Right in Front of Me

I have been a hard time watching Hallmark this last year because of all the craziness of the pandemic. The movies with lots of families, restaurants and parties did not seem normal during this time- but I really enjoyed this movie. Both lead characters were very charismatic and they had a lot of chemistry together. The rest of the movie was the usual Hallmark fluff, but the two actors and they're on screen rolls really made it all worthwhile.

This was a sleepy little surprise that I absolutely loved! The story is about Carly who had to work her way through college and ended up playing it a little bit safe with her career. Carly has a successful bridal styling business, but with a degree in design should really be designing for her own label. She is quite successful at what she does and is booked for every weekend for the next year, until her latest celebrity wedding ups the date by three days...freeing her up for the weekend to take up her friend on her offer to treat her to a spa weekend at the lodge she manages outside of San Francisco. There Carly meets the events chef Nick, who really wants to have his own restaurant and make some experimental Asian fusion foods. Carly is so natural with Nick that not only do the two really hit it off, but they get to know each other's passions and foibles...including Carly's quirky eat desserts at home thing. She becomes his official taste tester and he becomes her wingman as it turns out there is a wedding of some old college acquaintances and her college crush is there to attend.

Nick and Carly have wonderful chemistry and are the exact kind of sweet lovely people that you want to know and root for in a delightful romance.

I thought this would be one of the standard Hallmark Rom-Com's, but I ended up being delightfully surprised. It was so much more. I loved the showcasing of some different careers. I loved people being nice to one another...for no other reason than to just be nice and help one another. And I truly loved the tiny fork story, with both the follow through on a thoughtful thank you gift and the naming of the restaurant (although I am really surprised the restaurant wasn't named Lola).

This may be the best Hallmark Romantic Comedy that I have seen this year.

...the majority of Hallmark TV-movies, thanks in large part to the natural acting style of the leading man, Marco Grazzini. Yes, others in the cast are good, including Janelle Parrish and Hillary Jardine, but Grazzini plays it all so low-key, and with such self-effacing, easy-going charm, that he makes it believable that Nick and Carly are actually falling in love.

This movie had an even more predictable plot than most of Hallmark's movies. The plot was boring, and plodded along until the end, without any interesting plot twists. The acting was fine, with exception of the lead roles. Marco Grazzini was believable as Nick, while Janel Parrish didn't do as well. Unlike so many other Hallmark movies, I won't be watching this one again.

I've been watching Hallmark movies for a long time. They really are feel-good films. Sometimes the romance works, and sometimes I just have to give into it. But in this case there was quite a lot of heat coming from the two lead characters! Right from the start. It was like watching a real romance unfold. Nothing was in your face or forced, just very natural and simmering. If they aren't a real couple, then big props to these two marvelous actors!