Love, Take Two

Good, clean romance. It's got a love triangle, but it's not like she's going through terrible agony watching him be with another woman. The two leads are able to enjoy sincere friendship with an undercurrent of romantic spark, which they don't try to pursue until the end. In the meantime, she is figuring out what career path she wants to take for the future, and he is figuring out that he and his fiance aren't right for each other.

And I like that the fiance isn't a terrible person. She has positive energy and is very nice to the ex-girlfriend. She never broods in jealousy or paranoia. She, too, is figuring out that she and her fiance aren't right for each other.

This movie also avoids the cliches of having the female lead spill coffee on him, or fall off a ladder into his arms. And there's no forced misunderstanding or jumping to conclusions in the third act. It's a nice movie about three good people figuring out what they really want.

I truly enjoyed this movie because it's relatable. The awkwardness of running into a past love and dealing with the dilemma of choosing Love over Career. Great storyline! Heather and Cornelius were great together. I would love to see either of them in more Hallmark channel movies. 🙌

The main motif, in my case, to see this film was the appreciation for BJ Harrison. The story itself is not very inspired crafted, the main actors are beautiful and, in some measure, this is enough, the critic moment is so forced and the end sounds pretty fake.

An ex, a TV show, few couples being frame for a single competitor pair who becomes not a pair, irony about virtual media obsession and familiar figures from Hallmark universe.

And the fair- nice- correct performance of BJ Harrison as mother of pretty confuse groom.

Nothing more except a bad used idealism and not so credible relation between characters.

Personally, I thought it could have been better. This was a good film and it was interesting to watch, but I felt it was lacking in a few areas. It wasn't always romantic and personally I couldn't really feel the chemistry at times with Lily and Scott. It seems the film was really building a strong romance about reminding Lily and Scott of how much they miss and how in love they were, but I felt they didn't really delve deep enough into their past. Plus there were some characters I wish we could have seen more of such as Lily's old professor and Scott's best man who is also a therapist. I especially felt they should have gotten more screentime, helping Scott and Lily respectively with their problems with Lily's writers block and Scott's relationship issues and re-emerging feelings for Lily. I also felt there should have been more drama between Lily and Scott's fiancée, but again it was lacking. Plus I felt we didn't get to see enough of the production of the reality TV show as well as the other engaged couples and as for the ending I thought it was uninteresting and kinda predictable.

Overall, personally I felt the movie was okay. It was really great at the start, but it started to lack in some areas towards the ending and honestly I don't know if I'll watch it again.

Hallmark did have some above average and more films in 2019, as well as some misfires, in all their seasonal blocks, particularly the Christmas output. They were, and still are, very inconsistent with their wedding themed films before and particularly since 'Love Take Two', leaning more towards not doing them particularly well. The June Weddings films from 2019 are generally not too great, would go as far to not considering them particularly good even.

'Love Takes Two' is one of the better 2019 June Weddings films (certainly not the near disaster that is 'Wedding at Graceland'), but still is heavily flawed and could have been a lot more. As far as 2019 Hallmark goes, 'Love Take Two' is not one of the worst. It is also not one of the best. The premise was nothing special, the execution of it was pretty much the same. There are good things in 'Love Take Two' but also some bad. Making for an average effort.

There are good things here. Heather Hemmens and Cornelius Smith Jr are amiable leads individually and the acting in general is better than average. The best performance coming from Tara Erica Moore, who brings a welcome vim to the film which is something that is lacking in the writing and the story. Did find myself caring for the characters.

Furthermore, the scenery and overall production values are lovely to watch too while the music is pleasant enough. Did appreciate too that it tried to have a more retrospective approach and that it explored the dilemma of love over career, doing it in a way that was not hard to relate to.

Against all this, somehow 'Love Take Two' didn't entirely click. There were some good ideas here, but none of them go into enough depth. The past isn't focused on enough in development and while the characters didn't bore or irritate me some of them (and it is the ones that really would have helped the film have more heart, especially agreed the professor and the best man). While Hemmens and Smith Jr are fine individually, there is nothing between them together. Their chemistry is far too restrained and too careful and there isn't enough passion.

On the whole, the story felt dull due to the lack of drama and too much filler (i.e. The trying on wedding scene agreed, which could easily have been shorter). It generally comes over as very bland (with a lack of charm and tension) with no surprises and do have to agree that the ending is very predictable and not realistic, almost tacked on. The script goes too far on the awkwardness and takes itself too seriously.

In conclusion, very mixed on this. 5/10.