''16-Love'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy film directed by Adam Lipsius, written by Leigh Dunlap, and starring

Lindsey Shaw Lindsey Shaw (born May 10, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for playing Jennifer Mosely, Jennifer "Moze" Mosely on the Nickelodeon series ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide''. She also co-starred in the 2007 The CW, CW sitcom ' ...

Chandler Massey Chandler Abit Massey (born September 10, 1990)"Will & Grace". ''Soap Opera Digest''. October 30, 2017. pg. 44. is an American actor and singer, best known for his portrayal of Will Horton on the daytime soap opera '' Days of Our Lives''. Massey ...

, Keith Coulouris, Lindsey Black, and Susie Abromeit. Produced by Ilyssa Goodman, and Adam Lipsius, the story centers on a 16-year-old female tennis prodigy who while sidelined by injury discovers the normal teenage life she has missed out on, including falling in love. It was released on January 20, 2012 in the United States.

Plot

Ally Mash is a 16 year old San Diego high school student who is also the number one American junior tennis player. She has never had a normal life due to her father's obsessive coaching, but things change when she suffers an injury playing a fiercely competitive Russian rival. Sidelined, she skips her father's rehabilitation training and coaches a low-level player, Farrell Gambles, while discovering a normal teenage life including falling in love. Concurrently she builds up to a rematch with her Russian rival.

Cast

as Ally Mash *

as Farrell Gambles *Keith Coulouris as Dave Mash *Lindsey Black as Rebecca *Susie Abromeit as Katina Upranova *Mark Elias as Nate *

Steven Christopher Parker Steven Christopher Parker (born January 8, 1989) is an American actor, writer, and director. Onscreen, he is best known for his role as "Sledgehammer" Big Wes, a middle school basketball team player in the 2005 film '' Rebound'' starring Martin L ...

as Stuart * Alexandra Paul as Margo Mash *

Josh Cooke Joshua Gregory Cooke is an American actor, songwriter, comedian and musician. Personal life Cooke was born in Philadelphia and attended Harriton High School, a small public high school in suburban Rosemont. He was a member of Harriton Theater ...

as Dr. Jim * Josh Blaylock as Red Bull *Sarah Lilly as Amy *Fabienne Guerin as Debbie

Production

Leigh Dunlap wrote a filmscript called "Smash" about a teenage tennis romantic comedy that formed the basis of ''16-Love''. The script was promoted by producer Ilyssa Goodman who, in November, 2009, offered it to Adam Lipsius and his wife who had created the film company Uptown 6 Productions. They liked the script and decided to make the film. Lindsey Shaw was cast in the lead after impressing Lipsius at her audition. He recollected: "... She was so professional and passionate, I just saw her as Ally Mash". Writer Dunlap picked Chandler Massey for male lead due to his acting skills and tennis skill, she wrote: " ... I fought the creative battle of my life to get (Massey) cast as the lead". Lipsius was unconvinced by Massey at first but after playing a tennis game with him and discovering his romantic nature he decided he was right for the part. Susie Abromeit, cast as the Russian player, was a top ten ranked junior who had a

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

tennis scholarship. Shooting took place in the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

area and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

over 21 days with ten of those days on a tennis court. Lipsius described the "vital closeness" of shooting the tennis scenes with close-ups of the players' faces to create intensity. CGI visual effects were used to transform 250 spectators into 2000. Massey commented that shooting the film was "... one of the greatest experiences of my life".

Release

''16-Love'' premiered in the United States on January 20, 2012 with a limited theatrical release along with television rotation, DVD release and on-line streaming.

Reception

In her review of ''16-Love'' for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Jeannette Catsoulis criticized the script and direction as being clichéd. She considered: " ... 16-Love is in a sense the perfect movie for teenagers - you can text and tweet to your heart's content and never miss a thing". In his review for '' Common Sense Media'', Renee Schonfeld gave two stars from five. He criticized one-dimensional characters, teen film clichés, and excessive product placement, while praising the performances of Shaw and Massey. He concluded: " ... There's plenty of innocent romance and just enough tennis to hold the audience's interest and keep the story moving". Dennis Harvey, reviewing for '' Variety'' criticized the script as predictable but praised the direction and performances. He concluded: " first time feature helmer Adam Lipsius keeps things slick and pacey, and the cast is decent within mostly one-dimensional roles".

References

External links

{{IMDb title, tt1663673 2010s sports comedy films 2012 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films American sports comedy films 2012 films Tennis films 2010s English-language films Films set in San Diego 2010s American films Films shot in San Diego Films shot in Denver