Hallmark Review: Smart Cookies (2012, dir. Robert Iscove)

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

This is the second Hallmark movie in row I’ve watched where a woman in expensive clothes falls in mud. Why? I guess if kids can beatbox in R.L. Stine’s Monsterville: The Cabinet Of Souls, then this movie can also fall back really tired and old things such as rich peopling falling in mud.

That butt belongs to real estate agent Julie Sterling (Jessalyn Gilsig). This movie was made in 2012 and was meant to commemorate 100 years of the Girl Scouts. This movie doesn’t even try to give an excuse for Sterling to get involved with the Girl Scouts. Her boss played by Patricia Richardson just shows up in her office, says a girl scout troop needs a leader, and that she has to go be it for 90 days. End of story. I like it when a Hallmark movie doesn’t bullshit, but just says, this is a thing that’s happening, so onward with the movie. The Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place To Die did that too.

Julie may not be good with kids, but she does come prepared with a purse big enough to hold a severed head in it. As I’m sure you already know, she isn’t assigned the “good” girl scouts, but the ones who really need help. Kind of like herself. Bailee Madison plays one of the scouts and once again she is cast just to be super cute.

While she is working with the scouts she is also trying to sell a house. That part is really just a barometer so we can tell at what stage in her character arc she is based on how her professional life is affected by her time with the kids. Also, it’s how she runs into a handy man played by Ty Olsson who kind of reminded me of tech journalist Patrick Norton. Only with more hair.

His performance really is the highlight of this film. Of course he is also the father of Bailee Madison’s character. He’s nice, he doesn’t act zany, he cares about his daughter, etc. He’s the best part of the movie.

Since the Girl Scouts are probably best known for their cookies. The end of the film becomes her troop facing off against the best scouts to sell the most cookies. The scenes where they are fighting each other in street for sales by changing their deal every few seconds till they finally capture the crowd are the majority of these parts. I wish they had cut some of the unnecessary adapting scenes such as the mud part and given us some scenes of her doing the work that the scouts are supposed to be doing. Instead, we get a brief flash of her coming out of a Kinkos type place and then the kids are complaining about her doing everything for them. Would have been nice if they had shown that rather than just telling us it happened.

Honestly, what this movie did for me is remind me of why I enjoyed watching Troop Beverly Hills (1989) as a kid. However, there is one last thing to mention and that is that for once in a long time, the romance part really takes a back seat to the stuff with the scouts. Yes, she warms up to the father and we can see that they are good friends and are going to see where that takes them, but it’s not forced down our throats. He never proposes at the end or anything. The end is her realizing that her boss has helped make her a better person by giving her these 90 days with the girls and that she would like to continue doing it.

Is it worth watching? Not really. It won’t kill ya, but I certainly wouldn’t seek it out.

Horror Film Review: Blades (1989, dir. Thomas R. Rondinella)

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Recently Lisa reviewed Jaws. You know what she did probably without knowing it? She reviewed Blades. Seriously, it’s the same movie. Watch this. I’m going to take the second paragraph of her review and make it about Blades.

I mean, seriously, what’s there to say about this film? Blades is one of those movies that no one has seen and everyone has seen. And, even if everyone hasn’t seen the film, chances are they can still tell you about it. They know it’s a movie about a giant lawnmower that attacks Tall Grass Country Club, just as a big golfing tournament is starting. They know the club owner refuses to close the course, because he doesn’t want to lose the television exposure. They know that the final half of the film is two guys and a girl (Robert North, Victoria Scott, and Jeremy Whelan) driving around a golf course in a van, searching for a lawnmower. And they certainly know that, whenever you hear the rumble of an engine, it means that someone is about to get attacked.

See, it’s the same damn movie! And it’s damn entertaining! The reason it works so well is that they play it straight. The scene where Jeremy Whelan, who plays the Robert Shaw character named Deke Slade, tells the story about his father dying at the hands of a lawnmower, it’s done with all the seriousness that Shaw told his shark story.

Also, Robert North, who plays the Roy Scheider character named Roy Kent, always appears genuinely concerned for the lives of the people on the golf course.

It’s been awhile since I watched Jaws, but I swear I remember a scene on par with the most ridiculous scene in this movie. That’s where they deputize a bunch of people who go out on a big hunt for the killer lawnmower and catch one. Then our heroes go and cut it open to find that it doesn’t have inside of it any body parts to indicate that it’s the right mower.

