Hallmark is on a nice winning streak. I'm tired of plots involving royals, but this is one of the better ones. The opening shot of a beautiful foreign coastline is actually a scenic view of one of the Azores islands, nearly 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal. For a moment, I thought the fictitious location was called Northeast Phillipa after I saw that on the screen, but then I figured out that Phillipa Northeast was actually the name of the actress who played Princess Amelia, and that the latest fake country name was Bundbury. I knew nothing about Phillipa (she's an Aussie actress with few film credits) but she was lovely to watch as she becomes aware of her feelings, interacts kindly with others, and experiences things she had never experienced before as a sheltered princess.
The family reunion with her uncle in America was a nice excuse to travel abroad, but the artist she liked seemed a little too blasé about having a sweet beautiful princess interested in him. Had that been me, I would have gone to L. A. as soon as I found out Amelia was there.
I like it when Hallmark movies show two people really getting to know each other before falling in love. People can learn a lot about each other during long road trips. That's a movie plot that dates back to "It Happened One Night" a classic (but far more antagonistic) rom-com. But it was also the plot in the recent Road Trip Romance, one of the worst Hallmark movies that I've ever seen (Ugh, so bad). I acknowledge that setting up such road trips, with people who've just met each other, usually requires some outlandish plot contrivances (as in RTR), but here the set up didn't seem all that outlandish. That's due to some surprisingly good writing by Jake Helgren, who wrote and directed another one of the worst Hallmark movies that I've ever seen (Save the Wedding).
One of the squares on a Hallmark bingo card is the inevitable "small town festival". So, of course, the Princess and Grady go to one (the "Spring Fling Festival"). Not only is it an opportunity for them to have a mini date, and to show how sweet Amelia is (with booth worker Becca), there's a nice scene where Grady (who "doesn't like to dance") and the Princess go to a barn dance.
The ensuing smoldering dance scene is accompanied by a perfect song for this movie ("You Can Sleep While I Drive" by Melissa Etheridge). Somebody really thought that through. While dancing, Grady describes his ex as having been "more focused on her career". Amelia asks: "What's wrong with that? " to which Grady responds: "Nothing as long as it's not her only focus." I appreciate how modern Hallmark movies are all about women (and men) trying to strike a balance in life, rather than promoting the old school idea that women should abandon their careers for the men in their lives (an outdated trope that is literally reversed in this movie).
And, once again, this modern Hallmark movie included a gay character who was presented in a "matter of fact" positive way without any drama or stereotypical behavior. He's simply a character (played engagingly by Vincent Gale) who just happens to be gay, just like a character may happen to be Black or Asian. I applaud Hallmark's more inclusive approach to making movies. It's very very healthy.
I'm looking forward to seeing Phillipa Northeast in another Hallmark movie soon. It's a cliche for an American to say this, but I LOVE her accent. And she's quite a good actress.
I've now seen this movie three times.
