16-Love

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.

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.[1]

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".[1] 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".[2] 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.[1] Susie Abromeit, cast as the Russian player, was a top ten ranked junior who had a Duke University tennis scholarship.[3]

Shooting took place in the San Diego area and Denver 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.[3]

Massey commented that shooting the film was "... one of the greatest experiences of my life".[2]

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.[2][1][4]

In her review of 16-Love for The New York Times, 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".[5] 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".[6] 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".[7]

16-Love at IMDb