Giddy-Yup. Nope.
**Spoilers**
I liked this one OK because I like Alison Sweeney. Caveat: I like her when she is in a part where she plays a character around her own age, which she did in this. And bonus points because her love interest and the red herring love interest were also age appropriate. Another nod to the casting department (with an assist by Alison, I’m sure) for casting Alison’s daughter in the role of her daughter. It was refreshing to see two characters who are closely related actually bearing a strong resemblance to each other. Plus Miss Megan was good in the part and very cute. Alison, who plays our heroine, Hope, really is the only reason I gave this one a (barely) passing grade. There was a lot to overcome with her love interest, Jack, played by Gabriel Hogan in a pretty thankless role. Mr. Hogan apparently was also her love interest in AS’s mystery series, Murder She Baked. The plot was nothing special, nor the writing. Not bad, just not good enough to make up for poor Gabriel Hogan’s role as the creepy idiot ex-boyfriend who sneakily barges back into Hope’s life. The woman, not the Ranch.
The movie opens with Hope and her daughter Maggie having a tearful goodbye (a Sweeney specialty) as Hope is helping her college freshman daughter move into her dorm room. They remember Maggie’s dead father and talk about missing him and how Maggie will always feel his presence with her. She even wears his dog tags. Now I would imagine from this that Maggie must have been around 10-years-old when her Dad died given the strength of her memories and her connection. But I soon had to adjust this downward from what we find out later. So the timeline in this matter didn’t quite make sense. Now an empty-nester, Hope has taken a big risk and bought a small ranch near Ruidosa, New Mexico that she used to visit in the summer with her grandparents and later with her daughter. It’s a cute little ranch with good scenery, about 5 horses, and 10 chickens. So not a Dude ranch exactly, more like a B and B. She might have handled her new venture pretty well except that Hope has also taken on her dream of bringing back the once yearly tradition of the town’s greatly missed “Giddy-up Gala” in her newly renovated barn. Also she has a problem asking for help because she always has to do everything all herself to prove she can. She has passed this unfortunate trait to her daughter who is overwhelmed with school and crying via video chat. I will just state the obvious that in order to handle the ranch, entertain her guests, have a successful Giddy-up gala, and a happy ending in the romance department, she has to learn to get over herself and ask others for help. Also is she also going to cook all of meals for her paying guests? Because Ruidosa isn’t exactly bursting with restaurants (or any other attractions) from what we are shown.
At first, in the romance department, things were looking good as Hope’s next door neighbor, Tom, is a successful owner of a big ranch who is single, attractive, helpful, and sweet. Unfortunately, he is supplanted by her ex-boyfriend whom she broke up with and hasn’t seen (not even a Christmas card!) for a decade. They broke up, got back together and broke up again a second time. So 10 years later, she is buying feed at the local feed store and there he is! First, see what I mean about the timeline? Maggie would have been only 8 when they broke up for the final time. When did her Dad die? Anyway, it turns out that while still working in New York Jack found out from his sister, Hope’s best friend, that she was moving from Denver and buying a ranch. He sells his New York company and buys the local Tack and Feed Shop a few months ahead of her arrival and sits there like a rattlesnake in the grass waiting for her to show up in town, hoping to win her back out of nowhere with what he thinks is a big romantic gesture. and it turns out that Hope’s so-called best friend knew what he was doing and didn’t clue Hope in. Of course Hope is flabbergasted, upset, and wants nothing to do with him, especially when she sees a large portrait of her and him in happier days publicly gracing the wall of his store. Super Creepy and stalkery! Also a poser, as he dresses up like he’s a cowboy complete with a big buckle. And he has already gotten the reputation as a screw-up and very much out of his element.
Between the surprise re-appearance of her heretofore gone and forgotten Ex and the day of the Gala, we are favored with an escape chicken, an unfriendly horse, nice scenery, and numerous challenges in meeting the safety requirements needed to run a B & B and hold a public event at her ranch. Also, she has to deal with the consequences of her allergy to asking for help. One of which is a humongous tax bill which comes as a complete surprise because she (surprise!) bought the ranch without hiring a lawyer.
Meanwhile Jack-the-Ex doesn’t do too much to redeem himself in my eyes for the rest of the movie. He takes a step forward by getting her help from his rival Tom with her water pump. But then he takes two steps back. We find out that with the help of his sister, supposedly Hope’s best friend, he has been, sending young Maggie birthday cards in secret (why?!) for the past 10 years while having zero contact with Hope whom he supposedly is still in love with. I say that was out of order. Then there is a major disaster the day of the Giddy-up Gala (never just THE Gala, always the Giddy-up one. I guess to distinguish it from all of the other Galas that are happening). The caterer calls her with the bad news that all of the food for The Giddy-Up Gala is ruined. She has nothing to feed all of the people coming from miles around and her first paying guests. Hope is panic stricken and crying and doesn’t know what to do. But luckily Jack is there to make a joke about it and to spill all of her eggs on the floor. That goes over very poorly with Hope and I was hopeful. But no, they make up and the Gala is a big success. Besides, nice Tom has already been snagged by Hope’s best friend who has come to visit. No word on that looming tax bill and how she is going to pay it.