TV Reviews : A Romance Movie That Lacks ‘Magic Moments’

He’s an irresistibly charming magician with a past. She’s a sweet and innocent, uh, television producer. Love kindles, passion rages . . . and yawns abound in the Showtime cable channel’s “Harlequin Romance Movie: Magic Moments” (Sunday at 8 p.m.).

There’s plenty of blame to go around for this soggy bonbon. Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham wrote the cliche-ridden teleplay, based on Nora Roberts’ novel, “This Magic Moment.” Lawrence Gordon Clark directs with an emphasis on “significant” close-ups; John Shea as Troy is a more believable magician than lover, and Jenny Seagrove, as Melanie the smitten producer, proves she can open her eyes very wide--a lot.

Melanie’s adoptive dad (Paul Freeman) doesn’t like Troy. Daddy has a screw loose and hopes Troy’s dangerous locked-safe trick is fatal; he wants Melanie for himself.

Lee and Beth (Sam Douglas and Debora Weston) work for Troy, occasionally adding a dash of salt to all the sugar. In one of the more ludicrous “magic moments,” however, tough guy Lee plays the piano, lounge singer-style, serenading Troy and Melanie with a song written just for the show: “You and what you do to me, I’d call it sorcery. . . . “

Beth, meanwhile, doesn’t know that bashful Lee loves her until Melanie gives Lee her wise advice: “Say it with flowers,” she tells him.

The scenery is nice, though. The film was shot on location in England and Spain.