Matching Hearts

The premise is another one of those very unoriginal but potentially sweet and inoffensive. Both leads Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey are hit and miss for me as actors, and it is very dependent on the way their roles are written. When her character is likeable, Cole is charming. When the writers go overboard on the character flaws, she comes over as cold. Paevey similarly can be subtly charming when a character is written well, but he can be wooden too.

'Matching Hearts' is one of the 2020 Love Ever After films from Hallmark. And it is a pretty decent one, and a vast improvement on the previous 2020 Love Ever After film 'A Valentine's Match'. It is far from perfect and it is not great, but it also could have been a lot worse if unoriginality was taken too far and if the cast suffered from having poorly written characters. While having issues with the story, other Hallmark films (and this is including quite a lot of those from 2020) fare far worse in regard to the characters.

A lot works here in 'Matching Hearts'. It looks good, especially the scenery which is lovely. Other Hallmark films fare a lot worse when it comes to having ill fitting and intrusive music, neither of which were an issue really with me here. While the script is not Oscar worthy material, it at least has a natural flow and doesn't come over as too cheesy, schmaltzy or waffly.

Generally the story has a warm centre, is light-hearted and doesn't feel dull. The supporting cast all do solid work. Cole brings a lot of charm and confidence to a character that is hardly un-rootable and has strengths and flaws.

Paevey to me was less good, he has appealing moments but he underplays his underwritten role too much and comes over as wooden. There is definitely chemistry between him and Cole and the relationship is not neglected, but the relationship itself could have been better and more realistically developed. Just found it too rushed and the outcome is too abrupt.

While the story was better than expected, there are very few surprises and very little new. Basically standard Hallmark with no real variation.

In summary, nice film. 7/10.

A matchmaker agency, a pets center, a bachelor saying something not real correct, a lady looking for demonstrate than he makes a mistake. And, sure, dogs and cats, dates and the so predictable end.

Two things are real useful - the sparkles of classic romances and the main actors - sure, with some reserves about Russ Paevey , not very comfortable in role -.

But comfortable is the recipe, working little more than decent.

I enjoy watching Taylor Cole. Her beauty, grace, smile, expressive eyes, and wardrobe are things I look forward to in her Hallmark movies. She carried this most scenes in this movie and I enjoyed it. Her best Hallmark performance in the past year. She especially shined in her scenes with the dogs and in her photographer scenes. On that note, costuming gave her some beautiful dresses. The red dress during the final scenes is a red carpet wonder. Taylor seemed entirely at ease with her male counterpart, Ryan Peavey. Hallmark has been using her with different male leads the last couple years; some of which did not work. The supporting cast did a good job. Her two co-workers provided needed relief and dimension to the story. The female leads parents were convincingly caring and supportive; and, provided some quotable "pearls of wisdom." Ryan's best scenes were when he was in repartee' with Taylor. Their timing was spot on. I don't think Ryan's performance was equal to Taylor's, but that's not entirely his fault. Most of his scenes were close-ups with brief expressions. He did better in the scenes where he could interact with other actors and his environment. Also his script provided little in the way of character development and arc aside from the romance itself. One last thing, I found the closing shot of a possible male couple confusing. We knew all the other couples in the montage of couples. The writers provided no context for this.

The two lead actors are so enchanting with each other that I lose site that they are following a script, and that this is a movie. It's so refreshing to be in a story that makes you feel so good about what you're listening to.

I know Hallmark movies are supposed to be cheesy and unrealistic, but I loved this film regardless! Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey have an immense amount of on-screen chemistry together. The way their characters interact and gaze at each other is hard proof. The story was light-hearted and family-friendly. The setting was adorable and made the story even more romantic. Also the dogs are adorable! I would recommend this to everyone. I hope to see more Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey films!