A Costa Rican Wedding

Really wanted to like this, but at the half way mark, I'm not sure that I can make it through even with fast forwarding through the commercials. The character Emily (Rhiannon Fish) is so far unredeemable, arrogant and downright unlikeable. Not quite sure how they think it's plausible that she could be a nurse. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Ryan (Christopher Russell) is as always wonderful. A good actor who is also easy on the eyes. The mother of the bride didn't help matters, hopefully by the end Phoebe will be able to stand up to her mom and actually have the wedding that she wants and deserves. By the way, the whole stalking the ex thing was really creepy.

Christopher Russell is one of the few Hallmark males that I find to look like a romance movie lead and generally acts credibly as such, so I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 new movies back to back with him in the lead. I thought the chemistry and physical match was better with Ashley Tinsbrough in Operation Nutcracker (also just released), but this match with Ms. Fish was not bad. The scenery was fantastic, the storyline hasn't been done before and both leads acted their scripted roles well. My 2 negatives were 1) the getting lost part seemed to last longer than necessary and despite writing in a variety of obstacles to overcome, still seemed to drag a bit. Secondly, while Ms. Fish is cute enough, her scripted character was too overdone to be fully attractive. Nonetheless, more watchable than a lot of what Hallmark cranks off the assembly line.

As others have said Rhiannon Fish is lovely and has done several enjoyable Hallmark movies. But her character in this movie is wholly unlikable. I couldn't even get through this movie. She was not only absent minded and clumsy which can work as funny, cute character personality traits in these movies. But Emily goes way past that to mean, rude, controlling, and just plain stupid. Oh the eye rolls. She gives you no reason to even root for her. I'm guessing Ryan found these monkeys and got the rings back because I couldn't finish. And Emily was too big a moron to solve the problem herself. Most of the other characters were likeable including the male lead. The setting was fun and beautiful. The story could have been fun. But I couldn't watch her roll her eyes anymore.

A clumsy maid of honor Emily (Rhiannon Fish) creates a catastrophe when she loses the heirloom wedding rings she was safe guarding for her best friends wedding. She goes on a quest and gets help from the ruggedly handsome groom's cousin, who she's not particularly fond of Ryan (Christopher Russell). Their quest takes them thru the Costa Rican jungle and some comical mishaps along the way. Of course it wouldn't be a Hallmark movie without seeing the chemistry start to unfold. What I didn't care for was "the usual misunderstanding" and how the "big catastrophe" was TOO EASILY swept away with a couple of totally unbelievable simple script solutions which turned this movie from something special into something lame! Hallmark you came oh so close to having a REAL THEATRE WORTHY MOVIE on your hands, but you slightly missed the mark with that "solution" Fish and Russell were a delight and perfectly cast!!!!

I thought this would be a good one, and I wasn't disappointed.

The combination of an on-location shoot - I mean, those images of Costa Rica are self-explanatory; the scenery is almost the real star of the show - two very good leads in Hallmark veteran Christopher Russell and Australia's Rhiannon Fish (herself nearing Hallmark veteran status now with a string of titles under her belt), and you have all the makings.

That said, Hallmark have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory before...but thankfully not on this occasion. "A Costa Rican Wedding" is great. Russell and Fish have great chemistry, the acting is, for the most part, good from all concerned, despite the occasional cringey moment, and the ending, as always, is satisfying. It's Hallmark, after all.

More of this couple, please, Crown Media.