Other TV Romance

Made for TV romances other than Hallmark. (UP, Pixl, BET, Lifetime, etc.)

Reindeer Games Homecoming

/ Rebekahrox / 8 Comments

Good Show.

**Spoilers**

Most of the aging TV romance actresses should take a page from Sarah Drew’s book. Sarah is 42 years old but looks 10 years younger. It might be genetics, but in my opinion, it was the minimalistic lowkey way in which she was made up. Of course, that gorgeous red hair doesn’t hurt either. I love that tomboyish girl next door look. As the hero says about her character, “She is a breath of fresh air.”

Mackenzie “Mac” is a high school science teacher in her old hometown school. A former classmate who is now a famous movie action star comes to town to help his pregnant sister, whose husband is deployed. He goes to the school to visit his nephew in the middle of class. There must have been a good reason for this, but I don’t remember what it is. It turns out that Mac had a crush on Chase back in the day, and Chase started to return her feelings when they were on a field trip together to a science fair in New York City. But when they got back home, he dumped the school brainy nerd to hang with his usual popular kids’ group.

Mac is still devastated by the grief of losing her beloved father a few years before and can’t move forward. We learn later that she completed medical school but quit her residency when her father died. She is torn about going back. She would make a great doctor but loves her community and teaching. “Big grief puts things in perspective,” she says.

Chase’s career has taken a downward turn and he wants to branch out to more serious movies. While competing together in the “Reindeer Games” for charity they renew their acquaintance. They help each other, start to flirt, and ultimately fall in love. I think they might even have gone to bed together off-screen. There are a few subtle hints. Chase is even thinking of not going back to Hollywood as he has fallen for Mac and the joys of small-town life. Mac still doesn’t entirely trust Chase because of his history of getting swept up in the moment but moving on when he comes down to earth. He begs her for a second chance to show he can go the distance. He encourages her to read the last Christmas Eve letter from her dead father, and she is inspired to complete her residency and become a doctor. At this critical juncture, his agent shows up with the 3 picture deal of his dreams which will revitalize his career and probably win him an Oscar. But he has to go to Munich and will be away for months making these movies. This is trouble. She breaks up with him (before he can break up with her) so they can both pursue their career dreams on opposite sides of the universe. Don’t worry, love triumphs in the end. I won’t say how but it involves a crossword puzzle. They both will pursue their dreams and their relationship deciding they will just “figure it out” somehow. I liked that.

This was one of the usual plots, but it was good. It had plenty of humor, including both situational and funny one-liners, but it also had some sadness and heartbreak too. It was well-balanced and well-rounded with no silliness. Her grief for her father was a little over the top, but it was well-acted. Justin Breuning who played Chase was good too and he and Sarah Drew were good together. Mac’s gay friend was overdone and got on my nerves. I explained Mac’s whole story up front, but in the movie, it is slowly revealed. I liked wondering what was up with her and Chase and why a girl who was nicknamed “Pre-Med” in high school wasn’t a doctor, but a teacher. Good show.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Merry Swissmas or A Christmas in Switzerland

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

Swiss Miss? I Don’t Buy It.

This one has a dumb title (Merry Swissmas was the title it had when I decided to watch it). The plot did not look all that interesting either. The only reason I decided to watch it was because I have really come to appreciate Jodie Sweetin. She has a natural down-to-earth style in both her acting and her looks that I like.

Jody plays a successful architect and head of her own firm who travels the world for her job. She decides to visit her mother, who has just bought and is renovating an inn in Switzerland for a family Christmas with her brother and his wife and family. She is not told that Mom and her best friend have conspired to invite her estranged former best friend to the inn as well, in an effort to force a reconciliation. Jodie’s first love painfully dumped her and it took her a while to recover from her pain. To add insult to injury, her former best friend started dating him soon after.

