up enthusiasm for more than one or two of it's 'entertainment products in that entire decade.

I had indigestion for most of this films running time.

Good movie

[jewelch · 7/10 · 30 March 2021]

I was caught off guard with this movie. I wanted to pass time and found this movie to be soOo much better than it's description. Trust me, watch it! If you are hopeless romantic, this is the movie for you! Not spoiling for anyone, just watch it! You'll love it! James Welch Henderson Arkansas 3/29/2021.

Nicely Done But I Have Issues

[boblipton · 5/10 · 15 February 2009]

This is a cute fantasy romantic comedy: the two leads are engaged, but she had such a horrid first marriage that she breaks it off. What can he do? He can get into a traffic accident which turns into a bit of time travel that zips him back ten years, three days before her first wedding. Can he manage to woo her and stop the wedding before she becomes unable to commit? Well, it's a romcom, not a tragedy. That's obvious from the first minute. You guess if things work out.

This movie is full of cute actors -- Jennifer Westfeldt is quite charming and there are some very funny sequences (asked to make predictions for a newspaper column, David Sutcliffe comes up with Martha Stewart serving time in prison and is told "It has to be believable"). The movie is light and engaging.

But I have the feeling that the people behind this don't get an important point of fantasy: the fantastic elements don't replace the realistic elements, they reinforce them in a piece like this. And what we have here is a statement that the path to true love and commitment is .... via an impossible path. No, I'm sorry, but that's not a message a movie like this should send. Especially not when it premieres on Valentine Day as this one did.

Cute & easily watchable

[juneebuggy · 5/10 · 4 June 2015]

This was an enjoyable enough romantic comedy. It's Hallmark, fairy-tale-ish and a bit better done than most made-for-TV movies but still lacking.

The story here involves time travel and I guess my biggest problem was that no effort was put into making it appear like it was 10 years in the past. The bride to be looks exactly the same when the movie flips back to 1999 as she does in the opening. I mean at least change her hair (clothes, technology, current events) a lot could have been done. Anyways this is one of those movies where you just have to let things slide especially in regards to plot holes involving time travel.

The story itself is cute, light and easily watchable. I enjoyed David Sutcliffe who is charming as a man who travels back in time to prevent his girlfriend from entering a doomed marriage that leaves her too damaged to accept his proposal 10 years later. Jennifer Westfeldt plays the love interest and was completely forgettable although she does kinda look like Phoebe from 'Friends'.

This very much becomes a comedy as 'George' tries to stop the wedding, teaming up with Lauren Holly who takes the obligatory best friend role here. There are also some amusing office politics involving George's advertising colleague and I thought the "wish" at the stop lights was a fun idea as to how the time travel happened. 5/24/15

Before You Say I Do- Dream On ***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 26 February 2009]

Enjoyable romantic comedy where a woman turns down the proposal of an advertising executive because of the horrible experience she had with her first husband.

Rejected, our advertising guy meets up with a car accident and sustains a concussion. He is transported back in time to 1999, the object of the movie is where he tries to thwart the first marriage to begin with. This is certainly a very interesting plot and all the characters do well in their respective roles.

There is some confusion at the film's end. Suddenly, our guy is celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary. Evidently, he was able to thwart the marriage. When he wakes up surrounded by all the guests at his 10th wedding anniversary, this in a way reminds me of Dorothy waking up after her Oz adventure.

Overall, a fun-filled, enjoyable movie.

it's ok i guess

[HandsomeBen · 3/10 · 15 October 2020]

A woman is peer pressured into getting married for a second time, after her first marriage failed because of infidelity. She gets cold feet because she's afraid of another bad marriage. Her would be second husband, goes back in time, 10 years prior, and tries to stop her first wedding.

The movie makes no sense for several reasons. I know this is suppose to be a fairy tale chick flick, but I can't help but over think. Why is the cheating husband wanting to marry a woman he clearly has no internet in? It's not like she's rich. What woman falls for a guy 3 days after meeting him, just because he guessed her favorite food, and said all the rights things? If some guy claimed to be from the future I'd thank him for warning me about my soon to be cheating husband, but I wouldn't run off and marry him.

The most interesting character was the cheating husband, he added some ''thrills''. The acting isn't good. The actress playing Jane was just sleeping walking through this. The ending was cute.

Who wouldn't like to go back and try to avert some personal disaster?

[Xjayhawker · 9/10 · 24 February 2013]

George and Jane are in love but she's afraid of taking another chance on love..a lot of people have been there and done that..but our Ad exec has a habit of two things apparently, making wishes while going through yellow lights and driving poorly sometimes both at the same time, thus we have another version of time travel. An enjoyable enough take on girl marries wrong guy but does the one that's right for her have a chance to un-do her vows? Is there enough magic to straighten out everyone's lives and make things right? The leads are Jennifer Westfeldt as the forgiving girlfriend not-yet-bride and David Sutcliffe as the make-a-wish true love. That being said, this is a lovely way to spend a couple of hours with commercials thrown in. I give this presentation 9 out of 10 only because there are very few 10's and hopefully when a 10 comes along, I'll know it. Watch and enjoy. Don't over analyze this work. Don't look for short-comings and you'll find yourself getting into this little story of 3 days of man racing to woo his true love.

The Very Premise Isn't Good

[athompsonblue · 3/10 · 19 November 2023]

The groom should have realized earlier that she was too much of a psychological mess to get married.

Time travel comedies can be a lot of fun. But the idea that you need to go back in time to fix a relationship problem isn't relatable. It would be better if the female lead worked on healing from the pain of her past, so that she can have a future with a man who's been nothing but good to her. THAT's more relatable and empowering.

Some really far-fetched stuff happens in the past -- far-fetched in the sense that people with common sense don't really do these things.

And if the wicked groom wants to marry her so bad, then why is he also determined to cheat?

I loved this movie because....

[drosa-2 · 10/10 · 13 June 2009]

I sat and watched with my young daughter and I didn't have to worry about any age inappropriate content. It was just a nice romantic cute movie that I will recommend to everyone I know. It is a nice change from the garbage there is out there now a days that you can't comfortably sit and watch with your whole family.

There need to be more light hearted movies like this one.

I liked the story, the kids loved the time travel part and the comedy things that happened. It is far-fetched but who cares, it brings a smile to the viewer and it is a feel good movie for most ages. (I can't see a 3 year old being interested in it, ha ha )

Cute Romantic Drama Yet It's Still Highly Watchable

[supadude2004 · 8/10 · 8 June 2010]

This movie is a twist on the classic love triangle: good guy, bad guy and the (reasonably) hot girl. And viewers are soon left in no doubt as to who is who in this movie. Otherwise, I shall say no more on the story. Yet somehow, despite much in the way of predictability, a fine movie is somehow (as if by magic) still very much delivered. Albeit, this is no Bela Tarr and it certainly could not win any festival awards. It is, let's be frank, a 'girly movie' which also manages to hold it together sufficiently so that viewers of a more discerning disposition will also not mind watching it at all. In other words, this movie really should appeal to a wide cross section of people, and those behind it should be congratulated for producing a very watch-able love story. As a romantic fantasy it is quite compelling. So throw away any ideas of syrupy 'BS' and watery piano tunes: this movie thankfully avoids most of what could be expected of a 'romantic fantasy' driven plot. In fact its current rating of 5.9 is rather unjust given that the screenplay, direction and acting are about as tight, (& please forgive my saying so...) as the said Miss Hottie's curves.

Frankly, this movie is for when you *owe* her one - because your numero uno's been watching too many of 'your' boring men's movies of late, and it be time to redress the balance. Fear not! The fact is you'll probably enjoy it too! A 7/10