Food or Drink-based

Savoring Paris

/ Rebekahrox / 9 Comments

Cheese is Life. Apparently.

This is about a lady who flees America, the land of bad cheese,  to Paris, the land of good cheese. And through her love of cheese, she finds her true self and what she wants out of life. So if you love cheese and enjoy movies set in Paris, you will love this one. I like both, but then, I don’t think American cheese is so bad either. Bethany Joy Lenz stars in this and that is always a big plus. But boy, her character, Ella, really really likes cheese!

After a disappointment at work involving cheese, believe it or not, Ella decides she needs a vacation. She had created a dish for the chain restaurant she works for using a good quality specialty cheese, and they used a cheap substitute. Also, she didn’t get her well-deserved promotion, the higher-ups stole her ideas, and her mother is pressuring her to buy a condo and freeze her eggs. It is all too much. She remembers Paris with fondness where she visited with her father after college, picnicked on the Seine, and where her life was changed by eating Comté cheese. Off she goes. Her first stop is a Fromagerie (what else?) where she meets the owner, the very handsome but grumpy Serge. She also makes friends with her landlady, the wealthy and charming Clotilde, with whom she shares her gorgeous apartment. And she meets Gaston, a handsome food critic with a reputation for being a player, who is slender, elegant, flirty, and dresses very french, all in black with tight rolled up pants and no socks.  She immerses herself in Paris life and makes lots of friends because she is BJL and everyone likes her despite her atrocious French. She also gets to know Serge who sells her cheese on a daily basis. One thing leads to another and Ella decides to quit her job and extend her stay in Paris for 3 months. Her mother is very dismayed by this, because she misses her daughter and thinks she is living in a fantasy world. Also, $ $ $ $ $ ? She is not wrong. Serge is expanding his cheese store and needs help. Ella offers her assistance as an intern, unpaid, except for 5 pieces of cheese a day and Serge’s personal tutelage about the beloved dairy product.

Meanwhile, things are heating up romance-wise with both the slippery handsome Gaston and grumpy masculine Serge. We kind of know who she is going to end up with because Serge is challenging, rugged, and attractive and Gaston is a little too French. And when Ella finds out that he isn’t a big cheese fan, it kind of seals the deal. He even buys her a bottle of Chanel No. 5 because he thinks she smells too much like cheese! Rudest Present Ever! In the end, Ella gets the type of visa that allows her to work for money, Serge gives her a real job, she stays in Paris with all of her friends and the life she loves, and her mom will visit her from America. A lot. Ella and the cheesemonger have a promising future together because their love will age and mature like a fine Cheddar. I paraphrase a real line from the movie.

This one was just “pretty good” for me. It did not meet my expectations because I always hold Bethany Joy to a high bar, she is just so good. She didn’t quite hit it with this one. All of the cheese and cheese metaphors got a little much at times. But a big plus was Stanley Weber, who played Serge. For such a romantic-looking guy, he has a very unromantic name. But anyway, the two made a great couple. Sometimes BJL’s co-leads just can’t quite measure up to her charisma and talent. The set decoration, ambiance, and Paris photography (lots of montages) were marvelous, and Bethany’s wardrobe was fabulous as usual. She must have a special rider on her contracts with Hallmark so that she can pick out her own clothes and accessories because they always have lots of pizzazz. It has become kind of her signature, in my opinion.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

For Love & Honey

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

No Maltese Cats or Falcons, but Lots and Lots of Bees

Ignore the plot, if you can find it. This one’s about the Isle of Malta and Andrew Walker’s new Glasses, Beard, and Biceps. Yes, it’s one of the Destination Hallmarks where the setting takes center stage. And this one has an extra bonus of also being about Bees and Honey which I find fascinating. So between doing a pretty deep dive into beautiful and history-rich Malta, apiaries, and the honey that Malta has been famous for since ancient times, I was sufficiently entertained and educated. I never knew that Malta was famous for it’s honey before watching this movie…So there you are!