Although I didn’t entirely understand Jodie’s anger that her best friend took up with her old boyfriend, I thought potentially ruining Jodie’s Christmas was a very dirty trick. Now, having said that, apparently her friend dated him behind her back without having a conversation and hopefully getting her blessing first. That was the terrible part, to my mind. The family’s constant manipulations to get them back together were annoying in the extreme. But she handles it with good grace, and, in fact, the two women are eventually reconciled. Then the old boyfriend shows up unexpectedly and it turns out her best friend didn’t tell her she was now engaged to him.

The actor who played the love interest for Jodie didn’t bowl me over. Especially at first. He played a single father/widower who is torn between his attraction for Jodie and his desire to protect his young son from further heartbreak after his mother died. He improved as the movie went on. It ends with a “happy for now ending”, but I don’t buy Jodie’s plan to stay in Switzerland with her new love and his son at the same time she has a thriving business in Chicago that requires worldwide travel.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Catering Christmas

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

Very Pleasant

This was a very nice romance. I liked the dynamic between Molly (the caterer hired for the biggest event held in the small town) and Carson ( the leading citizen’s nephew put in charge of this charity gala). Molly is just starting her business which has been her dream since childhood. The name of her catering business is called “Molly’s Menu Magic” which I mention because that is a very silly name. It sounds like it was named by a 4-year-old and doesn’t exactly convey sophistication and expertise.  What was she thinking? Carson is an internationally famous and successful event photographer who is home for Christmas and is helping his Aunt, who hopes that he will take charge of the family foundation when she retires. Carson is smitten by Molly right away, but she rightly is not interested in getting involved with a guy who travels the world 11 months of the year. She wants to concentrate on building her business.

Influenced by Carson’s recommendation, Aunt Jean hires Molly even though she is not as experienced as the most prominent caterer in town. The rest of the movie is Carson trying to get close to Molly and worm his way into her affections. Molly likes him and nicely doesn’t avoid him (she can’t-he is basically her temporary boss) but she is cautious and professional at all times. Daniel’s pursuit of Molly might have come across as a little inappropriate and stalker-ish given the power dynamic, but thanks to Merritt Patterson and Daniel Lissing’s portrayals, it does not. He comes across as very nice, a little vulnerable, and trying to be helpful, and Merritt is very together and has the situation well in hand.  It creates some welcome romantic tension.

One thing I really liked about this was that we don’t have any of the usual catering disasters that threaten the heroine’s future livelihood.  Everything goes smoothly thanks to Molly’s skills and talent. There is a crisis, but it has nothing to do with her and she solves it for them. Molly and Carson get closer against her better judgment and the plot is kept moving by Molly trying to duplicate a lost fudge recipe beloved by Aunt Jean, a cute turn by an as-yet uncredited actress as Molly’s young assistant, and Carson’s growing appreciation of the mission of his family’s foundation (thanks to Molly.) We also have a sweet secondary romance for Aunt Jean. The romantic crisis comes when Carson’s beautiful agent shows up right before the Gala to whisk him away for a fashion show in Berlin confirming Molly’s worse fears. All is resolved with Daniel trading in his glamorous career for a more fulfilling one, and Molly’s business really taking off. Also, I think Daniel and Molly just might make a go of their relationship!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

**This will be my last review of any movie showing on GAC. It has been brought home to me just how pernicious this network is behind its soft words. I was not aware of how closely affiliated the ownership group is to our former president and the PACs that fund and support him and his agenda. I suspect that they may have even been connected to the dark money that funded the January 6th insurrection.**

The Attraction Test

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments

Nova Saves the Day!

I bypassed a number of recent Hallmark productions to watch and/or review to take a whack at this UPtv production. I read another review of this one and it seemed promising even though I had never seen anything else starring either of the two leads (that I remember).

