jfsc-04207

I really liked this romance. The actors portraying the hero and heroine have genuine chemistry. MacKenzie Porter, who is country music singer, plays the movie star very well. Tony Levins plays the down-on-his-luck cowboy well.

I liked that they used a real ranch and used its real name in the movie. The scenery was beautiful.

I could totally see the cowboy and the movie star having their happily ever after. There could even be a plausible sequel for more conflict and tension between them.

The only thing that might have been better developed was the backstory of how the cowboy's ranch fell on hard times. Without knowing what went wrong, we're left to wonder how he'll be able to turn things around.

I also liked that the movie star didn't let him off the hook when he got angry at her for interfering. And he knew he'd messed up.

Biggest problem is the actor cast as the male lead and father of the young daughter. He looks like he's 24, which is problematic with an 11 year old daughter. Why did they cast him in this role? Ridiculous. As someone else noted, he doesn't act affectionate with his daughter. Zero chemistry. Female lead does a much better job, as does the actress playing the daughter. I'm no head of casting, but I could have done way better in creating a father that the audience would accept. I'm all for other networks doing Christmas movies (Hallmark re-uses the same actors too many times), but if you're gonna dip your toe into the romance genre, get your casting right. Actually, as I think of it, why not write the story with the male lead as her older brother, struggling to raise his younger sister on his own. Easy fix and a compelling backstory that would intrigue the female lead and the audience. Holy cow, I think I just came up with a new career for myself. Head of casting or executive producer? Hmm. I couldn't do worse than whoever did this.

Sure, maybe this has the familiar trope of famous celebrity girl meets a normal guy and sparks fly. But romance movies are more about the characters and the chemistry, and Alona and Ethan Peck have it. Alona just lights up the screen with her smile. Her portrayal of the pop star seems effortless. Madison's manager is a little one dimensional (nothing much to like a about this guy), but he's not the focus of the story. I do agree with another reviewer who suggested that the movie could have been a bit longer to provide a little more character development - we learn a little about her fears about him, but it would be interesting to have our firefighter John get into some concerns he might have about a serious relationship with a famous singer who is about to embark on a comeback tour. But all in all, this is a very satisfying romance movie, void of some of the goofy, gooey stuff that seems to be, dare I say, the hallmark of a lot of current romance movies.