So you want to see the killer mower? Here it is near the end of the film.

How does it end? The same way of course. Explosives get placed on the lawnmower and Roy hits a golf ball onto it that triggers them. Boom!

I could have explained in more detail, but seriously it’s the same movie as Jaws. All you need to know is that yes, it does a good job and I think it’s worth watching. I honestly look at it less as a parody or a spoof of Jaws than an homage to it that shows how well that formula works.

One of my favorite things is in the credits. The very first credit you see is a solo card crediting the gaffer Scott Buckler. Before anyone else on the movie, the gaffer gets top billing.

At the end of the credits they hint at a sequel called Hedges about a killer chainsaw. After a guy leaves his chainsaw outside we see it appear to come alive. Then we get this.

The best part of this is you can easily watch it online. I’ve embedded it below. Enjoy!

Hallmark Review: Harvest Moon (2015, dir. Peter DeLuise)

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

That’s our girl Jennifer Stone (Jessy Schram) doing Alicia Silverstone from Clueless (1995). In short order she gets a call from daddy who has the sad news that the family is basically bankrupt. Her father is played by Willie Aames who most people will probably remember as Bibleman or one of those short lived sitcoms he was on. I said basically because Hallmark does like to recycle things from earlier movies so…

she inherits a pumpkin farm like in Growing The Big One. Let’s introduce the boy since you know it’s a given that she falls in mud wearing expensive clothes.

That’s Brett Jarrett (Jesse Hutch). The pumpkin farm has been in his family for a long time. I honestly don’t remember how they own the farm, but don’t. Doesn’t matter anyways. The film is about her adapting to living in the country while finding a way to make it a successful business.

There are some side characters, and those actors do a decent job. The problem is that this film would have been fine if it had just been about her turning this otherwise unknown pumpkin farm into a profit center for her and his family. But of course it also has to be about them falling in love. That part never really comes together. I think the one user review on IMDb is reading too much into it seeing it as greed conquers all. It’s more like yet another Hallmark movie where the love story part is unnecessary and forced. It just doesn’t need to be there. I was fine watching her discover the old Jarrett family recipe and turn it into a big success. That part was fine. They just wasted their time with the romance part. And it can even send what I believe is an unintended message that the IMDb user picked up on.

This is one that isn’t terrible, but subpar enough that I really wouldn’t waste your time watching it. Watch Clueless, Funny Farm (1988), and Baby Boom (1987) instead. They do the rich girl comes down to earth, adjusting to quirky country life, and making the most of a sudden shift from city life to country life much better.

At least the computer screen was done well in this.

And some nice shots of the Harvest Moon. Even if it does look close enough to kill everyone with the tides.

Hallmark Review: The Reckoning (2015, dir. Mark Jean)

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Jeez! That title card is even more generic looking than the one for Erotic Ink.

This movie picks up where The Confession left off. Katie is now rich, but remembers to remind us she’s Amish in case we’ve forgotten.

Is it in bad taste to use that particular screenshot after referencing the movie Erotic Ink? Nah, that movie was all one on one so it’s okay.

At least this time she doesn’t just flat out tell us she’s Amish. Actress Katie Leclerc can also do her fake Pennsylvania Dutch accent throughout the whole movie. Thank god! It doesn’t make it any less fake, but at least she doesn’t magically drop it like she did in The Confession. And neither is there a lady in the movie playing an actress playing an Amish girl doing a fake accent that we are supposed to recognize as fake. Since this movie is just a retread of a typical Hallmark romance with a bonnet thrown on it, here’s the wrong guy.

Oh, remember Daniel Fisher played by Cameron Deane Stewart in The Confession with wonder and a blind love for Katie? Yeah, he had to go because it’s imperative we replace him with the Jesus archetype family man guy played by Jacob Blair.

He even works as a carpenter in this movie. Speaking of characters who aren’t played by the same actor again.

Remember Katie’s biological mother played by Sherry Stringfield? Well, that picture is all you’ll see of her character in this movie. By that, I mean you won’t see her again, but you will hear a voiceover from her done by a different actress later in the movie.

So let’s lay out the plot. Katie decides to invest in a place Oak Vale: Home For Boys. A guy who worked as a janitor and grew up in homes like Oak Vale shows up and is hired as a counselor. Fisher shows up to tell Katie he’s not dead.