Tara Wilson plays a mature relationship-averse professor who has developed a technology that scientifically determines whether your match is “the one” by the end of 3 dates. Our hero, a not-all-that-mature veterinarian who runs a dog rescue organization is somewhat of a wise guy. He goes with his girlfriend, who is a fan of the professor, to her presentation unveiling her successful study.  He doesn’t buy the professor’s contention that true love can be scientifically determined and measured. He brashly stands up, expresses his skepticism, and sarcastically asks whether she has ever used her own technology. She hasn’t, and demurs, but he embarrassingly persists and she is hustled off the stage. This is not how things were supposed to go. A video of the confrontation goes viral and throws her research and credibility into doubt. She does not want to be in a relationship but is forced to publicly date her adversary in order to prove her technology.

All proceeds as expected with the two going on the requisite three dates and surprisingly having a great time together and really connecting. The opposites attract slow burn thing really seemed to work between these two. The attractive Tara Wilson has a terrific smile and really grew on me partly because her acting wasn’t hampered by an immovable forehead. But, helpful hint, lose the sausage curls that seem to be so prevalent with TV romance leading ladies lately. I liked Andrew Dunbar as the hero right away. He had an almost frat-boyish charm and a lot of charisma.  And I liked that he was open and honest about his growing feelings for his reluctant professor.

Even so, I was starting to get a little bored with the plot when what to my wondering eyes should appear but Nova, the utterly charming dog-actor who played Sam in Romance to the Rescue!

He really added the spark needed to bolster my flagging attention until the predictable but nicely done conclusion. That dog is a gosh darn superstar.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

October 9, 2022

Styled with Love

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So. Much. Pink.

Rosie Pink (yes, really)  is making a big leap by using her inheritance from her beloved Nana (is there any such thing as a Nana who wasn’t beloved?) to open her own business as a personal stylist in the big city. And she really likes pink. She gets a few clients by standing on the street corner handing out fliers while working on her website and preparing for her grand opening. She is very perky and cheerful and but thanks to the actress, Rachel Bles, I  couldn’t help liking her in spite of myself.  She just unapologetically went full speed ahead with the sweet and good-hearted character. In addition to styling her clients (the outfits mostly have a lot of pink in them, but, to be fair, not all) she also gives them harmless advice on how to be successful in their endeavors (Be Yourself! Have confidence! Believe in Yourself! Go for it!). At one point, she gets accused of “sounding like a Hallmark card” which was amusing. She attracts the attention of a very scary magazine bigwig (think a black Miranda Priestly) who informs her that she will be “keeping an eye on her.” Brrrrrrrrrrr. The actress who played her, Kathy Maloney, was fantastic. She was gorgeous and terrifying.

Meanwhile, she tries to hire her BFF’s cousin, a professional photographer to take pictures for her website. He is the love interest. He turns her down at first because he thinks the fashion industry is full of shallow phonies but changes his mind when his agent says he needs to punch up his portfolio with some more candid shots. The actor who played the photographer is Dennis Andres and is the sole reason I skipped over a number of Hallmarks to watch this UPtv production. He comes across as a regular guy and his acting is as natural as he is charming. I’m a big fan.

Miranda Priestly is impressed with Rosie’s skills and starts hiring her to do freelance work. It’s a lot of money and opportunity, plus she gets free clothes for her shop. (Rosie not only helps her clients with their style choices but sells them “pre-loved” (groan) outfits out of her own stash) This is the conflict. She is being run ragged and doesn’t have time for her own business anymore, or her growing relationship with Dennis.

Despite a mopey old grandfather and some seriously cheesy speeches at the end, I kind of liked this one. It really grew on me. The tyrannical Miranda/Anna Wintour character surprised me at the end,  and Dennis and his killer smile did not disappoint, as usual.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

