Directed by: Linda Palmer Written by: Linda Palmer Genre: Comedy , Drama |
Turnover
Due to personal stress and medical issues, Peter ( Paul Guilfoyle ) needs to take a break and get some rest and relaxation. This means he'll have to leave his small cafe in the hands of his manager while he's gone. Henry, ( Riker Lynch ) is the manager and firmly believes that Peter's time is up and the cafe should be upgraded and franchised out. This 'stress leave' situation is the perfect time for Peter to give Henry a shot, but Fran, ( Kat Kramer ) Peter's wife has her own ideas. Peter and Fran are finished and divorce is pending, but she wants herself and her son to be the boss and take over the cafe. Henry decides enough is enough, and hires a bunch of misfits to run the show before exiting stage left.
Peter returns and everything is a mess. The staff doesn't even know who he is and Henry is long gone. It seems his stress leave has ended up costing him pretty much everything. The misfits themselves are lazy, and complete examples of everything society has deemed them to be. I could go on about how people tend to live up to what is expected of them, but that's not the point. Turnover is not about the how's or why's, rather what needs to be done. Rising to the challenge, self worth, and ultimately becoming a team and getting the job done. Linda Palmer's film is a comedy, but that comes from the characters more than anything else. The real meat and potatoes of the story is the drama of it all. Watching those society expects to be worthless band together is heartwarming, and that's the true entertainment of this title. It's a feel good story if ever there was one. You really can't help but feel for the new staff of the Cafe, and Peter as well. Only at first, Peter is definitely not the one to root for but by the end of the film, you guessed it, a feel good story all the way. Generally speaking, Turnover looks pretty good for a micro budget venture, although a little longer than it probably needed to be. There's a lot of plot and a few twists in this film, but I still feel that a length of around two hours is still pushing things a little. But if you're digging the film enough to keep watching, you probably won't even notice. Turnover ended up, for me, being a feel good title with a positive message. A message of leadership, a message of friends and family, and most importantly a message of teamwork and self respect. I won't deny that it has a made for TV look and feel, but so what? People eat these type of movies up; have you never watched a Hallmark movie from start to finish? Don't lie now... I know you have. Turnover was a guilty pleasure. Not something I would announce loudly that I loved in a packed biker bar, but I'd have to say I was made of stone if I didn't get something out of this title. I'd say a 3.5 or 4 stars for this one, but since it kind of did hit me in the feels, I went with the 4. Thank you for reading. |