As you can see she takes it quite well. Of course Fisher starts working on the boys home. Gotta have someway for him to spend time around Katie!

Oh, there’s also a little subplot involving Katie’s adopted parents, but really it’s just there to tie up that loose end so that they can show up at the end of the movie.

The movie is about a girl moving forward with a marriage to the wrong guy while hanging around the right guy and helping this boys home out. Also, in reminding us she’s Amish.

I must say that as much as having the kids raise this barn to get them doing something positive together is a good idea, the size of it does make me chuckle.

Everything else is exactly what you expect from a Hallmark romance movie. If you think about it for a bit you can even figure out who the janitor turned counselor is. Some of the shots are quite nice. Oddly, once again, this Hallmark movie reminded me of another late night cable movie called Passionate Intentions which also had similarly nice cinematography.

All in all, it works well enough. Just know that the Amish bit really has nothing to do with anything and that this movie really exists just to give closure to this series of movies. Now I just need to watch The Shunning so that I will have reviewed all the movies in the series. Unfortunately, I can’t con my Dad into watching that one with me after watching this one. That means I’ll get to it eventually after the many more I have sitting on my DVR and the even more to be recorded in the coming months.

Children’s Horror: R.L. Stine’s Monsterville: The Cabinet Of Souls (2015, dir. Peter DeLuise)

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

The movie begins and we see a girl walking down the street on Halloween. She smashes a pumpkin and Billy Corgan takes revenge on her because her eyes turn creepy. She runs into the forest and becomes a monster. Then the movie reminds me that if I don’t like it, it’s not director Peter DeLuise’s fault cause it’s called R.L. Stine’s Monsterville: Cabinet Of Souls. The missing “the” had to be donated to the band The The who lost one of their the’s in a tragic accident.

Now it’s one year later and the kids are putting on a high school production of Something Wicked This Way Comes. We are introduced to two guys and two girls. Seeing as I got over my Disney Channel addiction a few years ago, I only recognize Dove Cameron seen here in Liv makeup…unfortunately.

This is a horror movie that wastes no time in killing off people.

He is never heard from again after being killed by that candy apple. Just kidding.

Anyways, we now cut to Nora’s Dance & Ballet Academy Halloween Spooky Dance Contest. Cue the Suspiria (1977) footage!

It’s bad enough the High School Musical movies made Disney think we want dancing and singing kids again, but then Nora says this.

No! Don’t do it kids! That’s how we ended up with the movie Nudist Colony Of The Dead (1991)!

Then these two show up. That’s Dr. Hysteria (Andrew Kavadas) and Lilith (Katherine McNamara). Dr. Hysteria then invites the children to visit his Hall of Horrors which is a journey “into the wretched black heart of pure evil itself.” He’s exaggerating though since it’s just a haunted house. He’s not holding screenings of God’s Not Dead (2014), Let’s Be Cops (2014), and Frenemies (2012).

All jokes aside, both of those actors do good jobs in this movie. They manage to actually be creepy and evil right up till the end. He even kills a kid. No joke.

Because the local news station actually had a story with enough information for the first time in days, they air that the girl from the beginning of the movie is still missing. Now we meet a guy who is probably interchangeable with an actor from Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990). I’ll find out when I get to it.

He goes on to brag that he once surfed in a monsoon and outran an avalanche with a broken snowboard so he doesn’t scare easily. I sat through the god awful Extreme Ops (2002) knowing that a guy actually died scouting locations for that studio cash-grab on the extreme sports craze, so this guy didn’t scare me.

Oh, and this movie has kids rapping, so if you are a child, you might not want to show this to your parents because they will probably want you dead. But let’s get to the haunted house.

And I put this screenshot here just so everyone knows that it’s okay to start submitting to IMDb that an alternate title of this movie is Troll 4.

There are scary things in this haunted house such as what Calculus II would have looked like in the sequel to Freshman Father called Sophomore Father: Revenge of the Derivative! There is also a guy making inappropriate references to penises by pretending to sell “brains on a stick”. But nothing is as scary as that ginormous pink scarf they have Cameron wear in these scenes. Seriously, why? She looks like someone is going to throw a saddle on her and start riding her. Also, I played The Walking Dead and know that you don’t want something a zombie can easily grab on to. Of course she stumbles into a backroom during this sequence to to find that maybe some of these monsters are real.

