Love on the Danube: Love Song

(The first of a trilogy of films set on European cruise boats to launch the Hallmark + streaming service)

To be honest, "Love on the Danube - Love Song" moved along at what could charitably be called a gentle pace and there really wasn't a whole lot of drama. It's a feel-good story with a spectacular European backdrop.

Wes Brown is a reliable Hallmark star. I could name a half-dozen of his appearances, and he's always very good. I'd not seen Nazneen Contractor before, but she does a good job in this movie. However, the scenery is arguably the real star of the show. Good to see Hallmark filming on location. It makes a huge difference and more often than not results in a much better movie, from an atmospheric standpoint.

"Love Song" benefits from an on-location shoot and two well-cast leads. Brown and Contractor have good chemistry, which is 80% of the battle won with these Hallmark movies.

What is going on with Hallmark? The stories are tiresome and the new replacement actresses are lacking. Wes Brown is reliable and can be fun, see him in Haul Out the Ivy, but not in this snoozefest.

He could not breathe life into this sinking cruise. The plot with the adult children trying to set up their parents and finding each other as romantic partners was too predictable. Adding the older mother ( who looked the same age as her daughter) , a professional singer who has stage fright was just silly. The only thing that saved this shipwreck was the scenery. I fell asleep in the middle but didn't miss anything. Hopefully the next two installments will be an improvement.

What a boring movie, I kept nodding off. The locations in Hungary were beautiful, especially Budapest. Wes Brown is always a reliable actor in Hallmark's rom-coms, the rest of the cast was ok. Catherine Disher was a stand out, she has stage presence.

A bad script and dialog are what made it a very boring movie. The same topics were regurgitated over and over again along with Julia's performance anxiety. I was to the point of who cares if they ever get together or if Julia ever sings. . A first time screenwriter could probably have written a better script. If you're going to spend the money filming in Europe, get a decent script. Or just save the money and film it in Montreal or Quebec City and call it Paris.

This was not Hallmark's best. Dare I say, it was its top 10 worst. First, the makeup artist chose to give all the women dark smokey eyes, with a dreaded wing eyeliner. It managed to make the mother look older and tired. I mean her WHOLE eyelid was black. Come on! The makeup artist managed to give the daughter turned down eyes which in turn made her look sad all the time. I love Wes Brown and his comedic timing is superb, but how y'all managed to make him boring is a special kind of talent. They had no absolutely chemistry to me. I couldnt buy into their story. The storyline did not do it for me either. This was snoozefest.

The mother, was very much a wussy. Once a professional stage singer, she was freaked out to sing a one line solo for an audience of about 50 people, really? It would have been better if this whole part of the story were left out, or not mentioned, but she fills in for an absent singer, and feels fulfilled, something that has been missing in her life. With current story line it just drags on about her being too nervous to perform, just overdone, and not entertaining. Her hair was very beautiful, but looked mismatched with her daughter.

Also, it always seems like these perfect, gorgeous guys, chase after these women who don't know what they want. Seriously?

More depth of story please. Seemed the script lacked substance, maybe a little of personal back story on each character would have helped.

I did love the locations of the filming, so beautiful.