Looking at the tin, you'd think this movie would be a recipe for Hallmark success: a romantic story, two immensely popular leads, and the classic girl-goes-back-to-her-small-hometown cliche. Just because the ingredients sound good on paper, though, doesn't guarantee the end result will taste good, much like this movie.
For starters, despite being two accomplished Hallmark favorites, Andrew Walker and Danica McKellar have absolutely zero chemistry. Watching them interact is like watching paint dry, even in moments of heated banter or gazes of adoration. The movie relies heavily on their background -- a past relationship we get told of in sprinkes as the movie goes on -- to make their final reconciliation seem plausible. Had we been watching these two meet for the first time and try to fall in love, this movie would've been absolutely impossible to sell.
Secondly, for a movie that is essentially about a grand home renovation, it's super disappointing that the final product of this renovation never gets the time it deserves. It feels like the characters spend weeks standing in exactly the same room, discussing alterations, and the audience never really gets to see much of the final product beyond a few sweeping shots of the backyard.
Thirdly, the conflict of this story was absolutely absurd. The couple's fight near the end of the movie is ridiculous; an argument about Hannah not being able to stick around in her hometown somehow devolves into complete gibberish for added drama. The fact that the two of them lead very different lives and live in different cities should have been enough conflict to spur on the (temporary) separation of the two of them before inevitably reuniting. The only surprise this movie has in store is that Hannah didn't choose to quit her job and return permanently to her hometown, as most of these movies tend to go in that direction, especially since there were some hints pointing in that direction (Hannah and her parents complaining about not being able to spend more time together, Hannah making a few comments along the way that she missed her hometown, and how it makes her feels, Hannah's fight with her boss about how he micromanages her).
And lastly, as she does in every movie, Danica McKellar continues to let her permanently sad eyebrows do most of the acting for her. Why her default reaction to any weighty scene seems to be to tilt her eyebrows and look as miserable as possible is beyond me.
For starters, despite being two accomplished Hallmark favorites, Andrew Walker and Danica McKellar have absolutely zero chemistry. Watching them interact is like watching paint dry, even in moments of heated banter or gazes of adoration. The movie relies heavily on their background -- a past relationship we get told of in sprinkes as the movie goes on -- to make their final reconciliation seem plausible. Had we been watching these two meet for the first time and try to fall in love, this movie would've been absolutely impossible to sell.
Secondly, for a movie that is essentially about a grand home renovation, it's super disappointing that the final product of this renovation never gets the time it deserves. It feels like the characters spend weeks standing in exactly the same room, discussing alterations, and the audience never really gets to see much of the final product beyond a few sweeping shots of the backyard.
Thirdly, the conflict of this story was absolutely absurd. The couple's fight near the end of the movie is ridiculous; an argument about Hannah not being able to stick around in her hometown somehow devolves into complete gibberish for added drama. The fact that the two of them lead very different lives and live in different cities should have been enough conflict to spur on the (temporary) separation of the two of them before inevitably reuniting. The only surprise this movie has in store is that Hannah didn't choose to quit her job and return permanently to her hometown, as most of these movies tend to go in that direction, especially since there were some hints pointing in that direction (Hannah and her parents complaining about not being able to spend more time together, Hannah making a few comments along the way that she missed her hometown, and how it makes her feels, Hannah's fight with her boss about how he micromanages her).
And lastly, as she does in every movie, Danica McKellar continues to let her permanently sad eyebrows do most of the acting for her. Why her default reaction to any weighty scene seems to be to tilt her eyebrows and look as miserable as possible is beyond me.