Maintenance Required Parent Guide

Charlie (Madelaine Petsch) is obsessed with vintage cars. When she’s not repairing local vehicles at O’Malley’s, her female-staffed garage, Charlie spends her time restoring an old classic she and her late father bought or discussing its restoration with fellow afficionados on the web. She also unwinds by chatting online with “Bullnose”, a fellow car fanatic she encountered on Reddit.

Keeping the garage running has always been a challenge but the stakes just got higher: Miller Boys, a national chain of cut-rate vehicle repair shops is opening down the street and there’s no way Charlie can compete with their predatory pricing.

Leading Miller Boys’ expansion is Beau (Jacob Scipio), an ambitious young executive who started out as a mechanic and spends his spare time restoring his own classic vehicle. He also discusses his repair challenges online, where he goes under the name (you guessed it) Bullnose.

There are few surprises in this film, and “few” drops to “none” if you watched the 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan smash hit You’ve Got Mail. Maintenance Required is an uninspired adaptation of that much loved rom-com, but this remake lacks the witty one-liners, fun book allusions, and megawatt star power of its source material. I don’t blame the cast – the young actors do a decent job with the material they’re given, but it’s difficult to create excitement or suspense in such a predictable tale. (I’m not even going to go into the cheesy allusion to Notting Hill. Note to screenwriters: don’t take famous lines from a romance and apply them to a car. Please.)

There’s also no way to improve the biggest flaw at the center of the plot: deceit. Beau discovers the identity of his Reddit chat partner and doesn’t let Charlie know that he’s her online confidant. His continued dishonesty is a red flag and puts their relationship in peril. In my opinion, it should end the relationship and even Charlie grasps the seriousness of the breach of trust when she discovers the truth and cries out “How can I ever trust you again?” It’s difficult to enjoy a romantic flick when you’re disturbed about a lead character’s core character traits.

As for negative content, Maintenance Required comes in about average. Sexual content is limited to a brief post-coital scene, some passionate kissing, and a man’s bare chest. A woman also frequently goes braless in a tight t-shirt, making her nipples visible. Throw in four dozen profanities (mostly minor but including two sexual expletives) and some casual social drinking, and Amazon’s 13+ rating is fair. In fact, “fair” is the best I can say about this film. It’s certainly not good, but it’s not unwatchably bad either. If rom-coms are your jam and you’re desperate for mindless entertainment, you could do worse. You could also do better, but, hey, I’m not going to judge.

About author

Kirsten Hawkes

Kirsten Hawkes has a BA in Political Science and English and has worked in international development and medical education and marketing. Kirsten enjoys reading, watching movies, and debating politics with her husband and sometimes unwilling children.