Andrew plays an Archeologist and Professor who is in Malta teaching and in hot pursuit of a project that will get him funding and tenure from a university somewhere in Michigan (my old stomping grounds). He meets Eva who has inherited her mother’s apiary which has been in her family for generations. They are thrown together when Eva is trying to save a wild bee hive which has attached itself to the side of a building where bee and honey-averse Andrew has been researching an old diary of a Jesuit Priest. The priest, who came to Michigan in the 1600s, wrote of “The Golden Road” and the diary has a picture of a box in it which seems important. While taking the hive down, they unwittingly reveal an ancient fresco right there in the middle of town. It takes them about a minute to chip off all the ancient paint and plaster. The fresco is in 3 parts. It features a tower, another couple of buildings, and a field or a map. So the apiculturist and the archeologist take to the road sleuthing out it’s meaning.  And thus it is that we are treated to the grand tour of gorgeous Malta and the romance part.

When Andrew comes down to the deadline for submitting his proposal, Eva meets her beloved old Uncle(?) Grandfather(?) sitting in the sun who casually starts talking about the honey road or golden road that is famous in Maltese history. It seems the ancient Maltese would carry honey from the apiary to the storage buildings, stopping at a farm field to bless the harvest, and then ship the honey out across Europe. Sounds like that fresco. ”How did I not know this!”, Eva cries. Now that is a mystery indeed, Eva, great lifelong beekeeper and honey expert that you are. I guess you must have been sticking your fingers in her ears and chanting  LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA whenever the subject came up in school or when sitting at your mother’s knee. She takes Andrew to the field depicted in the fresco (which her mother used to take her to all the time since she was a child) and there is a pile of rocks in the middle of the ruin with bees going in and out. There is something under the rocks! Andrew, revealing some truly impressive biceps for an otherwise medium-sized guy, moves the rocks which have remain untouched for centuries, and there is an ancient storehouse with honey still in the crocks! And also other ancient stuff and the real-life box from the diary! Well dang! Anyway it all ties in to the Jesuit Priest who, it turns out, took the Maltese bees to Michigan in that box. And Eva knew what that box was all the time! It’s a bee box, used for transporting bees! Wonder why she didn’t say something earlier. And thanks to the bees from Malta, Michigan flourished.

Thank goodness we don’t watch Hallmark for an accurate depiction of how Archeology works. I’m done being driven crazy by all the wild leaps from reality Hallmark takes when portraying such things.  So the “golden road” was not about pirate treasure but liquid gold: Honey. I knew that from the very beginning, and I bet you did too.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Everything Puppies

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

Underdog

I admit I didn’t go into this one with the most open mind. The preview did not impress and I am not a fan of the lead actor or at least the type of hero he usually represents. I like puppies but I was suspicious of the sheer numbers of them in the preview. From the beginning, the acting seemed very stilted and I immediately noticed that little tinkling background music that I thought Hallmark had quit doing and which, to me signals what I don’t know, but I always feel like the production company is trying to hide something or they are trying to lull me into not noticing any rough edges the movie might have. The main thing that put me off though, was the wrong season. If this is a “Countdown to Summer” Hallmark movie, and it is, because I checked, why is everyone wearing sweaters and puffy jackets? And why are there dead leaves swirling all about, an orange wreath, and a hay-bale prop for decoration? What was Hallmark trying to pull here? Pitiful! It violates the unspoken Hallmark covenant that we will have spring movies in the spring, summer movies in the summer, Pumpkin etc. movies in the autumn, and Christmas movies all year round but especially at Christmas. Just kidding, but not really.

