A low-key romance set in the Pacific Northwest, Float rests almost entirely on the appeal of its two leads, Andrea Bang and Robbie Amell (also a producer). They play mismatched neighbors hiding personal wounds. Before the movie ends they will find love as well as solutions to their problems.
Based on a story by Kate Marchant, the film takes an approach so gentle and quiet it erases the plot’s drama. Bang plays Waverly, an immigrant from Taiwan who’s on a fast-track to become a doctor. So driven she hasn’t seen her parents in years, Waverly fears a future of endless hard work with no emotional payoff.
Instead of working in a university lab for the summer, Waverly impulsively visits her aunt Rachel (Michelle Krusiec), an artist and free spirit in a small beach town. Rachel helps her finds a job as a bartender, and introduces her to friends at a beach barbecue, including hunky lifeguard Blake (Amell).
Accidentally knocked into the water by Blake’s sister Isabel (Sarah Desjardins), Waverly almost drowns. Ashamed of her inability to swim, she accepts Blake’s offer to give her lessons at a public pool.
If you can’t see where this is going, you need to renew your Lifetime / Hallmark subscriptions. Director Sherren Lee (who cowrote the adaptation with Jesse Lavercombe) will not let those expecting a happy ending down, even while playing by genre rules.
Forestalling that happy ending are formulaic complications. Blake and Isabel are orphans, leaving the older brother with guilty feelings of responsibility and his sister with a potential substance abuse problem. Waverly needs to tell the truth to her parents about her goals in life. And both have trouble expressing affection towards each other.
Everything proceeds smoothly enough in Float: the swimming metaphors, the wacky but insightful friends, the exceptionally beautiful landscapes (captured by DP Alfonso Chin). A couple of parties, some dancing, and chaste clinches turn up the temperature a few degrees, but Float is at best a slow burn.
Lee, who has worked mostly in TV (Kim’s Convenience, Code 8: Part II), does a good job with an obviously tight budget. Amell is smoothly professional and convincing, but Andrea Bang is a bit too one-note in a role that calls for more edge.
Not much happens in Float, which is how most of us live our lives. That’s a good thing to a point: it’s nice to see believable characters working out issues in credible ways. But it also means Float never engages on a more involving level.
Credits:
Director: Sherren Lee. Writers: Sherren Lee & Jesse Lavercombe. Based on The Wattpad Story by Kate Marchant. Producers: Jeff Chan, Robbie Amell, Chris Pare, Aron Levitz, Shawn Williamson, Aaron Au. Cast: Andrea Bang, Robbie Amell, Michelle Krusiec, Andrew Bachelor, Sarah Desjardins, Rukiya Barnard.
A Lionsgate presentation of a Collective Pictures / Wattpad Webtoon Studios / Brightlight Pictures production. Photos courtesy Lionsgate.
On digital and on demand February 2, 2024.