September 29, 2022

Our Dream Wedding

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Unveiled

I liked this one right from the beginning. Two medical students, Natalie and Scott, sending out their applications for residencies, are very much in love. We meet her family who also loves Scott. Sometimes you just get tired of two strangers meeting cute and going through the old enemies-to-lovers thing. Natalie is a perfectionist who always has a plan and is in control. Scott is a more fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. This is demonstrated by his proposal of marriage to her out of the blue when it had never even been discussed. She turns him down, and frankly, it did seem like very poor timing. They are about to do their residencies and there is no guarantee they would even be in the same city for years. But anyway, he is heartbroken and she is conflicted because she really does love him. She goes to Mimi her grandmother and Mimi pulls out her magic wedding veil. Natalie is shot 10 years into the future so she can get some clarity by experiencing life married to Scott. She gets plopped down a couple of days before her sister’s wedding which Natalie is organizing because she is so organized. Needless to say, the marriage is happy and successful. There are some blips, starting with her fainting upon seeing she has two kids and the whole situation. She falls and hits her head and gets knocked out. This gives her an excuse when she acts weird and forgets things she never knew. The couple gets peeved with each other, feelings are hurt, and there is even some bickering, but all in all the marriage is a success. She wants to go back to make things right with Scott,  but Mimi tells her that is up to the veil. When the time finally arrives, I really liked that Mimi explains that when she goes back to trying on the veil 10 years ago, she will think that what she experienced was all a dream. I like it when these little time travel dilemmas are explained. Her “heart will know the truth” and she will know what to do about marrying Scott if she listens to her heart. But did she hurt him too deeply? Is it too late?

There were some minor problems with some of the details. Back to reality, she rushes to the airport to stop Scott from getting on the plane to Chicago and is freaked out when she thinks she missed him. Why didn’t she just text him not to get on the plane? 10 years in the future and everyone looked the same and so did the world. Where are the flying cars? And most egregious of all, The mother of the bride, the maid of honor, and the grandmother all wore white to her sister’s wedding! In the end, Scott and Natalie are engaged, but the probable conflict with their immediate career paths, which is the main reason she turned him down to begin with, is swept under the rug. But all in all, it was a nice story with no festivals, exotic locales, or other gimmicks to fill in the time. UPtv keeps it simple. The acting was really good, and there were touching moments, a little drama, a little humor, and some learned lessons. I particularly liked the actor who played Scott, who was cute, but in a normal guy kind of way.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

June 23, 2022

Yellowstone Romance

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

Wacky Fun

After being away for work, Olivia returns to New York City and finds her best friend and roommate, Amber, engaged to a guy she’s only known for a few months. Olivia disapproves. Amber is a city girl and a ditz. Her new fiance is a rancher and Amber will be following him to the boondocks. Olivia thinks (rightly) that Amber does not know what she is getting into. In the guise of a “bachelorette retreat,” She takes Amber to a working Dude ranch along with their other best friend, Jason, to give her a taste of what is in store for her. Olivia selfishly does not want to lose her best friend and roommate, but she also is genuinely concerned.

What follows is kind of a hoot. First, the trio arrives at the ranch dressed in New York City’s idea of what is proper ranch wear. It is a cute visual. They are greeted by the ranch owner and his son, played by Christopher Russell.  Christopher’s natural fallback position in his roles is laid-back and easy-going. He was perfectly cast in this role as the strong but silent cowboy who is unhappily roped into taking care of the “citidiots” and showing them a good time as well as a taste of authentic ranch life. The “Dude” part of the dude ranch is just until his Dad makes the extra money to pay the back taxes.   It’s all wacky fun while the three take on getting up at the crack of dawn, camping, horse riding, egg-gathering (and breaking), fence repair, cattle herding, barn dancing, wolf and bear avoiding, etc.

To Olivia’s surprise and frustration Amber is game for everything and her enthusiasm never flags. Except when she is attacked in a river by a leech. And who can blame her for that? Cowboy Travis is exasperated but is very good at hiding his annoyance at the situation, and it’s not long before the trio’s good humor and effort earn his respect and liking. The actress who played Olivia really grew on me and had great chemistry with Christopher Russell. Amber and their friend Jason were funny, and Christopher was in his element. And when CR is on point, he is the bomb-diggity.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

May 18, 2022

Aloha With Love

/ Rebekahrox / 18 Comments

Lots of Crying

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This one was pretty good with some problems. I liked the actress who played the female lead. Tiffany Smith had unusual strong features that went beyond typically pretty. She reminded me of Jamie Gertz. However, I usually do not appreciate the ubiquitous Trevor Donovan, an often used actor for Hallmark and its clones. This one was on UPtv. He is just so BLOND. His acting is no more than competent and brings nothing special to roles, except a very muscular chest which is shirtlessly shown off to great effect here. He is very popular though, apparently. It’s a me problem.

