MOVIE REVIEW
Movie: Moonlight in Vermont
Network: Hallmark Channel
Original Air Date: April 8, 2017
CAST:
Lacey Chabert ... Fiona Rangely
Carlo Marks ... Derek
Jesse Moss ... Nate
Elise Gatien ... Haley
Fiona Vroom ... Angela
Timothy Webber ... Chauncey
Jason Cermak ... Brandon Rangely
Rebecca Staab ... Delia Rangely
Keith MacKechnie ... Harris Rangely
Jason Schombing ... Irwin
John Emmet Tracy ... Shark Realtor
Andy Nez ... Booth Guy
PLOT:
Storyline via Hallmark: After fast-paced New York City high-end real estate broker Fiona Rangely (Lacey Chabert) gets dumped by her boyfriend, she escapes to her family’s quaint Vermont Inn for a few days to slow down and evaluate her life. When her ex-boyfriend Nate shows up at the Inn with a brand new girlfriend, Fiona quickly devises a plan to win him back: pretend the handsome and very laid- back head chef Derek (Carlo Marks) is her new boyfriend! Much to the surprise of Derek --and to Fiona herself-- in pretending to be in love, she realizes that she’s been thrown a curveball: sometimes the best things in life are worth the wait.
Movie Review:
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See or Skip:
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I saw this Hallmark Spring Fling Promo preview so, Lacey has 2 movies: Moonlight in Vermont & Curveball
ReplyDelete"Moonlight in Vermont" is actually the movie formerly known as "Curveball," which was the working title. They are one in the same!
DeleteOriginally it was planned to be a Christmas movie, but those plans were changed, and it ended up in Spring Fling, instead!
Curveball is even mention in the storyline above:
"... she realizes that she’s been thrown a curveball: sometimes the best things in life are worth the wait."
Just to be fun, I must say... we were actually thrown a curveball on this one! Originally, it looked like it was heading straight to Christmas, but then it veered off course and landed right in the middle of Spring!!!
At long last the infamous Curveball Christmas surfaces with neither word in the film title and it would seem nothing to do with Christmas!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for this one - I really like the plot summary.
At first the hero looked to me like Matty Finochio who played Tony in Autumn Dreams.
Yes, this is it! The storyline's match up from what Hallmark shared last summer about "Curveball Christmas," minus the Christmassy phrases!
DeleteThe original Curveball synopsis:
"Storyline: After enduring a horrible break-up with the man she thought she was destined to marry, Fiona Williams takes a trip to her parents' inn for Christmas. Holiday festivities and family bonding seem to be the only thing on the menu, but then Fiona's ex checks in to the inn with a new woman on his arm. Stuck between a rock and mistletoe, Fiona saves face by making the inn's opinionated and care-free cook her new "boyfriend" in hopes of making her ex jealous."
Also -- adore Matty Finochio from "Autumn Dreams," "Window Wonderland," etc... Would love to see him one day in the lead role!!!
In the meantime, I can't wait for this new one, either, with Lacey Chabert! It's a little less than two months away!
Love Lacey Chabert movies!!!! Can't wait hope it will be a very good one.
ReplyDeleteI hope we love it, too, Tabitha- as much as we love Lacey!!! All the promo pictures certainly look sweet & promising!!! :)
DeleteCast of Moonlight in Vermont
ReplyDeleteLacey Chabert as Fiona
Carlo Marks as Derek
Jesse Moss as Nate
Fiona Vroom as Angela
Jason Cermak as Brandon
Elise Gatien as Haley
Rebecca Staab as Delia
Keith MacKechnie as Harris
Jason Schombing as Irwin
Timothy Webber as Chauncey
Yes! IMDB has all of them posted now! They were not listed there when I originally posted this movie. This one looks like a great cast - thank you for sharing!
DeleteThank you. I love Lacey. :-)
ReplyDeleteLuna Crone
I am so excited to watch another movie starring Lacey.
ReplyDeleteI love her movies and I`ve been searching for a few of her older movies for my collection.
I can`t get enough !!!
I don't want to get too excited about this as I had great expectations of the Chabert/ Greene Christmas 2016 movie and was very disappointed.
ReplyDeleteHowever in the trailer for Moonlight In Vermont the chemistry between Lacey and Carlo Marks is incredible.
Fingers crossed......................
Oh my word!! Just saw the promo for All of my Heart the sequel!!! So excited!!!!!! Loved the first movie!
ReplyDeleteAnother All of my Heart is the very best news at Hallmark! Sorry to say but most of the movies, so far this year have been rather dull.
DeleteI wonder where this was filmed. Doesn't look like Vermont--totem poles, rugged mountain tops, rooms that have high ceilings, stucco facing on store, sculpted shrubbery. Maybe Pacfic Northwest. I can't find any location information.
ReplyDeleteThe mint condition antique truck with no mud on it during the mud season is a little bit ridiculous.
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DeleteHi Steve - I like your discerning eye. I too was struck right away by the high snowcapped peaks in the background of the first exterior shot and thought,this is Not vermont. And, granted I haven't been back there in many years, but that did not closely resemble the new england architecture I recall.. Then, scene after scene appeared to be shot under cloudless blue skies - highly suspicious to any northeasterner, who toils beneath the relentless flat gray cloudscape of that region. Hilariously, the capper appeared on-screen just as I was composing this comment: our hero, sharing a personal moment, strolls up to a large evergreen, and describes to his budding love- interest how his "father planted this tree when I was a boy." (Maybe in the Amazon a tree could grow to this size over that timespan). Then, he takes out an auger and proceeds to drill into the trunk, in order to tap it for it's sap, which he will use to produce the well-known regional delicacy, Maple syrup. The tree is a Douglas fir!
