Travelogue

To Philly with Love

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I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the actors who were starring in this one. Rebecca Dalton and Stephen Huszar are usually my two least liked Hallmark actors. Together! It just goes to show you how easy it is to confuse the actors with their roles. They were both nice and good people in this and I really liked them both. It didn’t hurt that Huszar played against type as a kind of nerdy head archivist instead of “The Brawny Man” type (Old version.) I would have liked him even better if he had worn those reading glasses more often.  More often than not, I have had a problem with some of the past roles the two actors have played and I am sorry to say I have held it against them personally. My bad.

Rebecca Dalton plays Emily who is a teacher (burned out) and a history lover who has come to Philadelphia to help her Mom clear out her late grandmother Beverly’s house to prepare it for sale. Even though this grandmother left lots of papers around, I am happy to report they were not twee little notes of so-called wisdom for her beloved granddaughter to find and get guided her on her path to life and love. They have just gotten started tackling the clean-out when a charming friend of her grandmother’s comes by to give Emily some Revolutionary War love letters that Beverly was preparing a report on. Her report was intended as a presentation to preserve the non-profit status of “The Ladies of Liberty,” a group of women history lovers who do research to preserve and honor Revolutionary War stuff. They are love letters from Jonathan, an American patriot and soldier, to Mary, whose family was loyal to England and disapproved of their affair.  Friend of Beverly is hoping that Emily, being a history buff like her grandmother, will take up the project by finding Mary’s letters to Jonathon, finishing the report, and saving “The Ladies of Liberty.”

The first step Emily takes is to go to the city archives to consult with an archivist who turns out to be her destined love interest in the pulchritudinous form of Stephen Huszar. The handwriting is not only on the fragile 250-year-old papers but on the wall. Together they tackle clues in the letters (there is a secret code!) in order to find Mary’s hidden letters back to Jonathan. Archivist Nathan is very intrigued by the historical correspondence which feature not only love but nuggets of history.  Despite a looming deadline of his own, they travel around Philadelphia following the clues and seeing the sites, including Betsy Ross’s place, featuring an unintentionally funny tour guide spouting very spurious history. Bless her heart. The romance blossoms during visits to each other’s family dinners, eating cheesesteaks, and discovering hidden walls. It all culminates in a fancy dinner meeting with Stephen’s boss and Archive patrons at which he is supposed to wow everyone with his own “one-of-a-kind” and “exciting” presentation. Which he doesn’t have because he has been too busy with Emily’s letters and falling in love and such. It is during this gala dinner that the big misunderstanding occurs.

Everything was good in this movie. The secondary characters were likable and well cast, I enjoyed seeing the sites of Philadelphia, the letters were sweet and even interesting, the romance was well supported and well paced, and the rapport between the two leading actors was on point. Best of all, neither one exhibited any problematic behavior. Even the misunderstanding made sense and was easily resolved. Happy endings abound for Emily and Nate, Nate’s career, Emily’s teaching rut, Grandma’s house, and the Ladies of Liberty. I am only left wondering why Hallmark did not premier this movie closer to July 4, America’s semiquincentennial. 7 stars.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Missing the Boat

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Spoilers Ahoy!

This was a really good one! As with all of the other Winter Escape movies, it was set in a sunny clime in an exotic land.  And as the title implies, there was a cruise ship involved. Our hero Parker is accompanying his billionaire boss on a cruise around southern Italy. He is the boss’s top man and lawyer and is there to oversee the sale of Adam’s, the boss’s, sale of his cruise ship line to a group of investors. Accompanying Parker is his sister Emily, who I first thought was a more lightly than usual made up Hallmark star Taylor Cole in a cameo appearance. But as she hung around and started to have her own story line, I realized it wasn’t her. Parker is played by the always wonderful Kristoffer Polaha who is one of my very favorite Hallmark stars. Emilie Ullerup plays Kelly who works for a company that the investors hired to suss out any reasons why the cruise line would not be a good investment.

Parker is a little quirky which manifests itself in several ways but includes a penchant for wordplay and bad puns which might be called excessive if you have a low tolerance for that kind of humor. Kelly is friendly and likable. Although she is good at her job, she prefers to take handwritten notes throughout the day and upload them digitally at night rather than constantly uploading the details via her company’s App. Her boss, George, warns her that this unplugged approach is not acceptable this time and she needs to stay in constant communication as well as incognito. Uh Oh. I sense trouble on the horizon. Kelly knows who Parker and Adam are, but Parker does not know who Kelly is. Yet. Parker, Emily, and Kelly become friendly. On an excursion to a waterfall in Sicily, Parker and Kelly’s donkeys run away and Kelly and Parker miss the ship which waits for no man or woman. Even though Parker is the Ship’s Owner’s right hand man!

