Christin Park

Love Finds You

/ Rebekahrox / 18 Comments
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“Woo-Woo” Wooing

Although there were some good things about this movie, it was pretty much sabotaged by the premise, which was contrived and absurd. It’s like the writers had the idea for the male and female to fall in love on a delivery truck while on a quest for the owner of a mysterious package who is someone on the driver’s route.  But since they couldn’t think of a reason to get her on the truck, they decided to put fantasy and magic in there so no one would question how the plot didn’t make sense because it had fantasy and magic in it. It’s magic. It’s fantasy. It isn’t reality. So it does not have to make sense. Right? Wrong. Magic always makes sense, even in a Hallmark. Magic is the doing of a magical person like Santa Claus, or an elf, an angel, or a ghost of a loved one. Or it comes from a magical object, like a magic dreidel, or lemon drop, or comet, or baked goods (so, so many). There are probably others, but the point is, it always has a reason for being. Not in this one. All we get is a musical chord one time, a bar code scanner that is behaving mysteriously,  and some shout outs to “fate” and “destiny ” to try to explain the unexplainable.

Alex Brown (Aimee Teagarden) is a Jewelry Designer who has a knack for customizing jewelry to reflect in some way the personality and history of her clients. They or the loved one fills out a questionnaire about themselves or the giftee and she designs a piece that is exactly right.  She also has had a string of unhappy love affairs which we hear all about. Thanks to one of her best friends, she has too much wine and does a new age type ceremony that is going viral, called “Fire and Aspire.” This involves burning the artifacts left by old boyfriends (Alex conveniently has a whole box full) and saying out loud or “manifesting” the qualities she really wants in a boyfriend. The next day, she receives a purple box delivered by Jack, her regular delivery guy (Chris McNally) who is a grumpy curmudgeon who also has an unhappy romantic history. Alex has been unable to befriend him with her cutesy post-it notes and cupcakes. She does not have a romantic interest in him per se, she just wanted to be friendly and get him to unbend a little because she is the perky sunshine type. It’s the “Grumpy-Sunshine” trope. He only cares about delivering his packages in good condition and on time and has no interest in “customer service,” i.e. being friendly and pleasant. He is also one of two top runners in a contest his employer is having, the prize being enough money to pay off the remainder of his sister’s college loan.

Back to the purple package. When Alex opens it, every item in there reflects an aspect of every quality she wished for in a man during the ceremony the night before. So the other “Alex Brown” this package is meant for must be her soulmate. She and her friends confront Jack with the package that was delivered to her by mistake but won’t give it back to him because they want to find and meet the Alex Brown it was meant for. They force Jack’s hand, but when Jack scans the barcode on the label,  no address comes up. The scanner is being spooky. To make a long and annoying episode short, this is how Alex gets to wheedle herself aboard Jack’s delivery truck. Where she procedes to whine, make demands, and stick her nose in his business. There are several other Alex Browns on his route, (what are the chances?) but none of them are the right guy. Meanwhile, Jack displays by his words and actions that he  actually possesses all of the qualities she wished for in a man. Alex shows him how being more personable can win him the contest, and they fall in love. The romance wasn’t bad, but other than that, it was just one stupid thing after another.

So what were the good things about this movie I mentioned? I really liked Chris McNally in this. He made a great curmudgeon. Even when he transformed into the typical Hallmark hero (all too soon), he was still good. I thought Aimee Teagarden was kind of miscast as the perky sunshine type, but she ended up being just fine, even though her character was super irritating. The side characters were positives and the pacing was good. Despite the stupidities and the annoyances with the plot elements themselves, the dialogue and conversations were smart and had some wit. Most importantly, it did not rely on the usual Hallmark core plot elements, like saving a beloved institution or the last minute misunderstanding to hang the story on.

**Major Spoilers**

So do we ever get to the bottom of what was behind the appearance of the magical box? Yes we do! It turns out it was all a big coincidence! There really was an Alex Brown who ordered all of the items that pointed to him being the other Alex’s soulmate. And his order was mistakenly delivered to the one and only of the many other Alex Browns in the area who had just “manifested” everything the box contained. It was just that his delivery area was just annexed. Coincidence! But too bad for him,  Alex was already in love with Jack, so he ends up with Megan, Alex’s best friend. Also, Jack ends up winning the contest even though he dropped out the day before. So many unanswered “But-What-About???s”. Even though many probably don’t, I didn’t like the way Hallmark just took for granted that their viewership wouldn’t notice or care about so many nonsensical things in this movie. And this includes how Megan is going to navigate having both the love of her life and her best friend having the same name. I guess it’s better than a match between Alex Brown and Alex Brown.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Game of Love

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

Let the Games Begin

I think so highly of Kimberley Sustad that I’m not sure whether I liked the non-Kimberley Sustad parts or not. I suspect if her character had been played by anyone else, I would have absolutely hated her. As it was although she was very flawed with many issues to tackle,  Sustad managed to make her sympathetic and likable enough that I could put up with her with patience until she started to see light. If only how she managed that could be formulated, bottled, and distributed to her colleagues.

