As Luck Would Have It

It's really easy to love a movie with Joanna Swisher, Alan Leech, and Ireland. Plus the clothes she obviously bought while in Ireland were beautiful, especially those sweaters. Or are they jumpers in Ireland. The two had genuine chemistry and real eye contact in their scenes, especially while dancing.

When you review the movie before it's over.

What a great salute to Ireland!

Hallmark needs to add JoAnna Garcia Swisher to their rotation of actors because she's such a natural on screen. Actually the whole cast are amazing-they give a real feel of the place.

Hope there's a sequel.

Being a Hallmark movie my wife and I knew what to expect. They are all clean and follow the Hallmark formula. Attractive single woman and attractive single man are attracted to each other but some big differences need to be worked out before they can find real love.

In this story she is a USA based negotiator for a big company that buys properties and builds hotels and resorts. She is sent to a quaint village on the Irish coast to do a deal but the locals don't want to sell unless the old, run-down castle can be preserved. The village badly needs money.

He (a real Irishman) seems to be the local jack of all trades. He runs the pub, he makes his own Irish whiskey, he is involved in the yearly matchmaking festival, and a few other things. Including having played Tom Branson on Downton Abbey.

All in all a nicely entertaining movie, beautifully filmed, viewed at home on DVD from our public library.

This movie seems like it will use the premise of a company sending a woman to do a hatchet job on a small community, in this case by convincing them to tear down their beloved castle. Yes it is a terrible idea but it fits the mold of so many other movies in the same genre. Then of course something would keep that woman in town so she can fall in love with some local hunk. This movie did it in a slightly different way than usual. It was also more realistic than most that follow this premise in that the woman sent to pitch the locals actually goes about it with tact and charm. So many movies that follow this premise have the executive be arrogant and closed minded.

It did set me back a little in enjoyment when the local hunk, Brennan, sets his mind to chase Lindsey away by playing cruel tricks on her as she tries to immerse herself in the local culture. He's the one that's arrogant and closed minded.

Romantically, the ending is predictable, but then this is Hallmark and the world would cease to revolve if there weren't that kind of ending. But I found the way things worked out business-wise was a little different from the norm.

Johanna Garcia Swisher was charming and beautiful. She had great chemistry with Allen Leech once he stopped mistreating her. Watching their characters get to know each other was one of the highpoints of the movie, but still second to the amazing scenery. It made me sad that I missed a chance to go there a few years ago.

As attractive and welcome the fresh faces of the two leads were, this one did not impress. I loved the authentic setting in Ireland as well, but the plot was totally forced. The whole premise was based on a hotel chain wanting to tear down a historic and beautiful castle in order to replace it with a glass, steel, and concrete monstrosity. That is totally bizarre. What traveler to rural Ireland would prefer such an accommodation over a beautiful castle? Not one sane one with any sense or taste. Why would they be visiting Ireland in the first place if not to soak in it's atmosphere, beauty, and history? If you want modern, stay in Dublin. And to think that any representative of the Hotel could lobby for such a notion and still be considered a sympathetic heroine does not fly. Nope. This one did not pass the smell test. If they wanted to copy Leap Year with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, they should have gone all the way and copied the story line as well.