The rest of the movie was Parker and Kelly’s adventures trying to catch up with the ship which was very good at evading them, and falling in love. These include Parker throwing his back out, a worker’s strike which halts a train they have to take (Kelly talks the strikers back to work! -she’s pretty awesome), Parker going to a new age healer for his back, staying at a luxury hotel, oversleeping, and Parker leaving his passport behind. At that point, Parker sends Kelly ahead and she actually makes the boat, but turns around and goes back for Parker. She loves him and they kiss. Meanwhile, Parker’s sister Emily and Adam, his boss, are getting close as well. She is having a good influence on him and he regrets asking Parker to delay Kelly getting back on the ship and potentially screwing up the merger. Yes, that happened, but Parker refused to be so low down. When they finally make it back to the ship, Adam apologizes to Kelly for asking Parker to purposely delay her return to the boat (which he didn’t do). Kelly gets all mad at those spilt beans especially since she got fired for being incommunicado and not on the ship. In the last 15 minutes Kelly comes to her senses, Adam decides not to sell the cruise line after all, hires Kelly (and Emily!), and two happy couples sail off into the sunset (figuratively.)

So there you go. That’s the movie in a nutshell. If you didn’t see it last night, it is well worth catching. Kris Polaha has not missed a step, and he is as watchable as ever. Emilie is good as well and the two have some chemistry. The well-written banter is fast paced, bright, and amusing. And of course, the scenery. **7 1/2 stars**

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Caught by Love

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Ho Hum Heist

Nothing could save this one from being boring. Not the not-seen-often-enough charm and talents of Luke Macfarlane, the proven acting talent of Rachael Leigh Cook, nor the beautiful setting of Malta. All were pretty much wasted on a phone-it-in script. I went into this one with optimism thanks to the presence of Luke, for whom Hallmark usually makes a greater than usual effort, and the fact that it was set in Malta which I last visited only a few months ago albeit in a book and albeit in the mid-16th century. It’s changed a lot. In this one all of the effort went into filming in an exotic land, which helped, but was not enough to engage me much.

Annie (Cook), a bank teller, arrives at a White Lotus type resort hotel (except no alcohol or caffeine-lolwut) in Malta and quickly falls into the arms of Jake (Macfarlane) thanks to her high heels which she is not used to. Her best friend, Joanna, a cosmetics magnate, has given her her place at a 7 day self help get away. How humble Annie got to be best friends with a millionaire tycoon might have made a more interesting story. It turns out that Jake, who at first we are led to believe might be up to something nefarious, is actually a private investigator who is trying to catch a thief for the reward money. Of course he was not up to anything nefarious: It’s Luke Macfarlane, for cripes sake. Jake has gotten an anonymous tip that the thief who stole a valuable necklace from “The Met” has arranged to sell it to one of the very wealthy guests at the hotel during the 7 day retreat. Annie, Jake, and Jake’s partner Laura, sleuth around for the rest of the movie trying to figure out who the buyer of the necklace is and catch him/her and the thief in the act. We get to know the other guests whose stories are supposed to fill in the plot but unfortunately they are not very interesting. We have the typical social media influencer, the typical billionaire real estate mogul and his neglected wife, the typical tech-god, the typical new-age motivational speaker, and the typical spoiled and entitled female member of royalty. All of them behave suspiciously but all turn out to be red herrings. Jake’s investigative skills are considerably aided by the fact that the suspects expediently allow him to do things like scroll through their phones and open their suspicious suitcases at will. We start to think that maybe the anonymous tip that Laura and Jake received might be a little sus after all of the possible buyers of the jewels are eliminated. But never fear, there is one person left, and it is someone they didn’t even think of (!).

There were some bright spots. The character of Laura (so far uncredited on IMDb-that figures) was pretty amusing. She is undercover as a very versatile employee of the resort. She fills in wherever needed going from a pool girl to a room maid and even filling in teaching a class on herbal medicine when the original instructor goes on maternity leave. You’d think a resort that caters to billionaires and royalty would have more of a tip top staff. But anyway, her dead pan expression when the spoiled royal female confronts her about taking out the excess chlorine in the pool was worth a chuckle. As was her attempt to teach the class when everything she knows is straight out of Wikipedia. The pace was good and there were some cute lines and isolated situations (Aerial Yoga). But the whole concept, although a little out of the usual Hallmark box was so predictable. Each guest, none of whom are at all entertaining, comes to the sleuths’ attention one at a time, is duly investigated, but of course is found misunderstood and innocent until we get to the last 5 minutes of the movie. **Spoiler Alert** The three investigators get the reward money even though it was really the federal agents who caught the bad guy. This convenient but totally unrealistic happenstance saves Jake and Laura’s struggling P.I. business, and helps Annie’s escape from bank teller-dom into law school. This was supposed to be light-hearted and fun but missed the mark.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Love on the Amazon

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“Amelia’s Not Here”

When I saw who the female lead was in this movie, I sighed. This actress, Jaicy Elliot, who reportedly was (is?-I don’t watch it) very good in Grey’s Anatomy has made it very clear with her acting that she just does not want to be in a Hallmark movie. In the 3 that she has been in, she has been flatter and more deadpan than the last. In one of the roles the character was written in the script to be sweet and lovable, and Ms. Elliot’s acting style actually made the character charmless and downright unpleasant. Well, the bugs, humidity, and dangerous reptiles of the Amazon must agree with her, because she was OK in this one and that’s a big step up. Now mind you, she didn’t bring anything special to the role, but she didn’t make me want to yell at her to wake up either. Unfortunately she missed some opportunities in the script to deliver some laughs or smiles and they were left dying on the jungle vines. We can add comic timing to the “improvement needed” column on her report card.

