Coup de foudre à la Saint-Valentin

In the hands of some of Hallmark's actor stables, this could have been a very schmaltzy, saccharined dud. However the seasoned & beautiful talents of Taylor Cole and a restrained but able support from Russ Paevey, elevated the film to something half-decent. No real surprises as a Matchmaker who attempts to find a match for an entrepreneurial Stay-Single guy, but begins to discover that maybe she is his ideal match ! The animals were definitely cute !

The premise is another one of those very unoriginal but potentially sweet and inoffensive. Both leads Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey are hit and miss for me as actors, and it is very dependent on the way their roles are written. When her character is likeable, Cole is charming. When the writers go overboard on the character flaws, she comes over as cold. Paevey similarly can be subtly charming when a character is written well, but he can be wooden too.

'Matching Hearts' is one of the 2020 Love Ever After films from Hallmark. And it is a pretty decent one, and a vast improvement on the previous 2020 Love Ever After film 'A Valentine's Match'. It is far from perfect and it is not great, but it also could have been a lot worse if unoriginality was taken too far and if the cast suffered from having poorly written characters. While having issues with the story, other Hallmark films (and this is including quite a lot of those from 2020) fare far worse in regard to the characters.

A lot works here in 'Matching Hearts'. It looks good, especially the scenery which is lovely. Other Hallmark films fare a lot worse when it comes to having ill fitting and intrusive music, neither of which were an issue really with me here. While the script is not Oscar worthy material, it at least has a natural flow and doesn't come over as too cheesy, schmaltzy or waffly.

Generally the story has a warm centre, is light-hearted and doesn't feel dull. The supporting cast all do solid work. Cole brings a lot of charm and confidence to a character that is hardly un-rootable and has strengths and flaws.

Paevey to me was less good, he has appealing moments but he underplays his underwritten role too much and comes over as wooden. There is definitely chemistry between him and Cole and the relationship is not neglected, but the relationship itself could have been better and more realistically developed. Just found it too rushed and the outcome is too abrupt.

While the story was better than expected, there are very few surprises and very little new. Basically standard Hallmark with no real variation.

In summary, nice film. 7/10.

The two lead actors are so enchanting with each other that I lose site that they are following a script, and that this is a movie. It's so refreshing to be in a story that makes you feel so good about what you're listening to.

Good chemistry. The story somewhat expected. But all the actors worked welltogether.

Diva Universal (the successor of Hallmark Channel in Romania) broadcasted Matching Hearts in the evening of St. Valentine's Day and I really enjoyed it. Traditional H.C. recipe, which supported them in having a loyal and increasing audience and fan base (which probably do not regularly watch blockbusters such as Die Hard, Triple X or Poltergeist) and usually making very profitable moves.

Yes, this is the typical Hallmark winter romance movie, with the plot closely following the two lead characters, which "accidentally" meet every 5 minutes, slowly come together, then around min. 70 there is a twist and the two decide to go separate ways, and the long awaited final kiss around min. 85, end credits. Solid performance by both Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey and pretty decent chemistry between the two of them. Yes, would recommend it even for those which are not fans of this kind of movies.

Special note for Taylor Cole, since she has all the due ingredients (i.e. outstanding beauty, talent, charm, versatility and incredible beautiful eyes) to play in the same league as, say, Amber Heard or Scarlett Johansson. But, who knows, maybe she decided she had enough during her modelling career and thereafter and now only wants to enjoy the beauty of life with her new husband, producer Cameron Larson? BTW, I read that this movie might be inspired by Taylor's real life, as she was repeatedly trying to match old friend Cameron with several of her friends, until the man finally understood that Taylor is the Chosen One. The couple married last June. Nice!

Good to see that, despite ongoing pandemic and worldwide lockdown, Hallmark still managed to come out with a number of decent titles in 2020, and "Matching Hearts" is probably one of the best.