'Romance in the Air' is the first film of the 2020 Hallmark Summer Nights group. Expectations were not high to be perfectly honest. There are some good and more films Hallmark did in 2020, in most of the seasonal programmings. What lowered my expectations was that there was absolutely nothing special about the premise and also because of not being the biggest of fans of Cindy Busby, whose acting range has often struck me as rather limited.
Those not so high expectations for 'Romance in the Air' were executed even worse in my view. Not only one of the worst 2020 Summer Nights films, but also one of the worst Hallmark films from that year. And the worst Hallmark films from 2020 were close to dire. One knows something is not right when Busby is one of the two least bad things about a film, because she actually comes off quite acceptably here. Certainly compared to everything else.
As said, Busby comes off well. She here shows more emotional range than she tends to and although her character is quite more of the same when comparing her with her other Hallmark characters she does try to bring some variation. She has a perkiness that is not there with any of the rest of the cast and the only one who seemed to be going.
What also came over well was the beautiful scenery.
It is a shame though that that was cheapened by the drab filming and the amateurish overuse of green screen, which often looks cheap when used in film and it is just too glaringly obvious here. The rest of the cast are poor, the supporting actors go through the motions (especially the bored looking and sounding ex) and Torrance Coombs is ill at ease and seemed to have no idea what he was doing. He and Busby have no chemistry here and don't look comfortable with each other, it's not a good sign when it comes over like they didn't like each other when they are supposed to be having a romance. Which is underdeveloped and rushed.
Direction is near-non descript and the same goes for the story. Which is wafer thin and what there is is excessively predictable (even for a film with so many recycled Hallmark film tropes) and sluggishly paced, complete with no heart or charm. It also seemed to take itself too seriously. The ending makes little sense and is mean spirited. The script is too talky and stilted, some of the talk unnecessary, while there is nothing interesting or likeable about the characters. The music has no personality and intrudes too much.
Concluding, very, very bad. 2/10.
