Love Unleashed

For a Sunday afternoon, it's just fine, given kids are likely to be around. Kind of a Disney, straight to video level. As for the lead actress being "noticeably" pregnant, no. She looks about 4 months. Descriptions here make it sound like she is heavily pregnant and she is actually barely showing. It is mostly covered up with big t-shirts and gathered blouses. Really, why are actresses expected to be stick thin anyway? Congratulations to her for having a girl and adopting two boys after an earlier miscarriage! Celebrate, don't criticize.

Hailey (Jen Lilley) is an accountant with a wonderful side business. She arranges "puppy parties" to entertain young birthday celebrants and to get the little doggies adopted. On an outing, she meets Ryan (Christopher Russell) , a single dad to Emily, who longs for a puppy. But, father's not sure. Since his wife's death, he and Emmy have done just fine and he's concerned they do not have time to care for a puppy in their home. Happily, Hailey can arrange for Emily to see the dogs at home a couple of times. Complications soon arise when Hailey, who has been advocating for a certain city property to become a dog park, and Ryan, who works for the mayor, knows his boss wants the land for retail. More importantly, Ryan is confused by his growing attraction to Hailey and visa versa. Will solutions and romance arrive? Hallmark should get its own star on the walk in Hollywood for making tons of quality romantic comedies when Hollywood has mostly abandoned the genre's fans. This one is also terrific with a nice cast, charming puppies, great costumes, sets, humor and heart. My only pleas are for viewers to find the film and enjoy it AND FOR HALLMARK TO RELEASE some of its great movies to theaters.

Hallmark did have some above average and more films in 2019, as well as some misfires, in all their seasonal blocks. Jen Lilley and Christopher Russell have always been hit and miss for me, particularly Lilley who has had her fair share of poorly written roles. The premise didn't really sound all that interesting or innovative, but there are films that don't sound great on paper but turn out better than expected. Anything with puppies is also worth watching.

As far as 2019 Hallmark goes, 'Love Unleashed' is not one of the worst (like 'Christmas Scavenger Hunt' or 'Christmas at Dollywood'). Nowhere near, and actually it could have been a lot worse than it turned out. It is also not one of the best of the batch either, it's no for example 'Love and Sunshine'. The premise was nothing special, the execution of it was pretty much the same. There are good things in 'Love Unleashed' but also some bad. Making for an average effort.

Shall start with the good. Russell was naturally easy going and subtly charming, not as introverted as he can be. The supporting cast are more than competent and show a good deal of personality, even though their roles are little more than typical Hallmark cliches. The puppies are absolutely adorable and steal every scene they are in.

The scenery and overall production values are lovely to watch too while the music is pleasant enough.

'Love Unleashed' however is significantly weakened by the story, which not only is predictable from sticking too close to a well worn and borderline tired formula it is also very slight (at times even uneventful) and too slow moving. Also thought that the film played it too safe and didn't do anything distinctive or any risk taking, the lack of tension, the too convenient ending and the contrived conflict can also be seen. The script can sound quite awkward and cheesy as well as too sentimental.

Was rather mixed on Lilley. She has moments where she is charming and radiant, but there are also times where she seemed to be trying too hard when her character is not particularly easy to warm to. She and Russell don't have enough chemistry together, it has its moments once it warms up but somehow it felt underdeveloped and too careful. The characters are not ones that one hates, but development wise there is little to them.

In conclusion, pretty mixed here. 5/10.

This is a really sweet Hallmark movie. The actors are all pleasant and attractive to look at and the story is predictable and uncomplicated. This is the first time that I have seen Christopher Russell and I hope it is not the last. He is really handsome and a decent actor. The only real fault that I can find is echoed by the other reviews, Jen Lilley is obviously pregnant in numerous scenes. It is distracting, but she is such a gentle presence in the movie, I can ignore the fact that she is pregnant. The dogs are all adorable, but it does drive me nuts when people think it is cute when children improperly and awkwardly hold animals. Please Hallmark, teach the child actors how to hold animals in your movies.

There are several reviews here that mention Jen Lilley's pregnancy as a distraction. Yes, they could have done a better job of covering it up, as has been done with other actresses in other movies. But maybe they did not want to . My research found that Jen Lilley and her husband have been desperately wanting a child for years. They were unsuccessful for years and have recently turned to adoption. But now she is finally pregnant. So I, for one, celebrate this pregnancy with she and her husband. My wife and I had the same problem, though not as long. We also adopted a little boy and finally had a little girl the hard way. Our son and daughter dearly loved each other, 7 years apart, until the day he died a few years ago. I wish them success this time and hope they cherish the time with their children as much as we did. Now lets get to the real distraction, the unkept male lead. I stand by my last review. But does anyone else think that if they ever do a movie about Christopher Reeve, Christoper Russel should get the part, if he shaves?