Love in the Forecast

Cute enough story line, I watched because I like the leads, and they carried the story.

But why in the world did they cast an actress as the mom of the female lead who can't be any more than 4-5 years older than her on-screen daughter? You can't just frost her hair and give her glasses and think the viewers can't tell they could be sisters.

Another mid-cast character is the female lead's co-worker who keeps making advances toward her all movie long - why cast someone who is let us say, is metrosexual or perhaps a negative testosterone level in comparison to the male lead?

Those two mis-cast actors combined with the supposed setting of Conway, Arkansas when the foliage amd scenery is clearly the Pacific SW Canada...

Mediocre, like assembled too fast to get details right, even to the point of those two mis-cast characters. And yet...worth watching if you like the two leads.

Leah (Cindy Busby), who works for a local television station, is a hapless dater. She decides to forego dating to focus on her career and moving out of her parents' house.

She buys half a duplex and discovers an attractive bachelor lives in the other half. Within the constraints of her no-dating policy, they become friends---perhaps more?

The story of this romance feels slapped together; small details seem incongruous. The characters are so cheery they feel unreal, like they are talking sitcom-ese. In short, everything feels staged. It is staged, but it shouldn't feel that way if we are to buy in to their story.

The actors do a fine job with the material they have. The leads, Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell, are likable and worthy of other material that allows them to be more authentic.

I found the characters very annoying and the story boring. The fake rain was funny. I didn't understand why she was so unhappy with her job? Don't all meteorologists get told what to saw by a team of weather specialists? The whole nature is better than science was a bit weird as was how all the men in the town were cast under some sort of spell and kept buying her stuff only for her and the neighbour to eat it all. Also the mom is clearly close to her in age but is wearing a grey wig- so fake! Was there no one else available?

Hero teaches heroine to forget the science and to predict the weather by flowers, fish, and stuff like that. It's nice to see an original concept instead of the stereotypical storyline, but this one really backfired. The actress, who is approaching 40, looks too old for the part considering the heroine was just finishing her degree and trying to start a career in meteorology on TV. And as others already pointed out, the heroine and her mother look like sisters and the age difference of only 4 years is really noticeable. I also felt that there was no real chemistry between the leads. But overall, it was watchable, and I liked the music.

It's a fluffy Hallmark love story, and I didn't expect anything more. I enjoyed the city and country settings and the different professions of the main characters. Also, that they weren't on opposite sides of a business deal, or trying to save a business or farm or property, or thrown together to work on a small-town festival of some kind. The weather details were interesting, and I thought the lead actors had good chemistry and that their performances were just fine. It might not be one of the top Hallmark movies, but I give it high marks for being different.