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| image: Hallmark Crown Media |
Over the New Year holiday weekend and just before the Hallmark Channel premiered their first "2021 New Year New Movies" movie, Hallmark revealed on their web-site some NEW "Love Ever After" movies for February, plus a classic that will premiere on their channel for the first time.
*Please Note: There may be changes or additions, so please be sure to check back for updates!
"Love Ever After" Movies - 2021:
(formerly known as: Countdown to Valentine's Day)
Beverly Hills Wedding
Premieres: Saturday, February 6, 2021 at 9pm/8c
Starring: Brooke D'Orsay & Brendan Penny
Story-line via Hallmark: A meddling woman wins her sister an all-paid-for Beverly Hills Wedding, but is disappointed to learn her ex will be invited along to help plan.
"Beverly Hills Wedding" in depth story-line: When small-town wedding photographer Molly’s (Brooke D’Orsay, "A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, Frst Love") baby sister gets engaged, she enters the budget-conscious couple in a contest and wins a dream wedding – an all-expenses paid, celeb-worthy event at an historic Beverly Hills hotel, thrown by “planner to the stars,” Terrence Roquefort (Matthew MacCaull, “Hailey Dean Mysteries”). It all seems perfect, but when the engaged couple seem uneasy with the new plans, and maid of honor duties bring Molly closer to the best man, her ex-boyfriend Cory (Brendan Penny, "A Little Christmas Charm"), she reconsiders whose dreams she is trying to fulfill.
Caution: The wedding planner in "Beverly Hills Wedding" appears to be gay based on promotional pictures and commercials. Stay tuned for details.
Reviews:
❤"The Wedding Planner in "Beverly Hills Wedding" is involved in a same sex relationship. We are introduced to his husband about an hour and a half into the movie. Due to that storyline this movie is not family friendly. Also, I watched the movie up until that point and to be honest, Brooke O’Orsay’s character Molly wasn’t very likeable. I typically love Brooke in all of her Hallmark movie roles, but this just didn't work for me. I could sense deep down Molly wanted the best for her sister and her wedding, but she was just way too pushy and domineering in choosing nearly every aspect of her Sister’s big day. If that had latest maybe 20 minutes it might have been okay, but this persists throughout much of the movie. For me, "Beverly Hills Wedding" was a disappointing start to the "Love Ever After" movies." ~Net
❤"I like Brendan Penny but with the gay couple, I deleted the movie from my DVR list. I won't be watching Mix Up in the Mediterranean." ~Namegirl
❤"When the couple getting married, the maid of honor and best man visited the wedding planners home a man opened the door and called him his husband. I don’t know if any thing else happened after that because I turned it. I couldn’t stand the story anyway." ~Anonymous
❤"Beverly Hills Wedding was horrible! A decades long Hallmark movie advocate, the role played by Brooke O’Orsay was over the top controlling-every scene, over every point, making decisions that weren’t hers-The movie was so emotionally, screechingly annoying-I barely got through it." ~Anonymous
❤"Beverly Hills Wedding - Dumped Beverly Hills Wedding at the 1 1/2 hour mark. Why the need to introduce homosexuality into your movies is beyond me. The best thing is I have an off button!!!" ~Anonymous
❤"Beverly Hills Wedding was one of the worst Hallmark movies I have ever seen. Even with out the gay couple I did not like this movie. Almost turned it off but kept thinking Brook'e character would improve, and it did. About 15 minutes before the end. I will not watch it again. And I love Brooke D'Orsay. So disappointing! Side note: Brendan Penny was great!" ~Joyce
❤"That whole storyline just didn't interest me in the first place. I wouldn't want a wedding in Beverly Hills anyway. Is it as a tourist destination like in the past?" Misty
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Playing Cupid
Premieres: Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 9pm/8c
Starring: Laura Vandervoort and Nicholas Gonzales
Story-line via Hallmark: A modern-day EMMA, finds David Martinez being secretly set up with his daughter's teacher, when the young girl begins a matchmaking business for a school project.
"Playing Cupid" in depth story-line: Middle-school teacher, Kerri Fox (Laura Vandervoort), a favorite among her students, assigns a project in her class where each student must create and run his/her own small business. Thirteen year-old Clara Martinez (Mia Quaranta De La Rosa) decides to put her vast matchmaking skills to the test and becomes Cupid Clara, much to the chagrin of her newly single father, David (Nicholas Gonzalez). As the weeks progress and Cupid Clara begins to flourish, Kerri gets more than she bargained for when Clara sets her sights on her newly single teacher as a potential match for her divorced dad. Can these two opposites really attract, and will they become yet another successful match for Cupid Clara?
