michael_sluka
Joined Jun 2017
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Reviews49
michael_sluka's rating
I have watched maybe 50 Hallmark movies and this one is easily in my top 5.
For those reviewers who rate this as 1,2 or 3....what are you doing picking out a Hallmark movie to watch? The plot arc formula is almost always going to be the same as the one(s) you watched previously! Yes, there is always some conflict that generally could have been avoided had the lead characters been 100% truthful about either their lives, their job, their motivations for coming to town, etc....but that IS the way Hallmark movies are plotted out. And yes, every single darn Hallmark romance has an annoyingly swift final romantic element within the last 2 minutes. Hallmark movies are all cookies made with the same recipe with a different flavoring, coloring or icing.
What separates them for me and generates my rating of them are as follows:
the level of cheesiness or I what call cringe factor....insertion of magical elements; a script that makes one the actors come across dumb, bumbling or overly naive with their counterpart lead. This movie had none of that.
The physical matching and chemistry of the leads ......does the couple look like they could be attracted to each other in real life, i.e., if the female is model material, the male better be taller than her and darn good-looking himself....and vice-versa. In real life, disparate personalities can get together, but disparate looks levels hardly ever do. Do the actors do a good job of making you believe they are truly being attracted to their counterpart.......eye contact, leaning in when speaking to the other, hands brought to the other's face/head when kissing? Or are they maintaining a casual distance and just bringing their lips forward robotically? I think these leads were paired well together and did a convincing job with the telltale signs of sexual attraction.
Their acting brought me in and sold me the story. Well done.
For those reviewers who rate this as 1,2 or 3....what are you doing picking out a Hallmark movie to watch? The plot arc formula is almost always going to be the same as the one(s) you watched previously! Yes, there is always some conflict that generally could have been avoided had the lead characters been 100% truthful about either their lives, their job, their motivations for coming to town, etc....but that IS the way Hallmark movies are plotted out. And yes, every single darn Hallmark romance has an annoyingly swift final romantic element within the last 2 minutes. Hallmark movies are all cookies made with the same recipe with a different flavoring, coloring or icing.
What separates them for me and generates my rating of them are as follows:
the level of cheesiness or I what call cringe factor....insertion of magical elements; a script that makes one the actors come across dumb, bumbling or overly naive with their counterpart lead. This movie had none of that.
The physical matching and chemistry of the leads ......does the couple look like they could be attracted to each other in real life, i.e., if the female is model material, the male better be taller than her and darn good-looking himself....and vice-versa. In real life, disparate personalities can get together, but disparate looks levels hardly ever do. Do the actors do a good job of making you believe they are truly being attracted to their counterpart.......eye contact, leaning in when speaking to the other, hands brought to the other's face/head when kissing? Or are they maintaining a casual distance and just bringing their lips forward robotically? I think these leads were paired well together and did a convincing job with the telltale signs of sexual attraction.
Their acting brought me in and sold me the story. Well done.
While not as sexually-sterile as Hallmark, it makes use of the typical HM plot line and is probably a PG rating vs the always a G for Hallmark.
That plot line is a female lead as feature and we follow her 100-minute journey from already engaged but not captivated, finding a more Mr. Right, having a stupid (and avoidably long) conflict with Mr. Right, and then finding magical resolution and wedding in the very last 2 minutes. Also aligning with Hallmark tropes is the male lead is not a man's man, but sort of bumbling, naive and unassertive....leaving the female to do most all the romance-advancing/saving work. Any normal guy involved with this girl would have not been as uncommunicative and weak-kneed as this guy was and the conflict could have been resolved immediately with a phone call to the girl before falling on his sword to the mother's trickery.
In this case, the lead actress is also more sexy and attractive than most of the actresses appearing in Hallmarks and we see her svelte body in a bikini. Her mother's contantly cleavaged attire will also drive Hallmark's pearl-clutching viewers to angst. Finally, the dialogue of some of the supporting cast is juvenilely sexual. All this is where the higher PG rating comes in. But, it is also a fair bit of the comedic content.
In sum, it is sort of a dull romance, but interlaced with some comedy and some heartfelt supporting characters making it watchable and modestly enjoyable.
That plot line is a female lead as feature and we follow her 100-minute journey from already engaged but not captivated, finding a more Mr. Right, having a stupid (and avoidably long) conflict with Mr. Right, and then finding magical resolution and wedding in the very last 2 minutes. Also aligning with Hallmark tropes is the male lead is not a man's man, but sort of bumbling, naive and unassertive....leaving the female to do most all the romance-advancing/saving work. Any normal guy involved with this girl would have not been as uncommunicative and weak-kneed as this guy was and the conflict could have been resolved immediately with a phone call to the girl before falling on his sword to the mother's trickery.
In this case, the lead actress is also more sexy and attractive than most of the actresses appearing in Hallmarks and we see her svelte body in a bikini. Her mother's contantly cleavaged attire will also drive Hallmark's pearl-clutching viewers to angst. Finally, the dialogue of some of the supporting cast is juvenilely sexual. All this is where the higher PG rating comes in. But, it is also a fair bit of the comedic content.
In sum, it is sort of a dull romance, but interlaced with some comedy and some heartfelt supporting characters making it watchable and modestly enjoyable.