After Cameron figures out that the missing girl has something to do with the Hall of Horrors from a site with a malformed URL that it shows a close up of for no good reason. We see Lilith insist on having this guy wrap his arms around her as they ride her bike before she whispers in his ear that her favorite movie is Joe D’Amato’s Porno Holocaust (1981). The kid is naturally scared by this seeing as his favorite movie with Mark Shannon is Italian Batman (1982).

Now the really creepy stuff starts happening. Dr. Hysteria takes kids in to the backroom and shows them their dreams through a portal he opens up in front of them. Their eyes flash and the kids are now his. We don’t know what that means exactly at this point, but we soon find out.

Inside The Cabinet Of Souls are kids standing around while a fog machine fills the room. It’s a little unclear, but I believe these are the kids souls while their bodies exist in the real world as monsters. It’s all a little unclear. We see some of the monsters walk into the kids bodies. And we see Dr. Hysteria feed off their souls. He does this to one kid who apparently only had one more shot to give cause she dies. I like children’s movies that don’t soft pedal the danger. Harry Potter may have been a bit much, but you get my point. Oh, and before I jump to the end. Just in case the kids aren’t already afraid of clowns.

I love the way this kid acts too. It’s like they gave him a copy of Beetlejuice, told him to watch it, and just do that. Oh, and here’s the kid dying.

He says she’s almost empty, then sucks that last bit of lifeforce from her body. She dissolves to the ground and he says “you were a good worker.” Again, kudos to the actors and the people involved with this production for making this movie genuinely creepy even while making it geared toward a younger audience.

The creepy stuff keeps getting more and more frequent until it finally comes down to whether Cameron is going to join the family or not. Notice two members of the family are rocking the Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, Part 2 look. Of course Cameron fights back and saves the kids, leaving Lilith, extreme sports guy, and Dr. Hysteria to go into a red oblivion.

I enjoyed this movie. Yeah, I’m sucker for kids movies cause I basically missed out on my childhood by being sick and at home through middle school and high school, but this was well made. I recommend it. Serious points to Andrew Kavadas for the character of Dr. Hysteria.

Hallmark Review: Accidentally in Love (2011, dir. David Burton Morris)

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Another really simple one. I always feel bad reviewing one of these cause I feel like I’m cheating somebody. Also, this isn’t one I could watch where I could take screenshots. Oh, well. It is what it is.

The movie begins and we are introduced to Eddie Avedon (Ethan Erickson) who plays Mulligan the bunny on a children’s TV show. As soon as the camera shuts off, he shoves the kid costar on the show out of the way. He then proceeds to bitch and moan about the costume before he finally gets it off. Of course he hops in his car and soon ends up behind Annie Benchley (Jennie Garth). Benchley’s old run down car breaks down so Avedon keeps honking at her till he makes an attempt to go around her car. And by attempt, I mean he runs into her car. Setup!

We already know that obviously Avedon would rather be doing something else careerwise so we need to be introduced to Benchley. Benchley has a daughter who is losing her eyesight. She loves the character of Mulligan the bunny. So of course the two are going to end up together. The daughter kind of melts his heart. There are no surprises here or anything particularly interesting to mention.

The problem with this film is that I didn’t really think two leads had any chemistry together. Also, Jennie Garth doesn’t fit in the role of a single mother who is down on her luck working as a waitress with a kid going blind. Call it the fault of starring on Beverly Hills, 90210 for too long, but I just couldn’t look at her face and accept her in the role. I accepted him, but I also never really warmed up to him.

Still, it was okay. There were decent supporting performances from Avedon’s friend (Zack Ward), Benchley’s mother (Marilu Henner), Avedon’s agent (Fred Willard), and I even kind of liked the kid costar (Adam Karelin). This one will pass some time for you.

Horror Film Review: Stuff Stephanie In The Incinerator (1989, dir. Don Nardo)

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Wow! This was not what I expected at all. This is what I imagine Luis Bunuel would have made if he started his career as a low budget 1980s horror director. Since the characters have several names, I’m just going to refer to them by the actor’s names.

