Country at Heart

Woman returns to her hometown but.... doesn't open a candle shop or a bakery and big plus....Wait for it.........it's not Christmas either! Watchable but still predictable. There's far worse out there

I am a Niall Matter fan and a Jessy Schram fan so this had a little bit more going for it. Add a plot that is a bit off the usual template, and it should have been a big winner. It wasn't. But it was definitely above average. The Lucas Bryant plot line was interesting and added a bit of suspense. Was he going to be even a bigger jerk than he started off as, or would he turn over a new leaf? An 8 star and above Hallmark, for me, is one I will watch again. This did not earn that 8th star. Perhaps it was the lack of humor. Lack of focus? Lack of a really bad villain or real charm in the characters. The characters were lack-luster. Not talking about the actors.

And one more thing. Jessy is a TERRIBLE singer. But I seem to be in the minority opinion there. When she was doing her audition, I thought they were making her bad on purpose for the plot. But nope. Niall wasn't great either, but he wasn't really supposed to be.

One of my on-going gripes about the Hallmark movies is they rely so often on some ridiculous misunderstanding because the characters never take the time to actually talk, or more importantly, listen to each other, unlike real life, and then story feels completely contrived and way too emotionally immature for people who are supposed to be grown-ups. This movie though actually goes to the trouble of making sure every character tells the others exactly what's going on in their head and even bothers to ask questions of the other characters to learn the truth, which is what real adults do. The male leads are even written to be complex instead of one-dimensional, where both are sometimes in the right, and sometimes in the wrong. In the end it's a well done movie script that is refreshingly honest. Even the love story portion is almost secondary to the story itself, which is an amazing departure from the norm. Ultimately Hallmark moved away from some of the same old cliched tropes and plots to write something that was new and enjoyable to watch beginning to end.

Expectations were mixed here. Music is a big part of my life and this is the sort of story that is relatable to me. While country is not my favourite style of music, there is still a lot of love for it. Jessy Schram and Niall Matter have both been good in other things, Matter has given very few bad performances. Hallmark do vary though when it comes to their music-related stories and the previous two 2020 Fall Harvest films did nothing for me.

'Country at Heart' turned out to be very worthwhile. It is the first good 2020 Fall Harvest film and is one of the best ones overall of the 2020 Fall Harvest films. It is among Hallmark's better music-related endeavours, both Schram and Matter are very well served where one can see their appeal and it certainly doesn't put me off country music. It is not quite one of Hallmark's 2020 output, but it is leagues away from being one of the worst. If anything it's in the high middle category.

It's not perfect. The lip sync tends to be off, and not just a little but very. Seeing the lip movements and music being so obviously out of sync for much of the film was rather distracting. Some of the dialogue is on the awkward side, especially early on.

Maybe it's on the slow side to begin with.

So much works in 'Country at Heart's' favour though. The best aspect is the music, which is just great. So infectiously uplifting and soothing on the ears, actually though Schram and Matter didn't fare too badly in the singing department. Not great but there has definitely been worse. Schram is like a ray of sunshine, while Matter is a subtle easy going contrast. Really liked their truly endearing chemistry, that amused, charmed and heart-warmed. Lucas Bryant was clearly having fun and his subplot is as equally interesting as the main plot.

Furthermore, it looks good. Especially the scenery. The script has some awkwardness but is suitably light-hearted, the rapport between the two leads made me smile. The story may be formulaic and not exactly original, but its energy, charm and ability to lift the spirits more than made up for that. Not to mention that it was to me easy to relate to. The ending is sweet and doesn't ring false.

Overall, well done and so much better than the previous two 2020 Fall Harvest Hallmark films. 7/10.

I have seen this movie three times now. It really good, the scenery was beautiful. Niall Matter is one of my favorite , he and Jessy Schram were wonderful together. Lucas Bryant was really good on his part . The movie is relaxing and the story is nice.