Adventures in Love & Birding

Walker and Boston have done at least one of this type of movie together (and an episode of ER), but that doesn't explain the off-the-scale chemistry between them. The looks were there. The body language looked like a loving married couple. And the kisses! Phew. More than the usual one or two at the end.

Other than ostensibly a fake dating premise, I can't say the plot abuses overused themes. No one is losing their job. Both leads are recovering from a divorce or breakup.

Boston is one of the most upbeat of Hallmarks' actors and Walker is one of their leading studs. The acting and dialogue were good. Other than a couple of circumstances that seemed forced, the acting was natural.

One of those forced things was what I call the inevitable Conflict. There has to be something that throws an obstacle in the way of the couple's long term happiness. I thought that this conflict was forced although Celeste does a good job later explaining her reaction.

Kudos to the nature and bird scenery.

Rachel Boston and Andrew Walker are veteran actors (Andrew maybe not that much as a take charge romance lead) but I felt it took me a long time to get into this story and develop feelings for the main characters. I am feeling the new movie plots and acting interactions recently are getting simpler and simpler portraying the obvious, possibly for a new generation not that invested in the art of the movie that do not appreciate the mystery of involvement between characters and figuring out what is happening on their own as many interactions seem rather in-your-face not engagingly nuanced. Finally by the end when the story was wrapping up I felt the Rachel and Andrew characters arrived at an invested maturity that made sense and projected successfully to the viewing audience and they looked REALLY good together and the relationship was portrayed skillfully.

7.6 stars.

This is a subdued romance between two lonely adults. She is a recently divorced school teacher with a teenage daughter, and he is a recently single man who experienced a fairly painful breakup. He works in an office, but doesn't really enjoy it. He wholeheartedly desires to be a bird guru and an expert in the field. In contrast, she has no clue about birds. They meet on something of a blind date. As the story goes, her female friend sets them up to participate in a birding competition as teammates, but neither has met the other. During the competition he teaches her about birds and they gradually form an attraction. They pretend to be dating in order to placate her friends and show-off for his ex.

This film feels good, not too much drama and just enough romance to be endearing and emotionally satisfying. I felt some tears welling up now and then, and that is the great sign. On the other hand, it's not the total package for good entertainment. There are hundreds of other Hallmarks that excel beyond this, but at least the chemistry is not lacking.

The characters are likable and the interactions are authentic feeling, so this movie is good enough to watch again some day (my personal rating scale for re-watchable films starts at 7.5)

Andrew W. Walker (John) and Rachel Boston (Celeste) have a very nice chemistry together. I enjoyed the many romantic moments throughout the movie. So well acted! So well written! I felt like John and Celeste were falling for each other and they touched my heart. The scenery and sets looked real-no fake fall foliage or fake flowers! The story lines with Celeste's daughter, John's and Celeste's mutual friends, John's ex, and the scenes with Celeste and her colleagues, were all very well written and meaningful. They added to the story.

This movie is fresh! It's new! It didn't just follow the formula! Loved the beautiful birds. Poetry was well placed. And listen closely to hear a song surprise! To use this song in a romance about birdwatching was genius!