Sun, Sand & Romance

As a regular viewer of Hallmark movies, and someone clearly familiar with their style, patterns, and expected formulae, this movie had me interested and ready to enjoy. Sadly, the actors were so wooden in their performances, the movie turned into a major letdown. Credit, first, to the beautiful setting ..RIviera Maya is hard to beat..the beautiful foliage, blue-green waters, colorful resort all served to bring a romantic anticipation to the movie. However..despite Tricia Helfer's stunning beauty and skillful, energetic acting, she was cast alongside Paul Campbell, whose face never changes expression..whose acting is so wooden..that one wondered if he even read the description of his character. He was cast as the loving, romantic alternative choice Helfer makes..when realizing her current partner is lacking in commitment to their relationship. But Campbell has no expression on his face, often staring straight ahead as though he is reading his lines from a cue card, and he exudes absolutely no romantic vibes at all. Even his smiles are forced and constricted. The casting of this actor as a romantic leading man was a poor decision..No one would believe that the intelligent, beautiful, emotional leading lady would choose him over anyone..This film would have been a big success had the producers found a leading man with a more varied range of facial expressions..Sorry..a good movie gone bad because of Campbell's sheer inability to convey emotion and romance.

Sun, Sand & Romance (2017) Hallmark/Prime Video

It seems that most reviewers either disliked Tricia Helfer or disliked Paul Campbell as the leads in this film. I happen to like both actors and thought they were well suited to their roles playing two old friends who meet up again after 20 years. I've seen both of them in several other romance films, and I can't think of any offhand that I didn't like. In my opinion, the two stars worked very well together. I thought they had definite chemistry, and were a much better match than Helfer and her current boyfriend, played by Scott Elrod. He had nothing to offer and was oblivious to his girlfriend's desires during their entire joint vacation.

A couple other actors stood out in this film. Sadie Robertson, playing part of the resort staff, was one. She was enthusiastic, energetic, and fun.

Another was Tim Russ playing a land developer that took boyfriend Elrod away from Helfer for days and allowed her to spend time with Campbell. Russ was extremely believable in that role. Otherwise, why would a guy go on vacation with his girlfriend only to leave her alone for so much time?

As others mentioned, the scenery in the film was spectacular. I also found no faults with the technical aspects. The story was sweet, and the ending was touching. Give this one a try.

I am a Hallmark movie fan. 80% of the time, I think they do a great a job with mindless, fun, sweet movies. But the casting is all. This one felt so awkward and wooden. The leads, ( all of them), had zero chemistry. The men were really bad in this one. This had some odd casting. Who thought the two lead actors were good for a romance movie? Even the small parts were not good. It felt like someone cast their friends for a free trip to Mexico. Paul Campbell seemed like he was reading lines to a wall. He had no charisma or feeling to his part. The actress, Tricia Helfer was not bad. I think she had to work with stiff dialogue and actors so that did not help. Also I kept thinking why she did not have the spark she has in the Netflix series, "Shut Eye" until I looked her up. I thought she was KaDee Strickland! These two look like twins. The story was beyond predictable, like a dime store romance. I do realize this is what Hallmark makes. As I said, many times I find them cute and fun. This one was rather painful to watch. The end felt rushed and wrapped up in a neat little bow. I can forgive many things, but 100% lack of any chemistry between the leads, is one thing you cannot fake. It felt like they did not even actually like each other. There was not even a friend vibe.

The setting in Mexico was beautiful, loved looking at the beach scenery. Unfortunately, there was no chemistry between the main female and either man. It was good background noise while I was working.

I came into the movie being a big fan of Tricia and Paul's previous collaborative work on Battlestar Galactica, around 10 years prior. Although Paul didn't stay the whole series, it really showcased Tricia's acting expertise. It's also said by many who worked on it that it was an incredibly collaborative set, and most of them are still great friends today.

Hallmark movies are incredibly cheesy and the quality of production is always left to be desired, so you have to cling to what you enjoy of them to be able to ignore what's not so great.

With all that in mind, I've really enjoyed seeing Tricia and Paul work together again. Their friendship from Battlestar gave them great chemistry to work with. Their laughs, banter, and care for each other felt sincere. So many weak lines or situations could've been stumbled if it wasn't for their strong acting experience.

I also love that they got to play silly, which I feel is not given to every actors who get their breaks in dramatic roles. I genuinely felt happy for the actors (and there are way worse places to shoot a movie than the beaches of Mexico)!

So in short, I actively ignored or poked fun at the Hallmark recipe to make space for what I came to see : Tricia and Paul's return to the screen together. If you're a fan of either or both, I think it's worth seeing how they can light up an otherwise very generic formula.