User reviews

In the commercials, Welcome to Valentine looks like a road trip movie, which morphs into a "let's put on a show" movie. And that's all true. But this movie seems to want to be a lot of different things.

The hero is poised to take over the family business, while the heroine wants her artistic career to begin with the help of an influential gallery owner. Within the first ten minutes, the hero causes the heroine to spill food on that gallery owner. She loses her cater-waiter job and her apartment. (Calgon, take me away!) Oh, if only she had a way to get back to Nebraska. The hero has a car, and we're off.

With all these well-worn tropes, a lot of the plot (and the dialogue) is going to be predictable. Follow your heart. The show must go on.

I liked it. The leads were attractive and they had good chemistry together. Is this the best movie ever? Of course not. But it's cute and sweet and exactly what I expected. I don't think that's a bad thing.

6.0 stars.

He calls the little boy a "they"? I think I heard that correctly. So I realized at that moment that whatever else they want you to hear, or think, the agenda is for us all to slowly ease our way into woke. Ok, so I guess I'll talk about the film now. I always rate a film primarily on entertainment value, quality of lead actors, chemistry, dialogue, story, cinematography, the usual. "Welcome to Valentine" has zero chemistry between the leads. I'm sorry, the 15 seconds of a "moment", or the last 30 seconds of the film are insufficient to meet the definition. This story is so overdone and boring. The dramatic part about their careers is so understated, it's practically non-existent. Will he measure up to the man his father wants him to be to run the company? Frankly, I don't care. Will she someday attain her dream of being the true artist that everyone knows she can? Actually, no she won't. Her art is pedestrian and amateurish. I've seen teenagers with a flare for that sort of art doing similar paintings with more skill. Waste of time this movie.

Boy, I hated to give a movie like this a 5 rating. I'm usually a little more generous. This movie tried hard - too hard! At a certain point, it struck me: "WHY is there so much overacting in this movie?" Except for the fairly appealing male lead (Markian Tarasiuk) most of the actresses need to tone it down a great deal. Gestures too big, facial expressions too big, emotions too big... Then I realized several of them have a lot of stage experience, or maybe they've done a lot of emotion-fraught dramas. Whatever. In a big theatre, an actor HAS to be "big" or the audience can't see what's up. These actresses seemed not have have learned how to "bring it down" for the camera. It got to the point that I had to start skipping through the movie.

Also, the writing was just a little too self-conscious, too "New York," too "Neil Simon-esque" to be enjoyable in a small-town romance Hallmark movie. It sounded unnatural. As I said at the beginning, trying too hard - and it just didn't work. Beautiful faces, for sure, but...no.

Those of us that are Hallmark fans and viewers appreciate a good story, decent acting, and likeable characters. Most of the movies fit the bill. But once in a while there is a movie that has a weak story, unlikeable leads, no chemistry, confusing plot points, and not much to like. This movie definitely falls into that category, and it didn't even have some lovely scenery to add to the story. The lead female had such odd facial expressions and way of speaking. She might want to consider a few more acting lessons. I have seen the male lead in other movies and quite liked him, but he missed the mark in this one. The last few minutes wrapped up several story lines, but left us wondering how all of that could happen in such a short time. All in all it was just a disappointing effort from Hallmark. This year has not been their best.

Terrible acting, terrible writing and zero chemistry between the main leads. He is a jerk, she is clueless and no amount of Hallmark magic is going to save this. I have been a huge Hallmark fan for years, but this past year or two has been a major disappointment. Hallmark is trying new faces, but the casting crew is doing a poor job of finding compatibility. I appreciate the effort, because it was getting tiresome of 40 year old single gal or guy meeting up with their former lover/high school sweetheart 20+ years later, both still single and stuck in bad relationships. Hallmark has needed fresh faces for years. So here's hoping they can find some who can also act.

I'm left with any number of questions.

Why did she fall for him? Even going beyond their early antagonism, which is standard for these movies, I didn't see much to justify her liking him much less love.

Why did his dad think he would make a CEO? His personality was not decisive but it was arrogant. Unlike many movies where the rising star performs many feats that prove their competence, there was nothing in George proving competence in anything besides auto mechanics.

What happened to the float?

What next? But I will say as a positive that this movie didn't feel like it was necessary to have absolutely every little thing turn out HEA.

The acting was fair to terrible. Louise Kerr was the worst, badly overplaying Miss Hackey. I have liked Kathryn Davis in a lot of things, but best I can say about her in this is - fair. And there was no chemistry with Markian Tarasiuk. They barely had any one on one screen time.

The story wandered. It was disjointed.

I'm a huge Hallmark movie fan but this movie was too weird and unsatisfying for me. I didn't have a problem with the leads, but their story was uninspiring.

As the movie opens, Olivia is a struggling artist who's been in New York City for two years but is still crashing on her friend's couch (??). She has a job at a catering company with that friend but she's a terrible employee. After being fired (shocker), she finds out that she's losing the couch that she's been crashing on (her friend is suddenly moving and tells her she only has the place for another week).