The movie begins and we are introduced to William Dame’s character as he seems to be a mechanic for planes. Two men show up, remove a ring from his finger, and proceed to knock him out by holding a plastic bag over his head. Then he wakes up in some house dressed in a tux and we meet Catherine Dee’s character.

Next we are introduced to an old lady who appears to want him to have sex with Dee for her amusement, and then have sex with her, or Dee dies. This whole scene plays out like something surreal you would expect from Bunuel, The Twilight Zone, or the like, but then…

just as Dame is about to have sex with the older lady, we are introduced to the third main character played by M.R. Murphy. I almost feel bad for giving away the twist that the old lady is a guy, but honestly, I could keep giving away twists all I want and it would still have something more up it’s sleeve.

I guess the best way I can sum it up is like this. We start off in what appears to be reality. Then we feel like we are in something truly surreal till the mirror breaks on that to reveal a new reality. This pattern of destroying the current setup for a new one repeats throughout the entire movie till it comes to it’s conclusion. But it’s not like we see them stop, then dress up for a new part. It’s like when a character wakes up from a dream, but it’s just another dream. Except it’s not annoying.

This is the one of the most interesting movies I’ve seen all year. I know this is not a movie for everyone. It’s weird, but it’s my kind of weird. It had me thinking about The Exterminating Angel (1962) and mostly The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).

I’m not sure what else I can really say about this movie that doesn’t just lay out the plot for you. Doing that would ruin it if you wanted to watch it and it’s one of those movies I think loses so much in the translation to words. Here are a few of the highlights and some closing thoughts, followed by the movie itself which is available on YouTube.

I guess my only real complaint about the movie is that they didn’t make it even more surreal. That, and I actually wanted it to keep going longer. I love that the movie nearly takes place entirely inside this one house. It gave it that claustrophobic feeling of The Exterminating Angel, while the resetting of the characters and their relationships kind of reminded me of The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972). Seriously, this movie had me thinking about Bunuel throughout it. That’s a good thing!

Not for everybody, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

Horror Film Review: Rise Of The Animals (2011, dir. Chris Wojcik)

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

I think this is the only other obviously shot on digital video low budget film from the 2010s I’ve seen this year. The other being the mildly enjoyable A Portrait of Female Desperation (2012). Which by the way has a user review left by who I can only assume is the director of the movie I recently reviewed called I Married With A Vampire. Somehow I think it’s the same Jay Raskin. But this isn’t a mockumentary like that movie was. This is about killer animals.

The movie begins with a house we see through a dutch tilt. Of course that means things aren’t right. And yep, the cat tries to attack a girl so she hits it with a frying pan and destroys it in a garbage disposal. Then cut to a kid that is her son calling her on the phone because it looks like the dad has just been killed by a killer squirrel.

The squirrel tries to chase the kid down, but he gets to a car and jumps on top of it. The mom shows up and shoots the squirrel. But that’s when the dog jumps out of the car and kills her offscreen. We are left seeing the kid hopelessly running away from the killer dog when the opening credits roll.

Clearly, Bill Cosby failed in Leonard, Part 6 because the animals have risen to destroy us. We now meet two of our three main characters. Two idiots driving around in a car for way too long in order to pad out the film. One delivers pizzas. They were going to go to a movie, but since they apparently live in that part of Texas where GPS fails, they don’t make it. However, they do find the Slumber Party Massacre Evil Dead cabin to deliver the pizzas too. Our main idiot spots a blonde with big tits so that means a sex scene. Sort of. But first this happens.

This is one of the dumbest sex scenes I have ever seen. All you need to know is that he loves this girl, and she is who he will be looking for during the rest of the movie. The next morning is when shit gets real. And by shit getting real, I mean puppets attacking people.

Hey, it’s still better than the CGI birds in Birdemic (2010)! Main idiot’s friend’s sister is at the party and she’s a bit of a badass in this. In fact, the rest of the movie can be summed up as Rachel (Stephanie Motta) and the idiots travel across country as she beats up animals.

Deer problem? She electrocutes that sucker till it burns.

Horse problem? She beats that horse to the ground with her fists and legs.

Bear problem? She cuts it’s head off with what I think is a sword she pulled out of thin air.

The rest of the film plays out like a zombie movie with the world crumbling around these three people as the boy and girl develop a relationship. The main idiot is trying to find the blonde because he thinks hopelessly that they are meant to be together. There’s even the crazy apocalypse DJ on the radio while they are driving.