Claire is a vice principal of a school whose sister, a marine biologist, is doing important work on the Amazon. She has been waiting for news of a fellowship she is up for which will fund her project for years. Claire is taking care of her apartment and has been tasked to watch her mail for word as to whether she got the award or not. Because Amelia has to sign it and fill out a questionnaire. I guess the people who were giving her that truck load of fundage for her work on the Amazon are not aware that she is actually in Brazil on the Amazon. Doing her work. And not at her San Diego apartment waiting for their letter. One of many mysteries in this movie that went unsolved. When the letter about the grant finally comes, Claire drops it under a coffee table (by accident) and doesn’t discover it until it’s almost too late for Amelia to sign the paper and fill out the questionnaire. You had one job, Claire! One! So Claire, despite her fear of snakes, decides to find her sister on the Amazon river to deliver the paper to get signed. Yes, the paper is what is known in the movies as a “MacGuffin”. It’s just an excuse to get hapless Claire to the Amazon River so she can find love with a handsome boat captain and discover her true self.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot. It goes exactly as you would expect. The movie was actually filmed on the Amazon, although in Peru, not Brazil. But close enough. We get some beautiful and authentic scenery on the river. (I can’t say the same when they venture into the jungle-It looked like a big green park.) Luckily for the relationship development and so Claire can have some adventures, every time they get to where Amelia is supposed to be, Amelia is not there, but is still deeper in the jungle and further down the river.

What I really want to address about this movie is what became for me, a proverbial elephant in a proverbial room. And that involved Claire’s suitcase. Of course it was bottomless and full of cute jungle outfits, as is usual in Hallmarks. And it must have been invisible as well. Because when she finally opens the only suitcase we ever see on camera, it was not full of clothes, but HARDBACK BOOKS! Now I love books probably more than the average person. They are part of my daily life, and for 20 years, part of my professional life. But come on. Going down the Amazon dragging along a heavy suitcase full of books? And not just books, but Hardbacks and large trade paperbacks, not the handy light mass-market ones. In one scene, she is reading one of the books and since it is nighttime she has a big bug-attracting headlight attached to her head to see the words. To quote the handsome boat captain, “Haven’t you ever heard of an E-reader?!” And E-readers nowadays are not only backlit, Claire, but waterproof and would have survived the massive rainstorm that your hardback books did not. The soggy mess was hilarious but in a dumb way not a funny way. At the end there is another dumb thing which I can’t resist mentioning. As already established, Amelia and company are in the deepest darkest part of the Amazonian jungle. When Claire inevitably goes to chase after the handsome boat captain who left the camp with a broken heart, she is stopped by a huge and deadly snake blocking her way to the boat.  Amelia’s assistant, seeing the danger, offers to “walk to town and get another boat.” What? Maybe that was supposed to be funny ha-ha not funny dumb, but it came across as dumb. As did too much in this movie. Stars for the handsome boat captain, the scenery, and the kiss at the end. And Jaicy’s makeup was on point. Hallmark, do her and yourselves a favor and when you want to take up the laudable issue of body positivity again, call on another attractive actress who can not only be competent, as Jaicy was, but add some spark to the story with her acting or charisma.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

A Melbourne Match

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Fancy-free

I’ve had a generally positive impression of Mallory Jansen as a Hallmark leading lady. She is very pretty but not in a beauty pageant way. As I have mentioned before, she reminds me a little of Audrey Hepburn, and that is certainly a good thing.  She is credible as the typical Hallmark mid-thirties single woman dealing with life and professional issues that age-group is concerned with. Possibly because she is actually in her mid-thirties. Unfortunately, although she settled down in the middle, she was very annoying at the beginning and at the end of this movie. The character she played was partially to blame of course, but let’s just say the actress gave it her all and that increased my irritation. It was a valid decision for the character, but yikes. Luckily, I liked her love interest, played by Australian actor Ryan Corr. He reminded me of Gerard Butler. The two made a good couple after she calmed down.