Anyway back to the movie. Scarlett and her Dad are totally immersed in the dog and puppy business. The dad breeds and sells golden retrievers in his immaculate home.  He is supposed to be a lovely guy and loves dogs but there are so many puppies at his house, it should be a chaotic mess but it’s not. It was an immediate alarm bell. Scarlet holds 20-something patents or patents pending on dog toys, and designs dog parks and dog houses. Her current project is a dog treat that is very healthy for dogs and is also delicious. And dogs do love it. She and her friend and pet store owner played by sometime Hallmark lead, Kathryn Davis,  are trying to get other pet stores to carry it. After a lot of “no”s she finally pitches it to the hunky general manager (Stephen Huszar, our hero, Alex) ) of one store in a national chain. He agrees to carry the treats when his own dog goes apeshit over them. His regional manager, who has a romantic interest in him, agrees to put it in the other stores in the region and if things go well, there is a prospect of national distribution. It really is a great dog treat and Scarlett is in seventh heaven and goes all out investment-wise. This is where the evil villain, the owner of the big powerful rival dog food corporation named “Pup-Chuck” (Yes! Loved it!) pops up. He knows nothing and cares nothing about dogs or what they eat, he is just interested in profits. He is a caricature of the worst sort of avaricious businessman. He threatens Michelle, the aforementioned regional manager of Pets and Wellness Emporium, that if they allow the vastly superior product in their stores he will pull strings and even turn the FDA loose on them. She has no choice but to cancel the large order from Scarlett’s Pup Palate and break Scarlett’s heart.

Given the subject matter, I was on the watch for the usual ”bad business” scenarios that usually plague Hallmark productions and there were plenty. I am not going to go into all the could-never-happen-in-real-life business stuff, but the highlight was when Scarlett set up a booth promoting their rival product on Paws and Wellness’s private property and right outside their door! Why did they even think they could do that? And the love-struck  store manager lets them! Not surprisingly, higher ups and law enforcement get involved.

There is a good bit of Hallmark’s recurring theme of “work-life balance” tossed into the script and the romance has the usual ups and downs. Really nothing to talk about there. But I love a good David and Goliath story and when the Goliath role is as hiss-worthy as this one was, I couldn’t help but get somewhat invested in the story. When Alex and Scarlett invade his pet store company’s corporate headquarters and crash a big meeting where evil guy is trying to get the CEO to sign an exclusive contract with him, I was on high alert. It turns out that the CEO of the pet store chain was a super great guy and all but told the bad guy to sit down and shut up, he wanted to hear what his store manager and the girl dressed in the dog costume had to say! When he opens the package of Scarlett’s dog treats, his own doggie comes running and pounces on the treat in greedy delight. The head honcho is sold and says, and I quote, “We’ve gotta ask ourselves, what’s more important, a healthy profit line or a healthy puppy? My hero. I really appreciated that the personification of evil and ignorance in the corporate world was balanced by this wise and good man. Can we have a movie about him please?

However, while I appreciated the triumph of the underdog, The vanquishment of evil, and the heroic, wise and good CEO at the end, there were just too many weaknesses and questionable aspects to overcome the positives. It was an unchallenging Hallmark comfort movie full of cute puppies, which is fine for many, but not for me.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

A Taste of Love

/ Rebekahrox / 7 Comments

Keep the Fried Chicken but Go Back to the Chili con Queso Dip and the Sliders.

Although generally pleasant with a nice beach location in Dunedin Florida, this was just not up to snuff. All of the plot points were utterly predictable from the romance to her career decision to the fate of her parents’ restaurant. I won’t review the plot because you know it even if you haven’t seen this particular version. I will just say: Unfulfilled TV chef,  Parents’ selling their small town restaurant, Memories of Granny, Looming decision over taking $$$$ vs. Creative Dream, and hometown old boyfriend living his best life. Throw in a black best friend/agent, a token gay couple, a festival, a cooking contest, a mean-girl rival, kitchen shenanigans, cooking montages, and lots of misunderstandings due to miscommunications. I was suspicious of this movie when it premiered on a Monday instead of the usual Saturday. Sadly, my suspicions were confirmed.