Gemma is a star architect who works with her boyfriend of 4 years, a realtor, who also works at their firm. She presents a top-notch brilliant proposal for a condominium to a developer. He is crass and insulting to her, presumably because she is a woman. And even though she answers all the questions with which he had hoped to trip her up, he turns the firm down and rudely walks out using the excuse that there are 66 units rather than the 76 he had asked for. Her boyfriend blames her and behaves like a jackass. So right away you hate the guy and are rooting for her to break-up with him. And she does! So now I’m a fan even though she cries about losing him for some reason.

She gets word that her beloved aunt has passed away (more crying) in Hawai’i and has left her valuable property, and a not-so-valuable house to her and her sister to sell or keep as they wish. The one condition is that they have to restore and renovate the tumbledown house first and use Trevor as the contractor who (shocker!) happens to be Gemma’s ex. Obviously we have a “matchmaking from the grave” situation.

All procedes very predictably with the two clashing over the job at first. She just wants a “refresh” so she can get back to her career in L.A. quickly, and he wants the complete renovation the house deserves. They learn to work together, and romance boringly ensues. But Uh oh. Here comes the old boyfriend all contrite because now she’s rich. And he wants her to sell the property to creepy condominium developer and she actually agrees to it. So now I am not such a fan.

We have a very long mawkish sappy scene with Gemma’s father crying about his sister, and a nothing short of miraculous transformation of a shack to house beautiful in 48 hours. Seeing the house as it was meant to be causes Gemma to rethink the sale (just as Trevor predicted). She is still unsure but thanks to her jackass ex publicly and suspiciously  proposing marriage right there on the lawn and arrogant condominium guy stupidly insulting her again (!) (he just can’t help himself) she comes to her senses. And throughout we have many crying scenes too numerous to explain.

So lots of crying (bad) spectacular scenery (good), male costar I don’t like (bad), new fresh female lead (good), strong supporting characters (good). Impossibly speedy home renovation (complete with Art)-(bad), and impossibly stupid bad guys (bad). Also it was tremendously risky of Trevor to renovate a house, spending dozens of thousands of dollars when chances were it would be demolished in a week or two (bad). It’s a Hallmark 6.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

May 8, 2022

A Bridesmaid in Love

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“The Big Misunderstanding”

**Spoilers**

I really like Tori Anderson and her pretty smiley eyes. She’s been in at least two other Hallmarks I’ve seen, and she was the primary reason why those movies were at least watchable. In one, she was the only bright spot, and in the other, she was an important ingredient in a production that worked in several ways. In this one, everything was going along fine, until towards the end when we came to “big conflict” time.

Let me back up. Tori plays a freelance writer whose specialty is tips and advice for brides and weddings. She is kind of like a wedding planner, but she actually is a “professional bridesmaid” who solves problems or possible disasters that crop up and adds great ideas to make good weddings even better. She does this for brides in exchange for a healthy contribution to a worthy charity. Then she writes about it. When her childhood friend whose brother Matt was also once one of her best friends, is planning her wedding, Tori steps up. She has recently broken up with her loser boyfriend of 1 year, and Matt is her love interest. I really liked Matt. He was very attractive in a guy-next-door kind of way and was super sweet, like Tori. They were perfect for each other and were soon well on the way to googly eyes and true love, with Tori saving her friend’s wedding from disaster right and left. Venue, caterer, dress, you name it and Tori saves it.