Georgie, cheesily called “Georgie Girl” throughout (and yes, we have the song) is a Travel Journalist who is known for writing about her 24 hour whirlwind vacations in random cities throughout the United States. This matches her personality. She is always in a rush, her life ruled by her watch, schedules, and lists. She  fancies herself as efficient, but is always on the edge of disaster, dropping papers, barely making deadlines, stepping out in the middle of roads and almost getting herself runover, etc. The expression on her face is always either very worried or panic-stricken. Her caring boss, perhaps recognizing that she is possibly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, gives her a new type of assignment: Spending a whole week in Melbourne Australia where she is to stop and smell the flowers as well as the deadly snakes, sharks, and insects. He doesn’t want her typical piece concentrating on the usual sights and tourist attractions, but wants her to immerse herself in the culture and get to know the people and the Melbourne that the locals know and love. Of course she only packs her usual carry-on because checking luggage is “such a time-waster.” Cue the Hallmark bottomless carry-on.

In Melbourne, her driver is late which doesn’t exactly calm her down (she assaults a vending machine in her frustration) and when he finally shows up he informs her that it is 7:30 in the morning which she didn’t know before despite her obsession with time. She decides to tackle the first thing on her list, which, true to form, is the typical tourist destination that her boss told her to avoid. Luckily, her driver, who is the Gerard Butler character, has other ideas and takes her to visit some impressive street art and a great coffee shop not on her list. She is no dummy and realizes that this knowledgeable Melburnian is just the person to be her unofficial tour guide to the Melbourne of the locals per her bosses directive.

The middle part of the movie isn’t bad at all. It consists  of Georgie calming down thanks to Zach the travel guide and we are treated to the sights, sounds, food (Vegemite!) and people of Melbourne Australia. We learn Zach’s back story. The chauffeur service is his Dad’s and he was just helping out temporarily. He is currently in construction but was recently a famous, now retired, Australian Rules Football player (there needs to be a shorter name for that sport) and even still is quite the celebrity. He had blown out his Achilles and he is sad and a little at loose ends, career-wise. They fall in love while going around Melbourne and especially on a day trip to his little hometown down the coast. There, she meets Zach’s Dad and his best friends, a married couple expecting, at long last, their first baby. Everyone has wise words for her. Unfortunately this interlude is shattered by her New York office finally getting in touch with her (bad cell service in the little town) and informing her that she is scheduled for an important TV interview on National TV that very night to discuss her article that she hasn’t even started yet(!). Surprise! “Where have you been!…Get back to Melbourne, ASAP!!!!!!!” Of course this causes her to revert back to her old annoying self and frenetic ways, and harsh words are said between her and Zach, who is to blame (apparently) for her not finishing her writing assignment and getting her off track. Fun fact. The TV interview host is Dannii Minogue who is a real TV personality and sister of Kylie Minogue. But Georgie is back to panic-mode and the all-important-to-her-career interview and her relationship with Zach is headed for disaster until it’s not. At least the relationship, anyway.

So, for me, this was a pretty good Hallmark whose main character had a lot to learn, seemingly learned it, but reverted back to type when faced with a little adversity before she finally saw the light once and for all (hopefully.) Unfortunately I took issue with her behavior after she finally saw the light in the middle of the nationally televised interview. Native Australian Malory Jansen wrote and produced this movie as a tribute to her home town of Melbourne. As such, she did a very credible job. It was filmed on location and Melbourne seems like a really cool and fun town. Despite hitting all of the usual Hallmark beats I liked the message. One of the reasons Georgie was the way she was is that it took her a long time to find out what she wanted to do with her life and feels like she is always playing catch up with her peers. Zach teaches her to quit measuring herself against other people and “run her own race”. Where you are is where you are supposed to be. The writing was not brilliant but just fine. The dialogue was good. And of course the scenery was great and helped to keep me engaged.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Catch of the Day

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Doesn’t Flounder

**Spoilers Ahoy**

My reaction to this one is similar to last week’s premiere. That is, nothing to write home about, but likable and an easy watch. It managed to avoid the most irritating tropes including the last minute “misunderstanding due to miscommunication”. It hit enough of the usual Hallmark beats to give off that nostalgic comfortable feel. And it lacked anything super annoying, barring Evelyn, the truly awful and mean boss of our heroine, that is. But those over the top meanies can be a good thing if dealt with correctly by the end. I spent half the movie in suspense hoping for a massive telling off/”serves you right!” scenario. I was thinking this movie will rise or fall on what happens with Evelyn. It wasn’t quite the bolt of lightning moment I was hoping for, but it was good enough and at least the big showdown was face to face.

Sophie is a talented chef working at an elite fine dining restaurant in New York City. She is promoted to head sous chef and is one step closer to her dream of being an executive chef. Inconveniently, she receives a call from her sister who is struggling to run the family seafood restaurant in Montauk Long Island. She needs her help to get ready for the make or break July 4th celebration. The restaurant is dying a not-so-slow death, and to make things worse, it just got a bad review from a local influencer who bemoans how far this former Montauk institution has fallen since the death of their father. If Sophie can’t help, they will have to sell, which would make her mother very unhappy. Evelyn reluctantly gives Sophie 10 days off instead of the 3 weeks she asked for on the condition that Sophie prepares an impressive meal for some investors she will be entertaining there in her mansion on Montauk. Evelyn is the typical Hallmark Bad Boss: harsh, unappreciative, entitled, and unreasonable. In case we missed her role in the movie, when Sophie makes a command appearance at her vacation home but with her two nieces in tow and asks for some water for the little girls, Evelyn reacts like they are asking for pints of blood. Her own blood.

