Warming up to You

Yes another. Many echoes of familiar formula plot lines. No real highs or lows or surprises. No real tension.

Except for one Christmas movie, I'm not a fan of Cindy Busby. It's hard to tell how sincere her bubbly personality is, and maybe that's the idea. Is there chemistry with Russell? I found it hard to tell because of that.

7.2 stars.

As stated in many previous reviews, this is the same story done with a different slant. Instead of city girl meets outdoors guy at a national park, it's a city and country fitness girl meets celebrity guy at a wellness/fitness resort in the woods with a lake. All Hallmark did here was pick one of the half dozen usual plots, and then tweak the background of the woman and the man just a little. There is literally nothing more to the recipe than that. What makes "Warming up to You" special is the pooch they wrapped on the man to make him look like he's got belly fat. It's the most obnoxious attempt I've seen in a while. He's thin, muscular, wiry, with a jutting pouch just above the waistline, it looks like a concealed fanny pack. Why waste our time with this ridiculousness? There are a million other ways to make a person seem out of shape.

The romance is very slow, and the title of the film is the perfect description of the theme which is about how it takes her several weeks to warm up to him. Most of this story has been done in a hundred different ways in other films and this one is not original by any means (except for the fake belly), but the acting is heartwarming and the chemistry is good.

Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell have been in about 4 previous movies together (I loved the very non-Hallmark ending to Chasing Waterfalls, when they spent the night together in a one person tent despite- gasp! - not being married).

Christopher Russell was a bit of a surprise here. He's obviously very handsome, and I've liked him in prior movies, but it seemed like he stretched his range a bit in this movie. He was actually quite funny and more animated than I remember. And the fake beer belly was a great idea. As was writing his character as a star of spy movies who wants to think of himself as a "spy" in real life.

Cindy Busby is very cute and gave a nice natural performance. And I really disagree with another reviewer who thought she didn't look good in her yoga pants (very unkind and very uncalled for). I thought she looked great in yoga pants! Not just OK, but truly great, especially when she was practicing a speech towards the end. Most women would kill to have a body like hers, especially given that she was 38 when this was filmed. Heck, she looked anorexic compared to Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez.

But her character was initially presented as a bit too edgy in a very unrealistic introductory scene. The new Santa Monica gym owner comes across as kind of ridiculous with his new direction and unbelievable motto ("no sweat, no effort, no problem"). And telling a personal trainer to apologize for suggesting sit ups at a gym?? Really?? But he did have one legitimate point about her behavior after she was a bit rude to a celebrity customer literally minutes after the owner gave her a warning. But if she was as in demand and respected as she was presented ("The most sought after personal trainer in L,A."), it's unlikely he would have fired her, or that she would have had any problem taking her client list to another gym or, as is often the case at that level, training celebrities in their homes.

And a fat Rick Steele would probably not be showing up a public gym with paparazzi out front. And if he needed intensive personal training, he'd probably get that done at his home and not at a Wellness Center 1,000 miles away with strangers milling about. And if I'm one of those strangers, I wouldn't like being told that I can't use my cell phone just because a celebrity is there.

I get that they needed a plot device to get her up to a place that looked like Washington in Canada where Hallmark films their movies, but the mechanism for accomplishing that just didn't ring true. Nor did bringing his co-star to Washington to join him during his "secret" stay at the Wellness Center, and having them do a photo shoot up there.

But the overused "misunderstanding" trope was done in a different and funny way here. The rest of the movie was pleasant, but admittedly little more than an opportunity to watch 2 attractive people work out together in a lovely setting. There wasn't any meaningful conflict and the inevitable appearance and disappearance of the ex was more forced than usual. But I didn't mind watching Cindy Busby in a breezy, easy romance movie in which most of her scenes feature her in yoga pants. I realize that's a bit shallow, but I'm not going to apologize for enjoying all the beautiful women who star in Hallmark's enjoyable happy ending movies. Female viewers certainly enjoy the handsome male stars.

Like many, I was disturbed by the thought of Chris Russell in a fat suit and the potential for body shaming. But despite my initial misgivings, this movie turned out better than expected. The fat suit was an epic fail and totally unnecessary (just have him wear baggy clothes), but the story was engaging enough, and they snuck through a couple of lines that I never thought I'd hear in a Hallmark movie (a female character whose last name is Netherregions and a reference to someone dropping a deuce after you hear a toilet flush in the background?). Overall an enjoyable watch.

I must admit that I wasn't really harboring much of any high hopes for the 2022 Hallmark romantic TV movie "Warming Up to You". Why? Well, it being a Hallmark movie sort of comes with that sappy assumption, you know.

But still, I opted to sit down and watch what writers Steven Kent, Pamela Rice and W. Stewart had to offer with "Warming Up to You", as Hallmark does also have good movies on their roster.

Sure, "Warming Up to You" is every bit as sappy, generic and predictable as you would assume it to be, given the fact of it being a Hallmark movie. And with that being said, then I will also say that it actually worked in favor of the movie, because "Warming Up to You" was actually an enjoyable movie. As the movie ended, I have to admit that I was left with a feel-good sensation, so director Christie Will Wolf managed to get something right here.

The storyline in "Warming Up to You" is pretty straight forward, and if you are familiar with Hallmark romance movies, then you know the formula that you are in for here. Yeah, it was essentially just a copy-paste of the traditional formula that Hallmark has perfects over the years.

"Warming Up to You" is starring Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell in the leads, and I will say that they were definitely nicely cast for the leading roles, and they had a great on-screen chemistry. The movie was also starring Latonya Williams, whom they should have given a larger role, because she could have spruced up the movie far more than she already did.

This 2022 romantic Hallmark movie is actually well-worth taking the time to sit down and watch. I was actually genuinely entertained by the storyline here and the good acting performances. Sure, it was a pretty generic romantic movie in terms of writing and storyline, but it just worked out so nicely.

My rating of "Warming Up to You" lands on a six out of ten stars.