Everything was burbling along fine, with a few side plots in addition to the wedding adventures. Her veterinarian ex starts to pop up as well, which added to the anticipation and suspense. We see that he is regretting his assholery, and we are seeing that Tori (along with the viewer) is wondering what the heck she saw in him in the first place. I mean, when he shows up at her Dad’s coffee shop on his way to the “Hamster Rehabilitation Conference” and her eyes start to dart around looking for escape, we know she has moved on. But he is clueless and he makes time in his busy busy Kitty and Puppy schedule to trap her alone so he can propose marriage.

And this is where the movie takes a turn for the worse. Nice Matt sees him getting down on one knee and, despite their burgeoning love, good times, soulful gazes, and intimate conversations, he turns his back and leaves the premises without bothering to see the outcome. Because of course if a guy gets down on one knee, there is only one conclusion one can make, right? The girl has to say yes. No. There are two possible outcomes, Matt. “Yes, I will marry you,” or “Thanks, but no thanks.” To make his insulting conclusion jump much worse, he acts like a total jerk to her for the last 20 minutes of the movie. He gives her the cold shoulder and is very rude. Tori is confused and heartbroken, and I was irate. It was a very very bad example of “The Big Misunderstanding”. The utter stupidity ruined a pretty decent movie.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

March 11, 2022

Art of Falling in Love

/ Rebekahrox / 2 Comments

Poor guy

**Spoilers**

This one started out strongly. I liked Kimberley Sue Murray in Love Upstream. There’s something about curly red hair… and she was very funny and likable. The hero I wasn’t familiar with, but I liked his down-to-earth normal guy looks. It appeared that it was going to go out of the box a bit as there was a bit of a very subtle Christian theme, and the heroine is seen getting alarming dizzy spells and popping prescription pills. Hmmmm… this might be interesting.

Vanessa (Murray) is an artist who gets commissions to paint murals on hospital walls that she doesn’t charge for. She is famous and acclaimed and travels all over the country. She is working on a mural for a children’s wing that Nate designed and she overhears him saying he isn’t sure it fits in with his vision. OOOh, them’s fightin’ words. She spunkily tells him the mural is not for him but for the sick children. Good one, Vanessa! Of course, he apologizes and they make up and the love story commences. We learn through flashbacks that she had cancer and was very close with another cancer patient who died. The dead one is her “guardian angel” and she also left Vanessa a trust fund and a list of activities (take tango lessons, go rock climbing, go scuba diving, take a cooking class, fall in love, get married, stuff like that) to live life to the fullest. She shows him the list and he innocently calls it a bucket list. She freezes up. This is the first in a long line of her giving him the cold shoulder over something she takes offense to or some innocent infraction of her precious privacy.

Things go downhill from there, for me. Despite feeling the attraction and connection (whenever she is by herself she swans around and simpers with happiness at the thought of him) she often acts standoffish and demanding when with him. She will not share and is so closed off and secretive about her past that he thinks she is dying rather than recovering from an illness. He himself is just recovering from a divorce because his wife cheated on him. So he is vulnerable and not into secrets. When he finds her passed out on the floor, a side effect of her medication, he begs her to open herself up and let him in. She states petulantly that she is not ready and says something along the lines of “it is her prerogative and her life to live as she pleases.” When he replies, “Well I’ll leave you to it then,” and leaves, I almost cheered. She sees she went a little too far with her mess and apologizes.

Her nonsensical hot and cold behavior continues until it all comes to a head. He finds out his ex-wife, who refused to have children with him, is pregnant. He is hurt and angry and leaves town to take care of a building emergency in Boston. Finally sick and tired of Vanessa’s predilection to take offense at every little thing and lack of openness, trust, and honesty, he cuts her off. Meanwhile, she learns she has a clean bill of health and accepts another commission in Vermont. He comes back, and she is sulky about his treatment of her (even though she tells his mother she doesn’t blame him) and he APOLOGIZES AGAIN. But of course, she has to torture him some more before she finally “forgives” him. I swear, he is a glutton for punishment because they get married. In the end, I positively hated her which is why I gave this a failing grade despite its strong points. Shout out to Kelly Bishop of the Gilmore girls who played Nate’s mother, the misguided matchmaker.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

February 24, 2022