Sophie is scandalized when she gets to her family’s restaurant. She rarely visits since she doesn’t get any time off. The decor is tired, there are no customers, and horrors, they are using frozen fish instead of fresh when they are in one of the salt water fishing capitals of the world. Her sister, who doesn’t even like to cook, is financially and emotionally stressed, and even though Sophie is right in her criticisms, you can’t help but feel for both of them. I liked that there were no villains or idiots here. When the sisters said something hurtful to each other or had a disagreement, it was not silly but understandable and they both acted like adults and apologized in a timely manner. And that also goes for Sophie and Cam, the love interest. Sophie decides to shut the place down temporarily and have a grand re-opening on July 4. Whether they sell up or keep on going will depend on that crucial day.

When Sophie goes down to the docks to score some fresh fish, she runs into an old beau who gave her the cold shoulder in highschool, who runs his Dad’s fishing business. They re-fall in love over dinners, field trips, and walks on the beach which serve to showcase the beauty and appeal of Montauk. They seem to have plenty of time on their hands to re-kindle the romance even though she only has less than a week and a half to whip the old restaurant back into shape including a new menu, hiring a manager, establishing a social media presence, and re-decorating. Not to mention planning and preparing a stellar Michelin star level feast for Evelyn’s investors. This is standard operating procedure for Hallmark heroes and heroines when faced with a life altering impossible-to-meet deadline. Thankfully, I no longer get stressed out over the main couple’s poor time management skills and lack of urgency. I just go with it, trusting in Hallmark magic to avoid failure and disaster. At least Sophie comments on how much she has to do and looks stressed from time to time. Needless to say, as we see how wonderful her life could be at home in Montauk it becomes obvious to everyone but Sophie where her happy and fulfilling future lies. Especially contrasted with Evelyn’s unpleasantness and abuse. 

Like last week’s movie, this one was filmed partially in the United States (what’s going on?), but it ups the ante by being filmed right there in Montauk and environs. The show runners took full advantage, and I wish I could go there. Michael Rady, who played Fisherman Cam, and Emilie Ullerup, who played Sophie were a good match. The relationship was built realistically.  Sophie’s overhaul of her family restaurant wasn’t entirely smooth sailing (providing some humor), and the romance with Cam wasn’t either.  It took a while for Sophie to see how happy her future could be running her family restaurant compared with what her life would be continuing to work for Evelyn. Thanks to her heroics planning the meal for Evelyn’s investors, including overcoming disasters not of her making, Evelyn finally realizes Sophie’s worth and offers her the executive chef position at her new restaurant…in Las Vegas. In case it wasn’t obvious what Sophie would ultimately do, that revelation pretty much sealed the deal. Sophie herself doesn’t get it until on the helipad with Evelyn on the way out of Montauk. The confrontation scene was OK even though there was no screaming involved and they both acted like mature adults. Sophie even got back in time to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks with her family and her man.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

A Machu Picchu Proposal

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Which does not take place on Machu Picchu

This is the last of the Passport to Love series before we once again experience Christmas in July at Hallmark next week. Time flies. Dan and Katie are twins and throughout the movie they throw out terms like Twin-Tuition, Twin Talk Time, Sacred Circle of Truth, and put their fists on their hearts as a gesture of solidarity. So that was annoying. They also are alike in that they both have been raised to believe that planning and organization are the keys to a happy successful life. Spontaneity and impulsiveness make them very uncomfortable. No prizes for guessing the kind of people they end up with by the end of the movie.

Dan, who does something with cutting edge technology,  is going to Peru to visit his girlfriend and meet her family before proposing to her at Machu Picchu. That’s the plan, anyway. Katie is a high school Home Economics teacher. That gave me pause. I didn’t know that they even still taught “Cooking and Sewing” in highschool. And that is Katie’s own description of her field. Dan finds her in her classroom testing out Bolognese sauce during the summer break in preparation for her fall classes. He wants Katie to help plan the proposal which must be amazing and spectacular and because she speaks Spanish and he doesn’t. Even though this is a spur of the moment invitation which is just the kind of thing that Katie dislikes, he guilts her into going with him. Something about her weighing one more pound than him when they were born. And off they go.