Audrey is a quest and adventure game designer. She is a loner in her personal life-her only friends are an older woman whom she plays board games with at a cafe, and an unseen person that she plays a word game with that is not Words with Friends, but she does “chat” quite a bit with him (or her). Of course, she is not interested in romantic love and dating is a big no-no. If she were a guy, she would be living in her mother’s basement. Right off the bat, she has to be shamed into going on a blind date she had already agreed to arranged by her only friend. She shows up to the elite restaurant in a hoodie and jeans. She has the grace to be embarrassed when her date is a real hottie and smartly dressed. They get thrown out because there’s a dress code. Her date calls her out on her rudeness and arrogance and leaves. Her behavior did not endear her to me either. But you know, Kimberley Sustad.  In her professional life, she is known as “Not a Team Player.” She works on her own and doesn’t want help or input from her fellow employees. She wears headphones all the time to keep people away. Nice little detail. When eagerly approached by Patti, a hero-worshiping new employee, adorably played by Christin Park, as yet uncredited on IMDb, she is politely dismissed. Actually, how Audrey treats her is very rude and unkind, but Kimberley plays it so you don’t hate her.

Needless to say, because PLOT, Audrey’s world is about to be rocked. Her boss tasks her to work with a marketing consultant (Matthew, played by Brooks Darnell) to develop a game that will finally win a coveted award and the deadline is only a month away. It will be called “Love Life” and is based on the search for love (Uh-Oh!). Audrey is horrified but she has no choice. Kimberley needs a strong co-lead to keep up with her, and Brooks Darnell fills the bill nicely. Matthew has the opposite problem from Audrey in that he is anxious to fit in and be accepted by everyone. Everything he does is “on trend.” Meanwhile, he has lost his true self.

Audrey does a terrible job developing a game about something she has no use for and finally realizes, thanks to Matthew, that she needs help from others. With the help of her newly formed team, including adorable sweet Patti, they start to make great strides. Both Matthew and Audrey learn about each other and start to like each other. We learn why they are the way they are and they help each other become better. Audrey learns how to play well with others and also starts to get close to Matthew. Matthew starts to shed the need to pretend to be something he is not. He takes down the trendy anonymous abstract painting in his stark apartment and replaces it with his own original photographic art. Symbolism! This from his former profession that he had been pressured to give up as too quixotic and unprofitable. Their learning curve which involves a lot of game stuff takes up the bulk of the movie, and got a little long.

This movie did not escape the usual “big crisis with only 18 minutes to go” syndrome. Kimberly backslides into her old ways which was stupid and didn’t make sense, but it was brief. Had to be because only 5 minutes to go by this time. Anyway, the Hallmark Happy ending followed apace with love, happiness, and professional success for all. Oh. And guess who her Not-Words-with-Friends chat buddy turned out to be? Yup.

The backdrop of game development was pretty interesting and unusual, the script had some nice details, the set decoration and graphics were on point, and the romance was serviceable. The acting and character development were its strength. There was not a lot of humor, except stemming from Sustad’s delivery, warmth, and authenticity.  It was good but not outstanding. All in all, I give it a 7 1/2 on my special Hallmark scale.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Sweeter than Chocolate

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

“Love is Worth the Grief.”

I wasn’t exactly bowled over by Dan Jeannotte in the previous movie I remembered seeing him in (turns out I’ve seen him in 4 movies) and was not looking forward to this one. Chocolate. Again. Save the little Shop. Again. But he won me over right away.  He brought humor and charm to his character who started off a little smarmy and full of himself but ended up quite warm and sympathetic. And his chemistry with the female lead, Eloise Mumford, was almost tangible.  She has done an excellent job in several recent Hallmarks. She tends to star in more emotional serious scripts, rather than light comedic fare. Probably because she almost always looks like she is going to burst into tears at any given moment. This movie is sweeter and lighter in tone and she handles the banter and romantic comedy vibe pretty well though it’s not her forte.

The plot wasn’t much and has been done before quite recently (eat magic food-find true love). But despite that, thanks to the pairing of the two leads, and some entertaining side stories, I enjoyed it. Lucy and her mother own a chocolate shop that features their magic chocolate cupids. According to the family legend, anyone who is open to love and eats one of them on Valentine’s Day will meet their perfect match. When her best friend does just that and ends up getting engaged to her boyfriend, she is so over the moon that she posts about it. It goes viral and the little family legend gets the attention of a TV producer who sends her ace investigative reporter to do a story on it. In a little twist, she wants a happy feel-good story, not an expose. Unfortunately, too used to looking for scams everywhere, he offends and insults Lucy and her shop and gets thrown out. When his editor tells him that a promotion to the anchor position he covets is riding on his ability to branch out from hard-hitting takedowns of scam artists to include more fluffy morning show-friendly pieces, he convinces Lucy to give him another chance. The publicity would boost sales and save their shop.

The romance between ambitious and cynical Dean Chase and shy and vulnerable Lucy is engaging. Lucy has never tried one of her own chocolate cupids because she does not want to open herself up to love and romance. She was painfully affected by how the death of her father devastated her mother for so long. Despite themselves, Dean and Lucy grow closer as the one story has led to a whole series featuring interviews with couples that the magic chocolates have brought together. She needs the sales that Dean’s stories are generating but the orders become more than the shop can handle. Things get overwhelming, a few things go wrong, Dean may be moving to New York, and Lucy does not handle any of it well. She starts to think that the magic chocolates are cursed, and generally gets all weepy and starts to go off the deep end, which Eloise Mumford is very good at. Luckily for the happy ending, Lucy’s mother steps in with her insights, wisdom, and her own backstory, and helps Lucy to understand that even though opening herself to love may sometimes lead to grief and pain, it is worth the risk. And Grandpa “Opa” would approve.

This Hallmark had a nice balance of emotional struggles, humor, character arcs, and romance. A dash of magic and a good message made for a winning recipe.

Rating: 7 out of 10.