I am not an Erin Cahill fan, though I can’t give you a good reason. No matter her role, I always feel kind of stabby at her at some point. She is very popular so it’s all on me. I did like the guy who played her farmer love interest though (yes, farmer not former, He’s a farmer and he wasn’t former well before the first hour.) The guy who played her father was the bad guy in the Karate Kid and I couldn’t get over that. “Yes, Sensei.” The plot centers around Taylor (Erin Cahill) being offered millions of dollars to take her popular cooking show to primetime, but she doesn’t like the show’s “Quick and Easy” theme because she wants to be a real chef and do her own thing. I mention this only because after lots of angst, she actually decides to take the money! I was very pleasantly surprised. Throughout all of the waffleing (pun intended), I was like “Take the generational money now, girl, you can be a great chef later!” With the fame and the dough (pun intended), the sky’s the limit! But get this. Her agent/best friend doesn’t send in the contracts! Contracts that would make her close to a million dollars on the deal herself! For no other reason than it “felt off” plus a mysterious phone call from the formerly benign farmer boyfriend behind Taylor’s back. Words fail at the utter gall of the agent and all of the red flags being waved by the boyfriend.

Well of course, no harm done, she ends up doing another cooking show filmed in the family restaurant that she now owns and being all creative with her food. Oh, and she won the cooking contest at the festival albeit with two horrible-sounding creations featuring fried chicken, blueberry syrup, waffles, ice cream, donuts with blue icing, bacon, and something that looked like, I swear, jalapeños.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

A Scottish Love Scheme

/ Rebekahrox / 8 Comments

Matchmaking Moms Strike Again

I’m surprised this one was on the main Hallmark channel and not on Movies and Mysteries as it was about older singles pushed by loved ones to recover from divorce and death. It also involves difficult single parenthood and a secret deathly illness. And it stars Erica Durance who has starred in more than her fair share of the more serious-minded Movies and Mysteries end of the Hallmark brand.

Lily is leaving her old position in her ex-husband’s family’s brewery because she is really not part of the family anymore. She was the marketing director and somewhat of a guru responsible for putting the brewery on the map. But now she is going to pursue her own dreams of being a photographer and going to Seville Spain for a photography course (eye-roll). She is going by way of Scotland so she can go on a vacation with her ever-perky and sparkly mother who grew up there.

Little does she know that her cheerful mother, Cait, is suffering from a terminal illness and is keeping that information from her so it doesn’t cast a pall over their last trip together.  The two women are staying with the mother’s childhood friend, Mairi Campbell, who knows about her friend’s fate and that it is a secret. Not that that stops her from openly discussing her illness in front of her oldest son, Logan. He somehow  doesn’t catch that it is a big secret even though he hears her remonstrating with Cait about not telling Lily

The Scottish Campbell family own a struggling distillery whose salvation rests on their latest venture, a sweeter tasting whisky called “Frost” which will fail if they can’t get a last minute new label for the bottles. If only they knew someone familiar with the adult beverage  business and was artistic and a marketing guru! Fear not Scottish family! Salvation is right around the corner! Logan, who is a too-busy single father (is there any other kind?) runs the company and seemingly has some kind of past with Lily going by the smoldering looks and awkward meeting. She is, indeed, persuaded by the moms in spite of herself to give Logan a hand with the marketing of their new product.  She also establishes an immediate rapport with his young son, Finn, but Logan does not want the motherless bairn to get any ideas  since he knows Scotland is just a brief stop-over for her on the way to Spain. They agree to keep it professional, especially in front his wee son. They forgot to tell the Moms though because when Lily and he go out to dinner to discuss the marketing plan they start  in gossiping about how attracted their children are to each other, how it’s really a hot date, and all the “naughty fun” they hope they are getting up to. And right in front of the little kid! Honestly, talk about inappropriate!  I think their scheming was supposed to be cute, but I did not find it so. Logan had a point about getting his child’s hopes up for a new mother and what about Lily’s dream?