When Dan and Luciana, his girlfriend, meet up in her hometown, they find that she has surprisingly (yep) invited an old friend from school, Carlos, to hang with them. Carlos, like Luciana, is easygoing, a free spirit, and prone to spur of the moment changing of plans. And, true to form, by virtue of his ability to make friends everywhere, Carlos has without consultation committed the four to a “behind the scenes” VIP tour of Machu Picchu for that very day. Poor Dan! Poor Katie! They are not happy about having to cancel their meticulously planned out visit/marriage proposal that was to take place on Thursday, after Dan has met Luciana’s family and asked her father permission to ask for her hand. Luciana, however, is thrilled with the new plan, and Dan and Katie’s concerns (they have already bought the tickets) are waved away. They go to the ancient lost city, Dan gets altitude sickness, Katie can’t work the camera, and the proposal is thwarted. And so it goes.

That proposal did not work out and neither do the subsequent attempts at other tourist destinations in the area. The brother and sister blame Carlos for these failures, but it is mostly their own fault. Dan gets drunk, gets a rash from an alpaca poncho, drinks a glass full of a milk-based Peruvian drink when he is allergic to dairy, and they lose the engagement ring while making chocolate. In addition to the cocoa bean tutorial, the viewer is treated to all kinds of interesting activities and some great scenery. In no particular order, we visit the Mara salt mines and learn about that, the city of Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, learn about Rainbow Mountain, visit Pisac, the spiritual center of Peru, visit an alpaca farm, make empanadas, and eat all kinds of other local delicacies, including bugs. Katie and Dan decide that they must keep the proposal a secret from impetuous unpredictable Carlos and that the occasion must be photographed with Dan’s state of the art 360 degree live-streaming camera. The upshot is that by the almost end of the movie Luciana is still unproposed to but Katie and Carlos have formed a romantic attachment. Katie has learned to be more spontaneous which leads her to set up the perfect proposal for her brother so, thank God, Luciana gets asked for her hand in marriage. But NOT at Machu Picchu!  And, even though Dan has been kind of a drag throughout the movie (including an ugly and senseless argument with Katie), for some reason, she accepts. Honestly, I fear for the relationships of both couples, once they return to Chicago. Katie learns to appreciate spontaneity, but Carlos doesn’t change a bit. Luciana and Carlos have more in common. They even visit romantic Rainbow Mountain together without their ostensible love interests! I was amazed why neither Katie nor Dan seemed to be at all threatened by their relationship. Which was very mature of them. I guess?

Usually, Rhiannon Fish really leans into a “wide-eyed dorkily hapless” schtick with her acting style. This movie is no exception, though she does tone it down just a bit in this one. Alex Santos, who plays Carlos, is very cute and charming. But apparently my unease over his relationship with Rhiannon will prove justified. He will already have moved on next week as the love interest of Natalie Hall in the first of the July Christmas movies. Glad to see him again so soon, however unfortunately timed, Hallmark.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Villa Amore

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Fixer Upper

Some years ago there was a movie called Under the Tuscan Sun with Diane Lane, Lindsay Duncan, and Sandra Oh, which I very much enjoyed. It, like this one, is about a woman disappointed and hurt by love who goes to rural Italy to recover, and ends up impetuously buying a small villa and restoring it to its former glory. In both movies, they slowly but surely become part of their communities, and there is romance, old people, and a pregnancy of a side character (sorry Sandra Oh, you stole the show. No offence intended) to deal with. Everything is set against the difficult but ultimately rewarding restoration of the old home. Of course, there are many differences, but this review is not a “Compare and Contrast” essay question so I will stop there. I’m just saying, if you enjoyed the quiet pace and captivating atmosphere of the older movie, you will probably like this one, if you like to watch Hallmarks.

Liara’s fiancé dumps her in the final stages of preparing for their wedding. They were going to go to Italy for their honeymoon because that is where her mother and late father met. Her mother convinces her to go on her honeymoon by herself and encourages her to try to visit the little town where she and Liara’s father fell in love. There was a pretty villa there that he had promised to buy for her one day. Bless their hearts. Young Love. Liara takes her mother’s advice and we have some beautiful shots of Rome. It hasn’t changed a bit. She meets a handsome American with dual citizenship (Kevin McGarry) helping his cousin in his bakery and she is surprised that his Nonna lives in the same little village that her mother visited. On a whim she decides to go there and sees advertisements for a group of old Italian villas that are on sale for 1 euro each. And what do you know but there is the same villa that her parents had always had a photograph of in a place of honor among them! She decides to buy it as a symbolic gesture for her Mom to fulfil her youthful dream. It’s only 1 euro, right? What could go wrong? Snicker. At some point she will re-sell it at her leisure since she doesn’t plan on living there. She is going back to Chicago tomorrow. What an idiot. As Leo, the handsome American, points out, she didn’t read the fine print. Or think this through at all. It turns out that she signed off on investing in completely renovating the building and she only has 3 months to complete it as she is an American and her visa will expire in 90 days. If she doesn’t follow through, she will be persona non grata throughout Europe.

