I'm a huge Hallmark movie fan but this movie was too weird and unsatisfying for me. I didn't have a problem with the leads, but their story was uninspiring.
As the movie opens, Olivia is a struggling artist who's been in New York City for two years but is still crashing on her friend's couch (??). She has a job at a catering company with that friend but she's a terrible employee. After being fired (shocker), she finds out that she's losing the couch that she's been crashing on (her friend is suddenly moving and tells her she only has the place for another week).
So she catches a ride home with George, a high flying "40 under 40" golden boy and future Big Company CEO who, bizarrely, is driving an old car 2,800 miles across the country during the winter. Huh? He agrees to drop off Olivia in her hometown of Valentine, Nebraska but his old car breaks down once they get there (shocker). After the town's only mechanic incompetently fried the entire electrical system of his car (by putting the jumper cables on the wrong battery posts), George becomes understandably frustrated and calls the town "Nowhere, Nebraska".
But that town is, in fact, literally located in the middle of nowhere and only has a population of 2,603. I love how Hallmark has become more diverse and inclusive but the real town of Valentine only has one Black person. Just one. And yet virtually everyone featured in the movie (Olivia, her sister Vanessa, Vanessa's son, the restaurant owner, the town's only mechanic, and some random people in the parade) were all people of color. It came across as well intentioned but unrealistic.
When I watched this movie's premiere in February when the movie supposedly takes place, it was literally 24 degrees in Valentine, Nebraska. But some little old lady name Mrs. Hacky spent most of the movie sitting on a little stool outside in the freezing cold, staring at a barn.
Everyone was acting like the annual Valentine's Day parade in this cold tiny town was a huge event. Really?
I hated George's unnecessary lying about Olivia's "success" .
I thought her art was unimpressive.
I thought George's career crisis was poorly set up ("I don't want to spend my time making money for my company, I just want to spend my time giving its money away").
It wasn't as though he had some other clear path or passion that he wanted to follow like Olivia.
Nothing in the movie rang true for me and it was hard to root for anybody in a movie that just didn't make any sense, especially the fantasy ending.
