One Perfect Match

I love Merritt Patterson and I have since I saw her in her first Hallmark Christmas movie. At this point, she is also one of the few really good actresses for either Hallmark or Great American Family that is still young enough to do a "first love" romance. She has a presence on screen. So it is painful to me to give this move less than a glowing review, but for reasons I will explain, it wasn't because of her.

The movie is dominated by a theme and a tone. The theme is ethics. The tone is awkwardness. The former leads to the latter.

Ethics really dominates the movie. It is mentioned often and when not explicitly mentioned it shows up in the relationships through body language and fitful speech. A lot of stuttering or fitful speech. I think that Patterson and Joshua Sasse could have had chemistry, but they had to play so much of the movie with the awkward tension between them that it was hard to see chemistry.

As to ethics, normally the idea of the matchmaker dating a client wouldn't bother me. But the specific situation here made it a problem. It led to deception between Lucy and Molly, Finn and Molly, and to a certain extent between Finn and Lucy. Trust is important in a general sense for each of those relationships. Certainly, Molly needs to be able to trust Lucy due to the dynamic of client and matchmaker. Trust is also important for any dating relationship.

The acting was mostly good. The dialogue had some good moments but was mostly average. Like so many movies on this network, the background music is not background enough. It is noticeable at times.

The story was a big problem. I've already explained a few reasons. Also, this movie reminds me of another on a rival network not long ago but I don't remember the name or the stars. The development is very similar. The story lacks any great highs or lows or surprises. It is very predictable from the mini-surprise at the vineyard to the end. One slightly unusual aspect is that the only conflict or tension is obvious almost from the beginning. There isn't really a conflict moment just before the climax.

I think there are a couple of positive stars added to bring my rating up to mediocre just because of Merritt Patterson.

Great American Family (GAF) struck it out of the ballpark with this movie!!! The actors/actresses were absolutely amazing! This is not a movie that you can just listen to, it has to be watched, and watched closely. The reason is due to all of the subtle expressions that cross the main characters faces. Wonderful - Enrapturing!! My wife and I were captivated by what was said in these expressions! The supporting cast were fantastic too!! I agree with another poster who said there should be some awards for this movie! And to the person who commented on GAF "holy rollers". Let me just say that these "holy rollers" created an exceptional and heart warming movie that transcends political correctness!!! Kudos GAF and please continue creating such wonderful movies with exceptional actors and actresses!!! I also agree with another poster who pointed out the benefit of the characters reading their own texts! Loved it! You really can't go wrong by watching this movie, just watch it closely!

Movies of this type have taken a nose dive in quality recently. However this one is very watchable.

Some random thoughts:

The movie is shot in a very sterile way. Meaning there is no real sense that the movie takes place in real life but more of a bubble the characters live in by themselves.

The set design is visually beautiful at times. The color palette of the movie is vivid basic colors with simple sets that often look more like art than real life. It makes for a beautiful movie but...see comment above.

Too much circular panning for me.

(I mention these three things first because they, more than the characters or story, are what stood out the most watching the movie.)

The writing is good enough. Nothing crazy here and no overall message the writers/director is trying to push on the audience (so refreshing).

The plot is basic with the only twist being the two main characters having significant confidence issues towards their love lives (it's what makes the plot go). It's hard to believe these characters would have the same issues in real life (who knows maybe they would) but the actors do a decent enough job of selling their personal issues so you can buy into the story.

Overall a good watch if you like these kinds of movies.

I've loved Joshua Sasse since "Galavant" and Merritt Patterson is plenty reliable, but this movie underperforms. The pacing is painfully slow -- basically 100 minutes of "I like him but he's my client and I can't date him!" and him not liking his date but not having the spine to say so. The acting from the supporting players is weak and the direction is plodding. And as is typical of GAF movies, the whole thing screams cheap. The guy is the owner of a big hedge fun but he has no papers on his desk? She's a famous matchmaker with a huge client base but has a dinky office and only one assistant? I honestly don't know why this garners so much praise, aside from the holy rollers at GAF in jubilation over a movie that doesn't dare divert from a white cisgender model.

I realised a long time ago that text messaging was just a part of daily life now and was not surprised when it started appearing in movies. But FINALLY a movie maker that while using text messaging as part of the story doesn't forget that not everyone has 20/20 vision and by not being able to read the texts loses a large part of what is happening. By having the texts spoken as well as on screen, they allowed the story to unfold for everyone.

I was really surprised and pleased. They only missed one right at the end but by then we knew what it would say.

I really enjoyed this movie, thought the chemistry between the leads was awesome and the supporting actors were great too. Scenery lovely and all in all an enjoyable movie made better for knowing what the texts said. Thank you.