MOVIE REVIEW
Movie: Destination Wedding
Network: Hallmark Channel
Original Air Date: June 3, 2017
CAST:
Alexa PenaVega … Ellie Hamilton
Jeremy Guilbaut … Greg Mount
Andrea Brooks … Mandy Hamilton
Andrew Dunbar … Jason
Rafael Simon … Javier
Paula Shaw ... Grandma Goldie
Fred Henderson ... Thomas
Preston Vanderslice ... Alec
Lakshmi Picazo ... Jules
Rodrigo Massa ... AJ
PLOT:
Storyline via Hallmark: Christina Hamlin has been painstakingly planning her sister’s destination wedding for the longest time. As guests arrive on a beach paradise, Christina runs into her ex-boyfriend, Rob, who also happens to be the best man. When the bride and groom don’t show up, Christina and Rob must lie to the guests and assure everything is okay. With the wedding a couple days away, and Christina unsure if her sister will show up, she and Rob must save the wedding while simultaneously falling for each other.
Movie Review:
Sometimes you have to travel many miles to find direction in life! This Hallmark romantic comedy will set your heart on the right course!
In Hallmark’s Destination Wedding – we learn love isn’t exactly a destination… it’s the journey!
Former couple, Ellie Hamilton and Greg Mount, (Alexa PenaVega “Ms Matched” and Jeremy Guilbaut “When Calls the Heart”) who’ve been separated by time and distance, travel many miles to join her sister and his best friend on their wedding day in Mexico. This is not your typical wedding day, though… it’s a destination wedding, which means these two, as maid of honor and best man, will be together once again, like it or not, for various activities for the wedding party, family and guests throughout the entire wedding week!
Adding to the stress of it all for these exes, especially for Ellie who planned her sister’s wedding… there just happens to be one very important missing element as they've all reached their destination, the bride and groom, Mandy and Jason (Andrea Brooks and Andrew Dunbar “When Calls the Heart”)! Ellie and Greg call them together and learn there has been a disagreement – they may or may not be coming, after all, for their own wedding! The clincher - they ask Ellie and Greg not to tell anyone and carry on without them, making excuses to all the guests and their family, even Ellie's father and prying Grandmother! Of course this situation has everyone, day by day, curious as to what is really going on with the bride and groom. And, as time goes on… they all begin to question Ellie and Greg more and more, which causes them to retreat from the rest of the group and actually spend more time with one another, which isn’t exactly so hard to do, as Ellie and Greg start to enjoy dancing, eating, shopping, and basically one another’s company once again in the beautiful beach side of Mexico.
So… what is the problem, then? Well, Greg moved away several years ago and in doing so, he broke things off with Ellie. At the time- her interior design career was taking off and he didn’t want to ruin her dreams and take her away to chase his own. Ellie, in the meantime, has a new boyfriend, Alec (Preston Vanderslice “Operarion Christmas”), who chose work - over joining Ellie to accompany her to her own sister’s wedding. This course of action, along with advice from her Grandmother, makes Ellie begin to evaluate their relationship a little deeper and take a look once again at Greg, who may have won her heart all over again.
Will Ellie Hamilton play it safe and stay with Alec, or will she take a u-turn and discover love again with Greg?
Will Mandy and Jason, the bride and groom, ever reconcile and make it to their own wedding?
All of these questions and more… are answered in Hallmark Channel’s “Destination Wedding!” As I said before, sometimes you have to travel many miles to find direction in life!
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SPOILER – ONLY READ IF YOU DON’T MIND KNOWING "SOME" OF THE END!
Towards the end of the movie we see Mandy and Jason, the bride and groom, surprising all the guests by finally arriving for their wedding rehearsal dinner, but we never actually see them get married. I think this is implied, which has, of course, created some confusion for viewers. We wait over the course of two hours to see if Mandy and Jason will say “I do,” and to not have that moment shown, was (I agree!) somewhat disappointing. The movie ends with Ellie getting married to “Someone” (I won’t spoil that!) on the beach and we see both Mandy and Jason there, as guests.
END of SPOILER!
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See or Skip:
See! This heartfelt Hallmark movie is family friendly and worth the trip!
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I know my comment has nothing to do with this post, but I saw a title for an upcoming movie on What's Filming? called "Countdown to Love", which is filming from May 23rd to June 8th. Based on that title, I'm going to guess that the movie is going to be a New Years themed Hallmark film.
ReplyDeleteI like Alexa. I am looking forward to this one. I hope in a future Hallmark will do a movie with her and her husband Carlos. I bet it would super sweet.
ReplyDeleteLove that floral print dress she's wearing!
ReplyDeleteMisty
The lead actors are both unknown to me and I am not getting any sense of chemistry from the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI do like "Lovers Reunited" themes though so we'll see what transpires
Alexis & Carlos' Destination Wedding in Mexico
ReplyDeleteAlexis seemed want to do movie for Hallmark just like she & her Husband; Carlos got married in Mexico.
OMG...the plot of this movie was so chaotic! No chemistry AT ALL between the main characters. I was looking forward to watch this movie to see Jeremy Guilbaut as the main character. I was soooo disappointed.
ReplyDeleteGood to see WCTH people again, that's about all I can say.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the first line about nor conflict, nor strife, nor distance can't destroy true love. Love always wins. I liked that quote.
ReplyDeleteWow. Sat through the entire movie, to end up not understanding the ending that was thrown at me in the last couple of seconds. Did it happen at that time and place? did it happen at another time and place? did the other couple actually end up getting married? Ugg. Disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending was supposed to indicate that the other couple did get married and that the main characters got married the year after. It seems like that last scene should have mentioned something like “one year later”, similar to what other Hallmark movies have done in the past. I disagree with a previous comment about the lack of chemistry between the main characters. As an audience member, it looked to me like there was chemistry between the main characters in a way that made sense with the story. I enjoyed this movie much more than “Ms. Matched”! I’m looking forward to the rest of the movies that the “June Weddings” line-up has to offer!
DeleteWant to know about the violet dress with asymetrical neckline and ruffle down the side. It was so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI love both Alexa and Jeremy and this movie was not too bad in the beginning until towards the end. The way Ellie broke up with alec was just cruel and a turn off for me. The ending just didn't make sense at all, making it possibly the worst I've watched in a while. Not a big fan of the writing and the storyline. If it is truly a time jump as the above comment mentioned then they should've made that clear with a writing. It was just plain confusing. Chemistry also didn't quite hit the mark although there were some good moments. Sorry Hallmark, this was just really bad for me. I felt like I wasted my time watching it :( Such a shame because I really like both main actors.
ReplyDeleteThought the movie was cute. There were several outfits worn by Alexa that I loved. Anyone know who the designer was or where to purchase them....if you can do such a thing.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this movie!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the movie but it would have been much better if the ending included a little bit about the main plot, which supposedly was the wedding that almost wasn't. They jumped a little too quickly to the ending but that is the problem with all the Hallmark (Levinson) plots. Too often Hallmark movies have four half hour plots - Set up with very unlikely bumping into or happenstance connections; sharing the most intimate past tragedies, such as parents dying or divorcing when they were children; the breakup or misunderstanding that separates the main couple; and an ending where the problem between the two is often much too quickly resolved, ending in an almost instant (movie time) marriage. Also what is it about the one year engagement with most of these films?
ReplyDeleteWatching this movie was a chore! I finally gave up and deleted it after about an hour. None of the characters were likable to me. It's hard to believe the quality difference between Hallmark movies as usually they are so good! But everyone has different tastes.
ReplyDelete