It all comes to a head when Cait collapses due to her illness and Lily learns the truth and that Logan and everyone knew about it all along. And we learn that her illness is liver cancer, of all things. This was a little surprising since both Lily and the Campbells have been in the alcohol business forever. All through their Scottish adventure, they have been mighty free with the wine and whiskey and Cait has been an enthusiastic partaker. Now I’m not accusing Hallmark of an attempt at black humor, irony, or trying to send some kind of puritanical message on the dangers of alcohol. Drinking wine and eating ice cream out of the carton are pretty much S.O.P for Hallmark heroines. I’m pretty sure this was just careless writing on the part of the scriptwriter. But really, of all of the terminal illnesses to choose from they pick liver cancer for this particular one?

The plot offered nothing more than the usual for this kind of thing except that Lily’s blow-up with Logan was thankfully of short duration. Everything seemed even more telegraphed than usual for a Hallmark. The acting of the 3 main women characters was a little too artificially chipper. Kind of stagey. Erica Durance is a beautiful woman, but the stylists for this movie did not do her any favors. 8 to 10 years needed to be shaved off her age to make her appear to be in the mid to late 30s of her character. Not a challenging assignment. Instead they stick her with a hair-do that makes her look like post 1950 Betty Crocker. Despite the Scottish background, I wasn’t a big fan of this one.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

A Very Venice Romance

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Bella Venezia

There was very little wrong with this one other than some gaps in storytelling that could have been fixed with an extra scene or two that were apparently left on the cutting room floor. And, set in Venice, Italy, it was beautifully photographed and a pleasure to gaze upon. Thankfully we were spared a depressing scientific lecture about rising seas and how the city is doomed. This was one of Hallmark’s foodie shows (yes romantic dough kneading and a tiny pinch of flour throwing were included) and the interiors and the food were also shown off to perfection. Great lighting throughout. The Italian leading man, was, of course, incredibly handsome, as they are, but he was also a good actor and very charming. As the leading lady, Stephanie Leonidas, was also very attractive and classy without the beauty pageant look of some of the other Hallmark regulars.

Amy is in charge of launching her company’s new venture which is home meal prep kits which, true to her health and wellness company’s brand, are packed with the supplements that they sell which supposedly boost metabolism, energy, immunity, and stuff like that. Her boss and head of the company, Naomi, at first comes across as an airy-fairy new-age guru type who exists on another plane entirely. But not for long. The Asian actress, whose name I could not find anywhere as of this writing, steals every scene she is in. While never letting her peaceful smile or her calm demeanor slip, it is not long before we see that she is pretty tough and no-nonsense. The word “steely” came to mind.

Unfortunately, for Blossom, the company, The meal kits do not taste good and take too long to make. After Amy tries to get the chef to work with their food scientist, known as Dr. Frankenfood, he quits in a temper tantrum. (typical Hallmark chef). Amy needs to fix the mess which leads her to recruit our hero, Marcello, a handsome (good for marketing), renowned, and respected chef to curate the kits and make them delicious while still loaded with supplements. He turns the job down in no uncertain terms without even hearing her offer. The meal kits go against his core beliefs about the art of cooking and food. He is all about fresh quality ingredients, no preservatives, and cooking with love and imagination. If the food was healthy, it wouldn’t need supplements! Amy decides to go to Venice (Without permission from Naomi! But doesn’t get in trouble!) to join his advanced cooking class so she can give him her “pitch.” The two fall in love over food and touring around Venice. It is not long before Chef Marcello wins Amy over to his way of thinking about food. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that we don’t see because we learn that surprisingly Naomi has led Amy to believe that the company will make enough concessions to Marcello’s way of thinking and let him work from Venice, to get him on board. Also one minute she is telling Amy to close the deal with the chef and get her butt back to New York pronto and the next, Amy is staying another 2 weeks to complete the course. I didn’t blame her for being tired of funding Amy’s 3 weeks in Venice with no progress on changing Marcello’s mind. I’d be suspicious and fed up as well. But we never see how or why Naomi changed her mind and let her stay. The side characters of Amy’s fellow students, one of which is famous British actress, Frances Barber, add interest as well as Marcello’s nice mother and father. Unfortunately, Amy herself is rather boring and personality-free.