DeleteAnyways, here's my wild guess: filmed in the Vancouver area, with its robust film industry and advantageous exchange rate. Fits well with your totem pole sighting, the 'real' mountains in the background, the evergreens, and the architecture. Or, owing to those cloudless skies, perhaps farther east in the Canadian Rockies. And then they shipped in a collector's pickup truck with vermont plates, mud not included. Thanks Steve!
It's an ok movie, nothing spectacular. I hope Hallmark will have a Jill Wagner and Colin Egglesfield (Autumn Dreams) movie soon. Autumn Dreams is my all time favorite.
ReplyDeleteI love Autumn Dreams and Jill Wagner, too!
DeleteBeing a huge Lacey on Hallmark fan (I don't think there's a movie staring her that I don't like), I was disappointed in this one. Chemistry certainly, I think, lacked between her and the male co-star, and I have to agree with Steve, being a born and bred New Englander, this certainly was no Vermont Inn. Oh well, that's the magic of Hallmark at work. Speaking of chemistry, so excited to hear about the All of My Heart sequel! Lacey and Brennen have amazing chemistry and the storyline was so sweet. Something to look forward to!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way Barbara! Loving Lacey as I do, I hated to say anything, but I'm glad you did first. I rewatched this today and it seemed to missing something that other movies with Lacey have. It's probably chemistry, like you said, which she's always had with other co-stars. I sure hope it will be back in the All of My Heart sequel.
DeleteI felt bad for her ex. He obviously cared about her the whole time. If the tables were turned and a woman was stood up by a career driven man, we'd be talking about how much of a jerk he was. I'm glad she changed, but I wish she had taken more responsibility. She really did him bad I thought to try to make him jealous and attract him, then dissed him once she had him hooked.
ReplyDeleteHaving been majorly disappointed in the Chabert/ Greene Christmas offering and seeing the reviews posted above I have to say I was apprehensive about watching this but in the event I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteUnlike others I did find good chemistry between Lacey and Carlo Marks although Crystal's comment above is very valid and I did feel some sympathy for Nate.
It would have been interesting to see how this played out with a Christmas theme as was originally intended.
Sure it was no All Of My Heart but along with A Dash Of Love (the culinary theme is co-incidental) this would be my favourite Hallmark movie to date this year although since they seem to be very heavily invested in the Christmas season now I do think the benchmark has become slightly lower with regard to their other movies. I wouldn't say there have been any bad ones as I have mostly enjoyed them but there have been no blockbusters.
It would appear have this idea that they can drop a couple of big name HALLMARK stars into the lead roles and they will carry the movie but this does not happen that often a la magical Jill Wagner/ Wes Brown match up in Christmas Cookies.
Campfire Kiss and Love At First Glance (I still can't figure out where they were coming from with this) would be my least favourites.
I thought the character of Fiona's best friend was a bit insipid and didn't really see them gelling together as such but the big downside imo was a rushed ending. It was as if they suddenly realised they had only 15 minutes running time left and crammed everything in.
Between Fiona and Carlo coming to an understanding and Fiona confronting her father with a fait accompli regarding Carlo herself, her brother and her best friend it was as if there was part of the movie missing.
Although the situation between Fiona and Carlo was clear enough I would personally have liked it to be more definite.
But the movie did pass my ultimate test - it made it to the rewatch pile!
I would rate it 8/10.
Any movie that Lacey is in. Hope she's in another Christmas movie this year. This was the best movie during "Spring Fling".
ReplyDeleteAlthough I like cowboy movies, my wife got me watching the Hallmark movies and has me hooked. I don't feel like I should take a shower after I watch one. Really like the Lacey movies.
ReplyDeleteGlad others caught the Douglas fir. Does Hallmark realize the intelligence of their audience? Maybe it's a regional thing, but everyone on the west coast know what Douglas fir bark looks like... even noobs know the basic difference between evergreen and diciduous trees. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI love Lacey movies,too and was excited about seeing "Moonlight in Vermont" since I'm from the northeast. While I enjoyed the film, I was disappointed that, wherever it was filmed (could find no info on where), it was not Vermont! Lack of authentic locale aside, I could relate to some regional traditions and loved the movie.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it was not filmed in Vermont, but Canada, like most Hallmark Christmas movies. Thus, the reason there was snow on the ground when it was filmed early this year. Most of the United States had milder temps this last winter, so it would have actually been better to have filmed this spring movie in the U.S. Most are filmed in Canada due to tax/financial reasons.
ReplyDeleteMoonlight in Vermont was filmed at least partly around Langley BC (near Vancouver). Here is an article about Porter's Bistro which was used in the movie: https://www.ivesceneitonhallmark.com/porters-bistro-coffee-tea-house/
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you for sharing that, Ken! I love the web-site you shared ivesceneitonhallmark.com! It's creator, Kerry, is so wonderful at sharing so many wonderful Hallmark sets & locations! She's also a good friend of mine, too!
DeleteBlessings!!! Net