When Love Springs

7.9 stars.

Like others have mentioned, this starts off a bit funny. Rory goes to a B&B with her family for her parents anniversary. It's the same place her parents fell in love and first kissed many years ago. Rory is recently single. Her recent ex-boyfriend shows up with his new girlfriend (coincidence?). Rory pretends to be dating the B&B owner Noah in order to avoid embarrassment because she is still sensitive to the breakup, and his new girlfriend is super pretty. The rest of the story is the same as every other Hallmark of its kind. The pretenders start to become more than friends, the ex wants her back, yada yada yada.

There is nothing original in 'When Love Springs', and Rory is a bit too silly at times, kinda shrill, maybe too quirky...

HOWEVER....the positive aspects of this film far outweigh the negatives for me. The ambience is very inviting somehow, Noah's character is very likable, the relationship that matures between them is endearing, and there are several charismatic moments one cannot ignore.

The beginning of this film is just plain awkward and hard to watch...thanks in large part to it's lead actress Rhiannon Fish, but as the film goes on if you stick with it...it settles down into a decent Hallmark Romance with some good getting to know you moments and an excellent male lead James William O'Halloran. In addition to the very awkward beginning there is also the miss cast ex-boyfriend played by Callahan Colley who doesn't seem age appropriate for our lead.

This tells the story of a jr pr executive who end up doing pr for a small bed and breakfast owner in exchange for him playing her fake boyfriend for her parent's vow renewal. The message is slow down and don't miss out on the important moments.

"There are two kind of moments in life, those you miss and those you seize."

Romantics will enjoy this film if they can get over the initial awkwardness. The lead is not only handsome but really help pull this film together.

Another forgettable rom-com, this one filmed in Australia. It was filmed around Brisbane, Australia which is beautiful and that's about the best thing I can say. The script is another cliched mess, not very well written. Rhiannon Fish overacts in everything I've seen her in, she's beautiful but can't act. When producers cast a bad actor in a lead role it brings down the production. Don't know where the director was, probably directing remotely or asleep. Erin Connor and Steve Nation are the best of the rest of the cast. Renee Herbert's acting is natural, O'Halloran and Colley are just ok. Not Hallmark quality.

A 2022 Australian made rom-com "A Perfect Pairing" is much better.

One more take on the "fake boyfriend" scheme. Rhiannon Fish plays Rory who, with her dorky-adorable sister Cleo, joins their parents, in a renewal of their vows at the very B&B where they fell in love. This is, definitely, not one of Rhiannon's better performances. There, she unexpectedly finds her ex and his new love interest, and becomes unglued. Impulsively, she convinces the B&B owner, Noah, played by James William O'Halloran, to pose as her new boyfriend. The rest of the plot develops along predictable lines. At first, Noah appears almost like a hapless klutz. Yet, he soon proves to have appreciable human dimensions and turns out to be a real "prince". Rory's family are very warm and pleasant people with captivating qualities. The problem with the show is Rory's character. Her embarrassment and discomfort are so enormously overplayed that she appears childish, emotionally disturbed, if not semi-hysterical for a good half of the movie. Honestly, I felt uncomfortable, just watching it all. Happily, she tones down in the second half. From there, the movie offers some sweet moments and glimpses of family values and sensible romance, as one would have expected. While this may reassure that a usually endearing actress has not totally lost it, it is not enough to completely salvage the production.

They went way too heavy on the goofy cornball jokes in the opening 20 minutes. It was a struggle to get through it. I would describe the lead character as preposterous, immature, quirky, unrealistic, and annoying. It's hard to get into a movie when the lead is so over the top.

Even the flirting is cringeworthy. I feel like I'm watching a Saturday Night Live skit -- and not a particularly funny one either.

Maybe the movie gets better after the first half hour, but I just couldn't take it past that point myself. I really hope Hallmark gives up on this sillier side of their usual genre of movies.