Amy is finally ordered home and during the phone call, she finds out that her boss will not go “off-brand” to compromise on supplements nor accommodate Marcello’s insistence on curating the meals without moving to New York. Will Amy choose her life and career in New York, or love in beautiful Venice? The answer is to be found under The Bridge of Sighs.

I guess there is a lot I could pick apart in this movie, but I won’t because it was so nice to look at, and just nice in general. All of the actors were good, and none of the characters got on my nerves at all with silly or questionable behavior. So despite its contradictions and missing expositions, it was a pleasant watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Notes of Autumn

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Trading Places

This is a “trading places” romance wherein two long-distance friends exchange homes for a week or so to figure things out regarding their professional lives.  Ever smiley Ashley Williams plays Ellie, a former professional pianist, who just got fired from her event planner job because she kept getting distracted by pianos. She gave up her true vocation because, she says, she likes to eat, have a roof over her head, and wear clothes. But it’s really because her confidence was shattered by a mean conductor. One of her good friends in the hotel she worked at is Matt, the chef, who is using her apartment kitchen to create new recipes for a restaurant he hopes to open soon. The ever charming and adorable Luke McFarlane plays Leo, a romance writer with the curse of all Hallmark characters who write for a living: the dread Writer’s Block. His neighbor is Sam who is trying to whip a string quartet into shape for a charity event called a Piano Ball even though he is not a musician. Friends Leo and Ellie change places a la The Holiday Or Hallmark’s own Trading Christmas or last year’s Sister Swap movies. Yes, it’s been done before. And disappointingly a lot better in two of the cases.

To make a long story short, Ellie falls for Sam while getting her music mojo back, and Leo falls for Matt who inspires him to write something new as he is tired of writing his very popular series of historical romances. The fictional characters of Isabelle and Jack, amusingly played by Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith,(who play a couple in Hallmark’s super popular series, When Calls the Heart) keep intruding in Leo’s real-life struggles writing on his computer. I kept getting distracted by Ashley’s smile and Marcus Rosner’s dimples, imagining what their children might look like. Can we make that happen?

Besides the cute gimmick of Pascale and Kavan’s occasional appearances, the writing was average but the actors made the most of their lines. All of them were likable and funny, although Ashley’s struggles made no sense whatsoever. The gay romance was well done and sweet. Their sexual preference was pretty much in deep cover. Even Leo was surprised Matt was gay even after they had spent a good bit of time together. Guess his writer’s block also broke his Gaydar. At the end though we get some pretty loving looks and a couple of kisses. They all end up in Pinewood, Leo’s and Sam’s picturesque Canadian hometown, the city where Ellie and Matt lived abandoned in true Hallmark fashion. The love lives and professional lives are destined for success.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Napa Ever After

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You’ve Got to Love a Girl Who Goes to a Bar and Orders Herself a Glass of Merlot and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at the Same Time.

**Spoilers**

This one was a fairly radical variation of the standard city girl goes to the boondocks and partners up with the local guy to accomplish saving something (Or battles local guy and something ends up getting saved in spite of city girl or local guy.) Sometimes it’s city dude. Anyway, there are probably dozens of permutations of the same basic idea. In this one a vineyard is saved, which has definitely been done before, but hey! Wine! Can you really go wrong with a vineyard? This was one of Hallmark’s “Mahogany” line of romances and featured an all-black cast and director and was co-written by a black woman. So the Hallmark version of black people has definitely evolved in a positive way.

We know right away that Cassie, our heroine, is very important and high-powered because of the way she struts into her office building in very high, very very spikey heels and a power suit in the first scene. But then she gets to her office and virtually falls apart, shaking in those very high heels thinking she is going to get fired for not having a judge rule in her favor (she’s an attorney, it turns out.) That whole scene just didn’t make sense, especially considering the rest of the movie in which she is very confident, strong, and independent. And when she is called into her boss’s office, she is promoted to partner, not fired! What was with all the wimpy insecurity? However, she is stressed out and overworked, we do get that.

