My Best Friend's Bouquet

One of those lovely Hallmark films that sneak up on you and suck you in with its charm and humour.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, I thought it was well played and had some lovely moments.

Josie is charming and annoying at the same time as a hopeless romantic. I think Chaley Rose was a great choice for her. There were a couple times I thought that if they used the line about "The bouquet knows" one more time I would scream. They did and I didn't. I loved Josie when she epitomized what's good about being an optimistic romantic. Obviously, part of the plot was that she sometimes went overboard. But even so, I think she makes an implicit case that more of us should appreciate a little more romance in the world.

The lore of the bouquet gives a slightly different take to what comes down to a few of the well used plot devices like the best friends who don't realize they are really in love, or one of the leads has a job offer far away.

Athena's mother-in-law (to be) is a nice variation on the controlling m-i-l . Usually this stereotype starts out overbearing and blindly self-centered but suddenly changes to sweet and loving. In this case we can see almost from the beginning that she isn't exactly sure of herself either, but she's trying.

Note to Directors - Please make phone text messages large enough for people of all ages to be able to read. In this movie, they were almost large enough, but the worst problem was coming out of the last commercial, the G rating symbol covered a large part of a key text.

I enjoyed this movie a lot! I loved the story and loved how though it had two clear leads, it centered on a group of friends with their own personalities and lives that were more fleshed out than Hallmark movies usually are.

Nathan Witte is great! He conveyed the emotions and heart of his character, Alex, so well! His eyes say it all.

Casey Manderson as Brian was a stand out to me, as well, despite his lack of screen time. Hallmark ought to make him the lead, as he's played many supporting roles in their movies. He deserves it!!

Josie and Alex are friends, they've known each other since college. Josie doesn't know Alex is in love with her. One of their mutual friends is getting married. Josie has a hobby which is creating wedding bouquets, and the family legend says the bouquet "knows its way". (kind of stupid if you ask me, but this is still Hallmark)

There a lot of things I liked about this. Firstly, the diverse cast. Well done, Hallmark. Keep the diversity coming! Secondly, new actors, new faces, which is very refreshing. Decent acting, good chemistry between the whole group. Different jobs for the characters, which may be a small detail but they always have the same boring jobs. While the plot is nothing we don't know already, it was a different pace, you don't expect a wedding at the beginning of the movie.

However, it was very slow at times, and I kept being distracted by my phone, forcing myself to come back so as not to miss anything. While I was expecting a time jump for the final scene, the confession scene was very anticlimatic...

Not a winner, won't rewatch it, but may be worth a watch for all of you who enjoy these movies. I feel like giving this a 6 now, may change later, I am unsure of how to rate it.

The story was OK but the female lead was so subdued, she came off as over medicated, no energy or emotion. The issue was highlighted by the good job the rest of the cast did. Prepare to be lulled