It’s a stupid movie, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kind of fun. I really appreciated that when they could, they used actual animals or puppets. They obviously learned from those ridiculous scenes in Birdemic.

This one is fun for a bad monster movie night.

WTF?!? Horror: Space Zombie Bingo!!! (1993, dir. George Ormrod)

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Where to start with this thing? Ever seen that movie called Sex Galaxy from 2008 that is made up of public domain footage? That’s the only other movie I can think of that resembles this film. Only difference is it that I’m pretty sure that the majority of this is original footage.

The whole movie plays out like a 1950s sci-fi horror monster movie. Except shot in a crazy no budget manner using stock footage with crazy filters and costumes. The plot is that zombies from the evil planet Plankton are invading and incompetent military folks try and fight back while KILL-TV reports on it.

Here’s an example of one of the zombies.

I have never heard a movie use that word so many times in my entire life. And they don’t even look like zombies. Although, there is a dissection scene and of all things, a sex scene between the hero Major Kent Bendover (William Darkow) and one of the zombies. You can even see something ejaculate during that part. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be, but it happens several times during the scene.

They even insert a spaceship into what appears to be stock footage from the Vietnam War.

I could go on posting screenshot after screenshot of this insanity, but it’s actually available online. To tell you the truth, it actually does make some sense. I mean there is a plot. You kind of get what is going on in general, but it is one of the most messed up things I have watched in a long time.

If you dare! Or to quote Crisko, the narrator:

“You who remain are about to witness a story so terrible, so disgusting, that no living human brain can withstand it and remain sane. You will pay the ultimate price for viewing the terrible true story of zombies, zombies, zombies from outer space!”

Hallmark Review: How To Fall In Love (2012, dir. Mark Griffiths)

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

The movie begins 20 years in the past, which I guess would mean this starts in the year 1992.

That’s Harold and Annie. Little problem here. In the present, Harold is played by Eric Mabius and Annie is played by Brooke D’Orsay. Mabius was 21 years old in 1992 and D’Orsay was only 10. Oops! Oh, well. The age difference didn’t cause any problems for me. This opening scene sets up why Harold is so down on himself in the present. He really cared for her and she just kind of wanted to have fun. All very innocent, but he took it hard.

Cut to 20 years later and we see Harold has grown up to be Clark Kent, mild mannered account and photographer in his free time. Now we are introduced to my favorite character in the movie.

No, not Harold’s friend who gets him to seek out a dating coach. I mean the red Bluetooth headset on his head. I’m pretty sure he wears that thing in all but his last scene in the movie. Sorry, but that thing made me laugh every time it appeared onscreen. Especially since we only see him use it once in the entire movie.

Now we meet the modern day Annie. She lives with her sister and is out of work. Her sister gives her a swift kick in the butt and she gets a job as a waitress.

After Harold and Annie run into each other a couple of times and Annie finds out he’s looking for a dating coach, she offers her services. You all know where this goes after this.

Well, I mean besides another great appearance by the Bluetooth headset. She agrees to take him through eight lessons on dating. Although, I swear I missed Lesson 2 somehow. Thankfully, one of the first lessons is getting rid of those glasses. It’s not the glasses themselves, but combined with the way Mabius acts, we keep thinking of Clark Kent. Once he gets rid of them he’s basically like his character in Signed, Sealed, Delivered except not wound tighter than a drum. The rest of the lessons get him into a relationship that isn’t really right for him while moving him closer and closer to Annie.

The only real problem I had with this movie for a while was D’Orsay. She is kind of the living embodiment of bubbling champagne. That was a bit of a problem because of the way they introduce her character. It makes it difficult to warm up to her rather than see her as kind of a shallow conman. Luckily, at least for me, that started to fade and she became lovable. Honestly, I think the credit goes to D’Orsay because my impression of her seemed to change at the right points in the plot.

There is also a nice little supporting role from Kathy Najimy as Annie’s waitress friend.

These two aren’t on caliber with Kavan Smith and Kellie Martin as far as Hallmark couples go, but they’re much better than the usual. I can say I recommend this one.

I just wish this movie would have given me that much needed resolution I hoped for concerning the Bluetooth headset. At least in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) we do see Max get that ridiculous thing off his face. I wanted the story behind what happened to this thing. Too bad.