When she learns that her grandmother whom she hasn’t seen in over 30 years has died, the plan is to attend the funeral on Saturday and be back on Monday. “The best-laid plans of mice and men…” as they say. When little Cassie was a young girl, her mother and her father moved away to the city, rejecting her grandmother’s plan to have her daughter take over from her in running her vineyard, wedding venue, and winery. Instead, she moved to the city to support her husband, Cassie’s Dad, in his ambition to become a successful lawyer, which he did. Meanwhile, she pursued her own dream of becoming an artist. They never saw each other again. This total breach between a mother and daughter in which a beloved grandmother never sees her supposedly beloved granddaughter again was very disturbing. It’s one of those Hallmark plot elements that doesn’t bear up under scrutiny. Because if you did look at it too closely, you would conclude that some or all of the adults in this broken relationship had very nasty, cold, and vindictive sides to their characters. And the two dead women are spoken of reverently and lovingly throughout the movie.

Cassie’s grandmother has willed her struggling mortgaged-to-the-hilt vineyard to her. Thanks, Granny. After first planning to sell it for a tidy profit, Cassie reads a letter from her grandmother in which she learns that her mother and grandmother had secretly reconciled right before her mother’s death and they had planned a reunion. This knowledge and getting to learn about the vineyard spurs her to try to get the vineyard/wedding venue/winery back on its feet instead of selling. The fact that the guy who is managing the property is an extremely hot widower with a cute daughter doesn’t hurt either. He works there at the vineyard for free and in his spare time which also doesn’t bear looking at too closely.

There are lots of struggles (toxic mold and $$$) amid lots of good girlfriend support and romance. Also a good scene with the Dad who is very remorseful over his part in the family drama. The actor who played the father was very good in that I didn’t loathe his character when I probably should have. Cassie turns her back on the stressful life as a partner in a law practice making lots of money to be a happily married stepmother, grape farmer, vintner, and wedding venue manager, all of which is probably equally as stressful. Oh well, at least she has a fall-back career.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

The Irresistible Blueberry Farm

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A Little Fruit, A Little Fantasy

Once again a movie I rated long ago deserves an upgrade after re-watching it years later. In this case, it’s The Irresistible Blueberry Farm which premiered way back in 2015. It was on the other night and it had been mentioned to me recently as one I would really like.  I didn’t remember being very impressed with it way back when. In fact, I barely remembered it all. I saw that I gave it a 4 on IMDb. And the title certainly didn’t impress me! Irresistible Blueberries? Come on! And spare me from another farm story. Pumpkins, Christmas Trees, Cranberries, Grapes, Apples, Pears, Olives, Tulips, Maple Syrup, Pecans: Except for veggies,  is there anything that grows in the ground that hasn’t been done?

But it was on the other night, so I gave it a go. And it was fantastic!

Yes, it was the same old city girl with almost fiance and very high heels goes-to-small-town-on-a-mission plot. In her will her beloved grandmother (yes) has tasked her to deliver a letter IN PERSON to a gentleman who lives in her old hometown. While trying to find him she learns that her grandmother was a talented artist and finds some of her paintings, one of which is of a home on a blueberry farm. More importantly, she meets working-class dude Roy who fishes her out of the water after she falls off a dock. Right off the bat she passionately kisses him. She is stunned and embarrassed by her out-of-character behavior and he is just stunned (in a good way.) And he just happens to be the nephew of the man for whom Ellen has been searching, who just passed away 3 months ago. He and Grandma were young lovers. Roy is trying to save his uncle’s blueberry farm and Ellen, as an attorney, helps him do just that.