90 days may not seem much time for restoring a dilapidated falling apart estate in a foreign country in real life, but it is an eon in Hallmark time. A similar daunting project was completed in Hallmark’s Tis the Season to be Irish in under two weeks. (Seemingly.) I really liked the relatively slower pace of this one. The restoration, the romance and Liara’s slow integration into the community was given time to develop which added an authenticity seldom seen in Hallmarks. The villa, which does not even have running water or electricity, is slowly (but fastly in the end) brought into shape with ex-lawyer and current contractor/handyman, Leo’s, help and results in an enviably beautiful home. She makes friends. In the process, Liara starts to struggle with the idea of returning to her career in Chicago and leaving the life she has found in Italy and her romantic relationship with Leo. Happily and mysteriously, Liara is in the enviable position of not having to consider money and how to get it in this movie. Also there is a donkey, olive trees, and she finds a letter from her father in a box of old mail. It all comes to a head when her ex finds her in Italy and wants to resume their relationship like nothing happened and a major real estate development firm shows interest in buying her property. 

One thing I really liked was what happened when her ex-fiancé showed up unexpectedly. Usually the new love interest will misinterpret some interaction between the ex-couple and go flouncing off in a huff, resulting in the big misunderstanding. That didn’t happen here. Instead, Leo starts to tell him off and almost punches him for what he did to Liara. Liara stops him and tells him off herself. He says “my bad” and goes away. No big last 15 minute romantic conflict!

Eloise Mumford who played Liara is a bit of a hit or miss with me. Comedy is not her forte. And there were some scenes in this movie which could have been played for more humor. Unfortunately, the actress’s resting face is “On the Verge of Tears.” Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. Also I wish that Liara’s mother had been more involved in the story. She doesn’t come to Italy until all is settled as part of the epilogue. I would have liked to have seen her earlier helping with the renovation and healing from the death of her husband.

All in all there was a lot to appreciate in this one including the cinematography. It stepped outside the box in more ways than one. But, for me, it was missing that special spark that makes it a top tier Hallmark.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

To Barcelona, Forever

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Part II. Just Add Saffron.

Ok so now it’s Anna’s turn to find her soulmate in Barcelona (or vicinity). In the first movie of this two-parter an author (Anna) and the translator of her book (Erica) met in Barcelona and became best friends. Erica found true love with her best friend (No, not Anna-another one-a guy) and Anna found her true calling, which was not a novelist but a food writer. Erica is the true novelist. Or is she? A publisher has given her a book deal without her even having to submit a proposal or even a vague idea for a novel, and she has not written a word. Yes, it’s the dreaded Hallmark Writer’s Block. But we’ll put a pin in that one because this movie is about Anna who has spent the last 5 months traveling around Europe blogging about food. She has attracted the interest of a food magazine who is willing to give her a real job if she can blow off their socks with a groundbreaking article on something to do with food.

Anna visits a gourmet shop and the shop owner suggests a teeny tiny jar of the world famous saffron that he is the exclusive purveyor of. When she finds out the price, she laughs in his face “Does it come with its own private chef?” and makes another sarcastic remark or two. Unfortunately, the owner of the saffron farm, Javier Estrella, is standing right behind her. Meet Cute Alert!  He is very offended and she is very abashed. She wants to write about his saffron and his family who for generations have been producing the world’s finest example of the venerated spice. That’s a big nope. Besides the disdain he feels for Anna, his family takes privacy to an almost pathological level. Even the village they live in is so secret, no one can find it, “unless they want you to. And they don’t.” We’ll put a pin in that one too. Well, one thing leads to another, the disdain does not last long, and the sparks just fly off these two. They have a magical evening which ends with a kiss. On her way to Portugal the next morning, Anna’s car breaks down right outside Javier’s secret village (What are the odds?-It must be fate). Javier is horrified to find her lugging her luggage down the street, thinking she followed him. As it turns out, Javier was in Barcelona to meet a matchmaker his mother set him up with. He promised her he would get married before the next harvest in a couple of weeks and start having babies to continue the family legacy. His family will think Anna is his fiancée (they work fast in this neck of the woods). Instead of telling his mother the truth they decide to compound the problem and have Anna pose as his fiancée so his mother will have her heart broken later rather than sooner, and broken worse by getting her hopes up and of course she will grow to love the super charming Anna. In turn, Javier will let Anna publish her article about the family business, on the condition he approves of it once it’s written. Orphan Anna grows to feel a part of the warm tradition-loving family and romance, conflict, misunderstandings, hurt feelings, drama, comedy, and a festival ensue. And Erica and Nico from the first movie show up adding to both the fun and the tribulations which follow.

Thanks to the performances of Ashley Williams and Miguel Bracco, who played Javier, this movie won me over pretty quickly with their first scene together. Their chemistry (hate that word, but what can you do?) between the two really made the romance work. Their banter was funny, thanks to both their delivery and the writer (Julie Sherman Wolfe). Ashley brought her Golden Retriever puppy dog personality somewhat to heel, and nailed her character’s vulnerable introspective side. The easy rapport between Ashley Williams and Alison Sweeney was a natural. What took them so long?  The saffron aspect was interesting and educational.