So she catches a ride home with George, a high flying "40 under 40" golden boy and future Big Company CEO who, bizarrely, is driving an old car 2,800 miles across the country during the winter. Huh? He agrees to drop off Olivia in her hometown of Valentine, Nebraska but his old car breaks down once they get there (shocker). After the town's only mechanic incompetently fried the entire electrical system of his car (by putting the jumper cables on the wrong battery posts), George becomes understandably frustrated and calls the town "Nowhere, Nebraska".

But that town is, in fact, literally located in the middle of nowhere and only has a population of 2,603. I love how Hallmark has become more diverse and inclusive but the real town of Valentine only has one Black person. Just one. And yet virtually everyone featured in the movie (Olivia, her sister Vanessa, Vanessa's son, the restaurant owner, the town's only mechanic, and some random people in the parade) were all people of color. It came across as well intentioned but unrealistic.

When I watched this movie's premiere in February when the movie supposedly takes place, it was literally 24 degrees in Valentine, Nebraska. But some little old lady name Mrs. Hacky spent most of the movie sitting on a little stool outside in the freezing cold, staring at a barn.

Everyone was acting like the annual Valentine's Day parade in this cold tiny town was a huge event. Really?

I hated George's unnecessary lying about Olivia's "success" .

I thought her art was unimpressive.

I thought George's career crisis was poorly set up ("I don't want to spend my time making money for my company, I just want to spend my time giving its money away").

It wasn't as though he had some other clear path or passion that he wanted to follow like Olivia.

Nothing in the movie rang true for me and it was hard to root for anybody in a movie that just didn't make any sense, especially the fantasy ending.

This was flat and dull. Not funny, not romantic, not dramatic...there was nothing to the story line.

Acting was listless and we bailed out on it. As reviews come in, the rating will drop. The father-son interaction was forced. Giving up the CEO position was cliché and not realistic. They only had one "Frankenstein-face" (bad plastic surgery) which is at least consistent but they didn't do any facial close ups, mercifully. Opening seen with two women and a boy rolling on top of each other was cringe worthy. The actors are talented but they deserve good writing. They had nothing to work with.

Maybe new writers?

I'm halfway through the movie, but the leads are still bickering with each other. I really want Hallmark movie writers to stop making the leads behave in such an antagonistic way. It doesn't add any drama to the plot since we know how these movies all end. It just makes it hard to buy into the couple and makes several scenes unenjoyable to watch.

It was also tough to cheer for Olivia since she was lazy producing any art, incompetent enough at her other job to get fired, mooching off her friend by sleeping on her couch for months, moving into her sister's place for free, and volunteering to work on a parade instead of actually getting (and keeping) a job to pay her own way through life. What a catch!

Yes this is a Hallmark movie, and there are rules to Hallmark movies: There is the small town with a big heart, the icy business man who needs a small-town makeover, the parentless protagonist etc, but this movie felt playful. I appreciate the sense of humor throughout- it was very refreshing. Mickey is the cutest child ever- he was so sweet! My heart melted for him and his valentine for his dad! The woman who played Miss Hackey is perfect.

"The parade is nigh" is a hilarious line. There is good dialogue cracking through. I want more movies like this! More funny Hallmark movies! More writing like this!

Many of the negative reviews of this movie contain complaints about the general direction of Hallmark as a network, the realism of the temperature in the titular town of Valentine, the quality of the prop artwork, and even one of the actor's plastic surgery.

Choosing to focus on the craftsmanship of the film, and its entertainment value, I can happily say that I genuinely enjoyed Welcome to Valentine! The actors, almost across the board, display a natural chemistry - most of all the leads. In particular, the actor who plays George elevates the story with his performance. The narrative is well-written and perfectly paced, with witty dialogue that I found to be more unique than what is on offer in many other Hallmark originals. Beyond strong writing and performances, the film is directed, shot and edited well, giving the finished product the polished feel of a higher-budget production.

Bottom line: watch and enjoy!

A wonderful script and story! Loved all of the quippy dialogue and fun romance beats. It was a solid and classic rom-com!

There was heart and a lot of funny jokes -- plus, I even shed a few tears when the sisters had their scene together. I loved the chemistry between the leads (Markian was outstanding!) and the production value was also top notch. An all-around excellent movie.

The other reviewers seem to have led with snark about the Hallmark genre and TV rom-com space. I'll tell you this. I've seen a lot of Hallmark films and this one is really special. It satisfied everything I'd want in a rom-com, while also surprising me along the way. A+, 10 stars, highly recommend! Give it a watch -- it's excellent even when it's not Valentines Day :)

Very bad acting. How did they pick the actors, out of a hat?

The story was stupid. I watched an hour and it was more than enough, although I did check back on it and it wasn't any better. Hallmark used to be my favorite channel but not anymore. They did nothing to put Valentine, Nebraska in a good light.

Gone are the days of the good Hallmark movies. They are producing movies of quantity, not quality. Hugely disappointing channel.

I hope to never see any of these actors again, except for .Sophie Bastelle. She did an okay job.

The story made the family appear low class and, frankly, weird.

The two main actors had zero connection or chemistry; a very odd couple.