A man tries to win the hand of the love of his life -- which is an uphill battle, since she's about to get married -- in this romantic comedy from Australia. Seventeen-year-old Stephen (Simon Bossell) first sees Melissa (
Saffron Burrows) across the room at a party, and from that moment on, he's hopelessly in love with her. However, as he's crossing the room to introduce himself, who should get there first but his fraternal twin brother Rick (Alden Young). While Stephen is the brighter of the two, Rick is more attractive and outgoing, and Stephen quickly realizes that he doesn't stand a chance with Melissa if Rick is his competition. Ten years later, Stephen is doing quite well as a stockbroker, though his love life remains a disaster, while Rick is the manager of the Hotel de Love, a cheesy honeymoon resort complete with heart-shaped bathtubs for two and artificial indoor waterfalls. While Stephen is paying his brother a visit at the hotel, who should check in but Melissa, with her bookish fiancé Norman (Peter O'Brien) in tow. While Melissa is surprised to see her former flame Rick, she has no idea that Stephen still carries a torch for her after all these years. Stephen tries to win Melissa away from Norman, which given his romantic ineptitude is no easy task; he seeks advice from Alison (Pippa Grandison), Rick's girlfriend, who works as a fortune teller at the hotel, though the results are not what anyone expected. Meanwhile, Stephen and Rick's quarrelsome parents, Jack and Edith (
Ray Barrett and
Julia Blake), have come to the hotel for a second honeymoon, and they hope to patch up their marriage. Hotel de Love was the feature debut for writer/director Craig Rosenberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide