Consigli d'amore

Hallmark had 2 or 3 previous movies with good scripts like "Love Strikes Twice." But this one has fallen back to others that had okay acting, boring script. Awkward scenes, no flow. Hallmark has tried to be diverse, but awkward scenes with two different backgrounds. Hallmark needs to get better writers.

The only good thing and reason for my generous 4 stars was the lead actor. He's a fine actor given lousy material.

The rest didn't flow, there was zero chemistry, the lead actress was another spunky, fast-talking, know-it-all and where did the plot go? You'd think you were finding it then they threw it in a blender or something.

It just rushed through whatever plot they were struggling to find, couldn't find it and did a quick wrap up, I guess. Better writers needed.

I'll never watch that actress again, however. There's enough stress in the world without adding these high octane power people. Hallmark's "hallmark" is cozy comfort. Sadly, none of that was to be found here and I couldn't have cared less if she found love or not. Hopefully not. She'd be awful as a partner.

I was far more interested in this steamroller woman's assistant's love life. She was charming.

As said in some reviews for other 2021 Hallmark films, 2021 was a hit and miss year for Hallmark but actually was expecting in all honesty it to be a lot worse than it turned out. Have seen Brooks Darnell in other things and he strikes me as a very likeable actor who is usually well above what he is given in too many of the films he's starred in. Most of the 2021 Fall Harvest films didn't do much for me, the best by far being 'Love Strikes Twice' as that felt like a refreshing attempt at doing something different.

My overall thoughts on 'Advice to Love By' were mixed to mildly positive. As far as the 2021 Fall Harvest films go, it is one of the better (or at least one of the more watchable) ones. There is a good deal to like here, Darnell being one of the biggest pluses. But this reviewer also had some big issues with 'Advice to Love By', even when knowing what to expect as someone who has seen a lot of Hallmark films (a number of them being above average and more), namely some of the storytelling and the female lead.

Beginning with the plusses, Darnell is very amiable and charming in his role, a character that is interesting and easy to like (felt sorry for him at times). Samantha Cole stands out in the solid supporting cast, bringing some welcome energy without being annoying or over-compensating. The characters are typical but generally no real issues. The production values are attractive, once again the scenery delivers on the beauty. The music isn't drab or repetitive, and it isn't discordant, maybe it could have been used more subtly but other Hallmark films do much worse at this.

Furthermore, 'Advice to Love By' is often very cute and heart warming. Some of the dialogue and interplay are quite fun.

Having said all of that, Erinn Westbrook seemed rather stiff too often, she does get better later on but she tends to overdo her character's naivety and abrasiveness. Characteristics that at their worst were pretty hard to take. While the chemistry does get warmer as it develops a little more, it does take quite some time before anything progresses and even then the spark never feels enough.

One expects a Hallmark film to be formulaic, and 'Advice to Love By' is certainly that. It just doesn't do much new or enough really with too many typical elements and the dialogue can be very corny and stilted (especially early on). Do have to agree with those that say that the story can feel very choppy, especially the severely underdeveloped and forced conflict, introduced suddenly, near-discarded and resolved too easily and unrealistically so. Which did make some decision making not easy to fathom.

Concluding, above average and quite decent but didn't blow my mind and could have been a good deal better. 6/10.

Erinn Westbrook is very pretty and talented but she got stuck with a somewhat abrasive character (the "science of love" author). Kendall rudely dismisses the "love at first sight" feelings that her sister and boyfriend experienced because, you know, "science" (it's all "completely biological"). The problem with Kendall, is that she has all these strong opinions about "science" but it doesn't seem like she has actually studied any of the relevant "science".

For example, there's research out of the Netherlands which provides evidence in support of the phenomenon of love at first sight (Zsok, Haucke, De Wit, & Barelds, 2017), which she dismisses as nothing more than "signs from your neuroreceptors, not your heart" (and what's scientific about the "heart" in connection with love?). Although I wasn't a big fan of the writing, I did like the boyfriend's response: "Well, wherever the signs came from, I'm glad I was paying attention."

And what was the "science" behind pairing up two random strangers on National TV and pressuring them to go on a date together?

There were several other annoying things about the script. When Kendall calls Nathan, he says he has some follow up questions. She says "Saturday, lunch in the park" and then just hangs up. She doesn't wait for an acknowledgement, confirm a time, say "I'll see you then" or even "bye", she just hangs up. Huh?

And then she gets all bent out of shape about something that nobody would be bothered by (even those who know nothing about contractual confidentiality obligations). It was just a fake and phony conflict. If all of that seemed annoying (as it was for me), the blame goes to the writer and/or the director. Erin Westbrook is just reading her lines and doing the best with what she was given. Don't blame her for how Kendall was written. Some other reviewers don't seem to understand that an actress who plays an annoying character isn't necessarily a bad actress or annoying. Erinn Westbrook deserves a better script. As does Brooks Darnell. He's a really good looking and charismatic actor (he was quite impressive in A Winter Getaway, although that was another movie where the stars were better than their material). But his character's grand gesture just came across as poorly timed and embarrassing.

Finally, other reviewers noticed something else that really bothered me too. I've always thought it was ridiculous that nobody ever has sex in Hallmark movies. We don't need R-rated sex scenes, but there's not even a hint that anyone is having sex. It's never even implied. That's just weird and unrealistic. But it was even worse in this movie. These two went on a bunch of dates and never even kissed. Heck, they never hugged or even held hands. That's just ridiculous. Is Hallmark really that worried that their core demographic will clutch their pearls in horror and turn the channel if they see people showing physical affection for one another and, heaven forbid, going into a bedroom together at night and closing the door behind them?

This was a good movie with good acting. The leads were beautiful and looked cute together. It was very odd, though, when the final scene took place, the kiss was perfunctory and brief. Not a usual Hallmark end of movie kiss. There were no romantic moments between the couple during the movie, such as a look of attraction, an almost-kiss, a hug. One falling down together earlier in the movie was not as usual for these Hallmark movies. Usually with the couple looking at each other in a moment of awkward chemistry. Nope, didn't happen. There was one momentary hand-holding. Not sure what was up with this. And it's NOT due to Covid, as some have said, as if there were no protocols in place during filming or there's any evidence that the virus can be transferred through a real kiss, but not a lip peck. Lol . But the movie was interesting, anyway. Gave it a 7.