Bottle Up Old Love — fangirl, interrupted

Spring is here! And I’m quite excited. The season that gave us Bottled With Love and hopefully so much more this year! After the slightly underwhelming first two seasons of 2021, I was really hoping for something. And well, we did get something. Kind of? It’s still the pandemic, right? So okay, I’ll continue to give some of these a pass. But only because! There were two stand outs though? And for those, I am grateful.

Chasing Waterfalls

Photographer Amy travels to a remote lodge to find mythical waterfalls and falls for handsome guide, Mark. They adventure to find the mystic waterfall and discover their true feelings. Stars Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell.

I love Cindy Busby. I like Christopher Russell. Their pairing worked for me on Love on the Forecast. We know Christopher Russel + Nature is a good idea thanks to Nature of Love so why doesn’t this movie work for me at all? Even if it had Christopher Russell baring his abs and kissing Cindy on the cheek as they frolic under a gorgeous waterfall?

Could it be the focus on the kid’s love story (who wasn’t annoying, but just wasn’t interesting)? Could it be the slightly annoying plotline (the main plot) of her trying to find a secret waterfall? I don’t know but it’s a shame because this had all the elements (and the budget for a TLC song in the trailer, too!) and yet none of the chemistry. Sad.

Rating: 🌸🌸

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

Miranda runs a boot camp for the recently broken hearted. She begins to form a connection with new client Ben who is also a reporter, investigating whether her boot camp is a fad or a phenomenon. Starring Italia Ricci and Ryan Paevey.

We all love a fake relationship trope and this movie delivers on that front with none other than Mr. Ryan Paevy to help us through it. Pretty people can do anything and we get a non-pregnant Italia Ricci opposite journalist Ryan so it has to be a good thing, right? Right.

Ryan Paevy can be anything but as a journalist, trying to crack the code of this break-up bootcamp while being a non-believer in her methods AND being a supportive big brother? Sign me up, please. It doesn’t hurt that we also have the Mayor from Good Morning Christmas and he’s looking handsome, still.

Rating: 🌸🌸 🌸

One Perfect Wedding

With her book tour in two weeks and his expanding business plans, Cara and Ben put their long engagement behind them and book the chalet for a small wedding with friends and family. Starring Taylor Cole, Jack Turner, Rukiya Bernard and Dewshane Williams.
One Perfect Wedding is third in the series of movies following One Winter Weekend and One Winter Proposal.

I don’t know why I bothered to watch this one, when I clearly did not enjoy the first and the second movie. Why does Hallmark insist on doing trilogies for movies that aren’t doing so well. The only one I enjoyed was the Vineyard series and even that hit a hard stop at the end. Still, help us.

The worst part is that I’m really not a Taylor Cole fan so I was hoping that Jack Turner would keep me interested, but even he couldn’t keep me watching. And though the bald head isn’t bad on him, it’s just a bit of getting used to. Then there’s the other couple that I barely paid attention to before and now, there’s more of them, too.

It’s 2 hours of my life I just can’t get back — add that to the many hours I’ve spent on Hallmark but this one, I feel bad about.

Rating: 🌸

As Luck Would Have It

Lindsey travels to Ireland to acquire land that is perfect for a resort. She decides to enter the town's matchmaking festival to prove her investment and win over a handsome local. Starring JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Allen Leech.

We’ve seen travel movies from Hallmark before but we haven’t gotten someone from Downton Abbey in them and this time, we travel to Ireland with Allen Leech (aka Tom Branson) and he is everything. Equally matched by Joanna Garcia-Swisher who needs to be in more Halmark movies because their combination elevated this genre and paired with the sights of Ireland and the wonderful accents, you see the disparity between production and how some movies can be soooo good and some SO INCREDIBLY HORRIBLE.

This was obviously in the former category and though we get the usual property dispute over a castle and the opposing views and the brash New Yorker tropes, we also get the matchmaking festival that as corny as it sounds, with Irish accent and an Irish twist, everything is all the more charming.

Give these stars more Hallmark movies of this calibre because as silly as it sounds, this doesn’t feel like Halmark at all and I hope it becomes the new standard for movies over-all.

Rating: 🌸🌸 🌸🌸 🌸

Right In Front Of Me

Carly has a second chance at romance with her college crush but is unable to impress him until her new friend Nick starts giving her advice. Soon she learns who the right man for her really is. Starring Janel Parrish and Marco Grazzini.

WHAT IS REPRESENTATION. I know we got an Asian actress with Lucia Micarelli in The Christmas Bow last holiday season but now we’ve got our first Filipino lead in the form of the ultra handsome Marco Grazzini! And we get some Filipino food and his grandma, too!

Honestly, this could have turned so cringe given the proximity to the culture I grew up in, but they did such a thoughtful take on it — importance of family and passion for food! It was pretty seamless and just incredibly well done! I couldn’t believe I was seeing a Hallmark movie show adobo and bibingka and a charming lola!

Over-all, Marco Grazzini was effective in his ‘friends-only’ vibe with Janel Parrish and I’m so glad they got these two together because wow, this is how it feels to be represented on Hallmark! What a treat!

Rating: 🌸🌸 🌸🌸