Couples working together in Hollywood can often be a double-edged sword, but in the case of unexpected sequel Time Is Up 2 – also known as Game of Love – the timing couldn’t have been worse.
The opening installment starred Bella Thorne and Benjamin Mascolo as star-crossed lovers dealing with the trials and tribulations of life, lust, and romance, with the follow-up arriving only a year later. This time, the duo’s Vivien and Roy head off to the latter’s picturesque childhood home in Italy, where a mysterious woman arrives on the scene to ultimately drive a wedge between the couple once secrets from his past are dredged to the surface.
That sounds like unimaginative fluff, which is very much is, but the timing of the second chapter’s release couldn’t have been worse. While Thorne and Mascolo were engaged throughout the duration of shooting, the pair broke it off and called it quits in the summer of 2022, mere months before Game of Love landed on digital and VOD, which must have been an uncomfortable press tour to put it lightly.
Not that the behind the scenes uncoupling has dissuaded streaming subscribers from checking it out, though, given that FlixPatrol has named the sultry European tale to have staked its claim as the seventh most-watched movie on Hulu in the United States. A lot of people probably wouldn’t have guessed it was even a sequel at all, but the tabloid-friendly Thorne’s involvement would at least ensure that a lot of her many followers were aware she and Mascolo were no longer set to be married by the time of the premiere.
