stevewyzard
Joined Dec 2010
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Reviews6
stevewyzard's rating
Yet another winner from Hallmark: loved it from beginning to end!
The best thing about Just Add Romance is that it's almost a satire of Food Network's show Chopped, even down to the other contestants being familiar archetypes: one is out of their depth, one is vivacious and positive, one is cynical and jaded, and one is arrogant and self-satisfied. It's a nice touch when the contestants all end up liking and respecting each other in spite of the competition.
Also different from other Hallmark movies is that the two protagonists realize they like each other almost from the beginning, rather than finally figuring it out at the very end. The plot revolves around their efforts to keep the romance going in spite of their different cooking styles and competing against each other.
Go Hallmark Go!
The best thing about Just Add Romance is that it's almost a satire of Food Network's show Chopped, even down to the other contestants being familiar archetypes: one is out of their depth, one is vivacious and positive, one is cynical and jaded, and one is arrogant and self-satisfied. It's a nice touch when the contestants all end up liking and respecting each other in spite of the competition.
Also different from other Hallmark movies is that the two protagonists realize they like each other almost from the beginning, rather than finally figuring it out at the very end. The plot revolves around their efforts to keep the romance going in spite of their different cooking styles and competing against each other.
Go Hallmark Go!
When a workaholic widower meets an uptight corporate stooge, you wouldn't expect anything to happen. And yet one of the best things about this movie is how the characters grow, change, and stand up for what they believe in over the course of their relationship. Like all Hallmark movies, there are occasional lapses of believability, but at least no one resorts to lying or hiding secrets to fill out the 2-hour run time. The leads are likeable yet fallible, there's extensive use of montage to show the passage of time, and the Vivaldi mandolin concerto is the cherry on top! Keep it up, Hallmark!
What's so great about this movie? Most people dismiss Green Card as just another "romantic chick-flick comedy", but it's FAR more than that. While not a "message movie", it's actually a light commentary on the institution of marriage, and what makes it work.
It starts with a premise that everyone can recognize: two people who can barely stand each other must put aside their differences for a greater good. The actual wedding (and its attendant emotions) is carefully avoided, only to drop us into the lives of our protagonists as they are suddenly forced to make their marriage of convenience appear real. Only when they do the hard work to make it real, does it actually become real: the emotions experienced are the result of the commitment, not the motivation for the commitment. In other words, if "luck is the residue of design", then love is the residue of commitment.
This is not to imply that the movie is perfect, but it does hold up very well after all these years. Yes, the clothes are very much of their time and there are a few "groanable moments", but for the most part I see no reason why people not born when the movie was written and filmed shouldn't be able to relate to the story and understand what the producers were "getting at".
With beautiful scenery and an outstanding cast, this movie was also very nearly prophetic in anticipating all the "singles in the city" movies and TV shows of the 1990s (of which Friends is the most famous example). Which is not to say that Green Card was the only movie of its time with those qualities, but merely IMHO the most exemplary. Would there be a Hallmark Channel today without movies like Green Card?
It starts with a premise that everyone can recognize: two people who can barely stand each other must put aside their differences for a greater good. The actual wedding (and its attendant emotions) is carefully avoided, only to drop us into the lives of our protagonists as they are suddenly forced to make their marriage of convenience appear real. Only when they do the hard work to make it real, does it actually become real: the emotions experienced are the result of the commitment, not the motivation for the commitment. In other words, if "luck is the residue of design", then love is the residue of commitment.
This is not to imply that the movie is perfect, but it does hold up very well after all these years. Yes, the clothes are very much of their time and there are a few "groanable moments", but for the most part I see no reason why people not born when the movie was written and filmed shouldn't be able to relate to the story and understand what the producers were "getting at".
With beautiful scenery and an outstanding cast, this movie was also very nearly prophetic in anticipating all the "singles in the city" movies and TV shows of the 1990s (of which Friends is the most famous example). Which is not to say that Green Card was the only movie of its time with those qualities, but merely IMHO the most exemplary. Would there be a Hallmark Channel today without movies like Green Card?