There were several things that really made this movie for me. The first one was the undeniable chemistry between Mark Blucas who plays Roy and Alison Sweeney who plays Ellen. They really put the physical attraction between the two characters on the front burner while the emotional attraction simmered along as well. When, later in the movie, Ellen’s scary mother (another reason why this movie really worked) and her nice fiance show up to bring her home, they both know right away that there is going to be trouble when they see the two together. Another reason I liked it was the slightly “out there” choice to have Ellen’s grandmother visit her to encourage and advise her when Ellen is alone. But she’s not a ghost, exactly, even though she’s dead. She just comes to Ellen who takes her appearances in stride, and they talk together. Loved the dose of fantasy and that she’s played by the late great Shirley Jones.

Ellen’s dilemma of choosing between the two men and the two ways of life, as well as her mother’s coercion to get her back to her prestigious career and socially prominent fiance provide drama and tension even though we know which path Ellen will choose. Because Ellen and Roy’s love cannot be denied. To top it all off, there is a nice happy ending epilogue and a very touching visual at the end that ties in the romance between Ellen’s Grandmother and Roy’s Great-Uncle. It was all meant to be.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Take Me Back for Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

When You are Granted a Wish, Don’t be Vague.

I was looking forward to this because time travel or alternate reality plots are almost always interesting and involving. I liked the two leads.  Vanessa Lengies handled the comedy and the drama (there is always comedy and drama in Alternate Reality plot lines) like a champ and her quirky beauty was a big plus. In fact, all the actors in this one did a great job. No weak links at all. Corey Sevier has only grown in my estimation in the last little while. He has always been appealing looks-wise, but his performance in Noel Next Door as a slightly disabled stroke victim really sealed the deal for me. I also liked his performance in Love in Translation an UPtv production, as a somewhat nerdy academic. It was kind of obscure and not really very popular, but it’s always stuck with me for some reason. I also noticed that he directed this one as well, and in my opinion, did a fantastic job. I am no expert in cinema by any means, but he made some interesting choices that really stood out for me, from the choice of family photos, to filming one emotional scene at the end showing only the back of Vanessa’s head against the night sky. I don’t know why, but as someone who doesn’t really notice “direction” per se unless it is really bad, I was impressed.

Anyway, enough about Corey. Vanessa plays Renee, a happily married store clerk hoping for a promotion that is never coming and still grieving for her dead mother. The couple is struggling financially because they can’t really afford the house that her mother left her. Her husband Aaron (Corey) wants to sell up and move to New York City to pursue their dreams in the food industry, but Renee is “stuck.” She is afraid of change and does not want to leave her childhood home.

After a particularly bad day at work, she takes a mysterious elf’s offer of a new life by ringing a magic bell. Kimberly-Ann Truong as the elf gives a funny and eccentric performance and was a highlight (Thank-you, no magic Santa in this one). Suddenly Renee is living her dream life. She is the head of a national meal kit company with a very fancy office and a fabulous wardrobe. Sometimes, I swear, you can tell Hallmark’s enthusiasm for a particular project by the female lead’s wardrobe. If so, Hallmark was very enthusiastic about this movie. Vanessa looked fabulous in her very sophisticated and fashion-forward outfits. Or again, maybe it was the director. And then her mother walks into her very sumptuous penthouse. Her mother is alive in this new life and her old cheerful cancer-free self. The only fly in the ointment is that she is no longer married to Aaron. She dumped him in favor of her career. She tracks him down and he has also prospered as the chef and part owner of a restaurant and he is very surprised and not thrilled to see her. If only she can woo him back, save her company (yes, there’s that), save his restaurant (and that), she will really truly have the perfect life now that her mom is now in the land of the living. The only other person who is in both her old life and this new one is her old best friend. They are strangers in this new life, but they meet up and she gives Renee support and kindness in her hour of need. It was kind of random how that worked out. Maybe I need to watch this one again. It won’t be a hardship.

But I digress. Uh oh. Here comes that elf again with some bad news. It all works out in some predictable and unpredictable ways. It really kept me guessing and even worrying. While most of the movie is light-hearted and humorous, it does not shy away from sadness and poignancy toward the end. And yes, lessons are learned. Here’s one free of charge: “When you’ve met your person, home becomes less of a place and more of a feeling.”

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.