I rank movies like this on a Hallmark scale, so 4 stars is quite low for me for one of these. It just wasn't that good and not very engaging.
There are some curious choices for me here that make this a less than entertaining Hallmark movie. This has an all around younger cast than many Hallmark movies, 5 high school friends meeting 10 years later, so it gives to idea that it'll be modern and a bit fun, but it's far from that. It's very slow paced, it's a more serious drama, not a comedy drama, there is no lightness here. They are honoring a favorite teacher that died and the movie keeps that general tone throughout. The photos and trailers for this movie are deceiving on that end, this is not a movie about a jovial group of high school friends seeing one another again. The laughing and smiling shown in the promos is not what this movie is about at all. It's lacking most of what you think of when you picture good friends reuniting.
The casting here isn't bad, but it's not enough to overcome the rather maudlin feel to many of these storylines. I think some may struggle to recognize the lead actress (Christa B. Allen) because the Botox plus being a bit older makes her look much less like she did on Revenge (she played Charlotte). Her character isn't as strong of a lead as they need here, some of it is the acting, this isn't her strongest effort. But also I don't think her character's storylines are as engaging as they need to be for the lead, you'll be more invested in the other ones. And her heavy-handed mom can kick rocks.
Ashley Newbrough is great at playing light and fun characters, and here she is an overworked doctor in a very strained marriage. She doesn't do bad with the role, but she's someone who could've brought some fun to this, made that trailer and those photos seem accurate, but they don't use her in that way in the least.
The character of Ben getting mad at his best friend because he doesn't think he's fun anymore was very on the nose. Ben felt like quite the drag. I don't know what his character was supposed to bring to this movie, but whatever it was, didn't happen.
Marielle Scott and Cardi Wong (so nice to see him in more of a leading role) are playing the characters that are likely the easiest to connect with and just like them with no reservations. They certainly made this better and helped me get to the end. But again, it's not enough to change the overall dynamic of this movie. The storyline, the direction, the tone, the muted color palette, they were all choices that made this movie far less entertaining than I anticipated.
If you don't care for the more dramatic and serious Hallmark movies or if you were expecting a fun movie featuring reunited high school friends, I think you're going to struggle to get through this the way that I did. I enjoy the heck out of Hallmark movies and have seen countless Christmas and regular ones, but this is not a good one. And I've liked several of the more dramatic Hallmark movies even if that's not my first choice, but this just wasn't up to par with the better of those either. One December Night from this year's new Hallmark M&M movies is a great example of how you can do a drama with many light moments and not carrying a maudlin tone even with sad aspects being incorporated into the storyline.