It was not problem free, of course. Few Hallmarks are. There were the usual cliches, nonsensical decisions, and other questionable occurrences only for the sake of plot and drama. And the casting was a little off the wall. This included the actor playing Javier’s father being the same age as Ashley Williams, his future daughter-in-law (presumably). The Mom was also very youthful and hip looking for such an old-fashioned character. And other things we won’t dwell on. It will be a banner day when Hallmark embraces the real ages of their talented and popular lead actresses and gives them roles which acknowledge that yes, even women in their 40s and 50s can find romance and adventure. Which I would guess is their target market, by the way. Insert “shrug” emoji.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

To Barcelona, With Love

/ Rebekahrox / 6 Comments
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The Ashley and Alison Show

This was almost really good. The plot was a fairly fresh take on the iconic Cyrano de Bergerac love triangle. Roxanne with Steve Martin was mentioned. Anna, played by Ashley Williams, is a romance writer whose latest book is a big flop. That is because she is not a good writer. Case in point. She sets the book in Barcelona, Spain and she has never even been to Barcelona. But that’s OK because “she walked the streets” courtesy of Google Maps Street View. Her first book was successful only because she had a wonderful editor who fixed it. Her publisher does not want to have anything more to do with her. Until the soaring sales figures from Barcelona come in. Shockingly, instead of being exposed there as being phony and inauthentic to the native Catalans, it is a big hit. That’s because of…Erica. Erica, played by Alison Sweeney, is an expat American who has lived and worked in Barcelona for 10 years. She is a literary translator who is the one who translated Anna’s book into Spanish. Except she didn’t just translate it she rewrote it completely. “I didn’t mean to!” Her knowledge and love for the city shown through and she put in a lot of symbolism and other stuff, making it an almost instant modern classic in Catalonia. She is best friends with a very handsome bookseller, Nico, with whom she is secretly in love. He absolutely loves the book and invites the “author”, Anna, to Barcelona to promote it at his bookstore. Anna is thrilled, especially when she gets to Spain and gets a load of handsome and sexy Nico. They start crushing on each other.  Erica and Anna become friends and it isn’t long before Anna realizes, humorously, that the Spanish version of the book is nothing like the English version that she wrote. “Dolphins? I don’t remember writing anything about Dolphins?!”. The whole truth comes out and Anna and Erica decide to keep the secret so as not to ruin the bookstore event. And all of this is with the full blessing of the publisher, as long as Erica keeps to her non-disclosure agreement. I was relieved not to have to deal with a lot of faffing around with zero communication, lies, or threats of exposure. Well OK, Nico was out of the loop, but that was necessary to the romance, and the women’s efforts to keep up the deception were amusing. And although not realistic, Anna did not get cranky about Erica taking over her book. It only made her realize that she was not that kind of writer. Besides, she still got credit for it.

As Anna, Erica, and Nico tour around Barcelona, it becomes more and more clear to everyone that Erica is the one who should be with Nico, not Anna, with whom he has nothing in common. It was a slow burn romance and nicely done. What makes this movie, beside the beautiful setting, is the character of Anna and the performance of Ashley Williams. While her super-smiley perky sparkles personality and acting style can wear thin very quickly, she was perfectly cast as the exuberant extrovert Anna to whom no one is a stranger. Williams really leans into her signature acting style in what is almost a self-parody. She attacks people she sees reading her book, introduces herself as the author, holds up her photo on the book jacket to prove it, and insists on signing it for them. It was funny. She is more interested in food and eating than sight-seeing. It isn’t long before she knows more about where to eat in Barcelona than the natives do. As it turns out, Anna may not be able to write romantic fiction, but she’s a genius at writing about food. How will Anna and Erica, who is the true novelist, get their careers and love lives on the right paths? 

This movie was fun because the veteran Hallmark writer, Julie Sherman Wolfe,  kept it light-hearted and romantic, avoiding stupid misunderstandings, festering secrets, and hostile threats from bullying bosses that this type of plot could very well have fallen into. A case could be made that the two talented actresses were too old for their parts. At one point Erica hints that she is still looking to start a family. And Ashley’s part as a budding writer who still hasn’t found her niche is more suitable for someone in their 20s or early 30s. But these were minor points and easily pushed to the side. And, we are in good hands with the two talented Hallmark veterans. Plus Alison Sweeney and Alejandro Tous were a good match. The only thing that brought the movie down was Erica taking way too long to claim what she deserved in her career and personal life. She made hiding and denying practically an art form. Not my favorite.

As it turns out this was the first part of a movie duo. Next week it’s Anna’s turn to get the guy in Barcelona. I’m looking forward to it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.