Reviews:
❤"I thought that Playing Cupid was absolutely terrible. It is one of the worst Hallmark movies in 2021." ~Chris
❤"Chris, I also thought "Playing Cupid" was not good. I deleted it from my DVR. So disappointed!" ~kitkat
❤"I absolutely enjoyed Playing Cupid. Very cute premise and leads were incredible together. It was very family friendly! Their were so many cute moments and it was funny!" ~Sarah
❤"Playing Cupid. I thought this one was really cute. I really liked the lead actor and actress. The sound was a bit wonky at times, but not enough to truly be annoying. Family friendly (the lead actor's character is divorced, but that's obvious from the promo). Skip commercials there are ads for the Mediterranean movie." ~~Jane
❤"Playing Cupid - While it was family friendly, something about it just didn't capture me. To me, it felt more like I was watching a movie on the Disney Channel instead of the Hallmark Channel. It seemed rather unrealistic that this young girl would be such a great matchmaker and all of these adults would let her set them up on dates. Also, there was very little relation to the Jane Austen Emma book, other than the name of the school being called Austen and the young girl was a matchmaker. Even though it was wholesome, it was not a keeper for me. ~Net
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Valentine's Again
Previous Title: Once Upon a Winter's Date
Note: This movie is actually from 2017 and has been available to watch through Hallmark's streaming service Hallmark Movies Now and other streaming sources. This is, however, the first time this movie will premiere on the Hallmark Channel.
Premieres on TV: Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 9pm/8c
Starring: Nicky Whelan and Greg Vaughan
Story-line via Hallmark: Katherine, a workaholic executive, endures the worst Valentine's Day date of her life. On her walk home, a gypsy weaves a magical spell on her and when she wakes up the next morning, she realizes it's Valentine's Day again.
Review:
❤"The storyline above does refer to a woman as a "gypsy;" however, in the actual movie the woman refers to herself as Katherine's fairy Godmother. I've seen bits and pieces of this movie (what I saw was family friendly) and to me it had a feel somewhat like "A Shoe Addict's Christmas" where Candace Cameron Bure's character Noelle was guided by her guardian angel Charlie to make the right decisions about her faith, career and love." ~Net
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Mix Up in the Mediterranean
Premieres: Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 9pm/8c
Starring: Jeremy Jordan and Jessica Lowndes
Story-line via Hallmark: A small-town cook impersonates his estranged big city chef twin to compete in a culinary contest in Malta and falls for the woman in charge of the event, who thinks he is gay.
*Caution: Based on promos and the original storyline given above, we have learned there will be a same sex couple in "Mix Up in the Mediterranean." In the commercial for the "Love Ever After" movies one man is shown kissing another man on the cheek. I wanted to be certain you all were aware of this. I will not be promoting this movie.
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| set picture via: Erin Krakow's instagram |
It Was Always You
Premieres: Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 9pm/8c
Starring: Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes
Story-line: Elizabeth's engagement plans are thrown into disarray when her fiancée's free-spirited brother David returns home. David's unexpected influence prompts Elizabeth to question her life decisions.
Reviews:
❤"I just had to come back and say how fantastic “It Was Always You” was. Best Hallmark movie in a long time! Tyler Hynes and Erin Krakow were perfect together! And all of the supporting cast was great too." ~Jennifer Rumberger
❤"It Was Always You. Loved it! Loved Tyler & Erin. Loved the setting. Keeper. Will buy the dvd. Family friendly." ~~Jane
❤"I absolutely loved It Was Always You. One of the best Hallmark has done in a long time! It was a little off brand and definitely a different kind of story than they usually tell so it felt fresh and exciting and I actually wasn’t sure how it would end! Loved Erin and Tyler is my favorite male lead so of course he was amazing 😍 Definitely saving this one on my DVR! Also, family friendly FYI!" ~J.F. Hale
❤"It Was Always You was great! It's funny, serious at times and best of all it's family friendly. Erin and Tyler have the "WOW" factor on chemistry. More chemistry than with Kevin or Chris on WCTH." ~Joyce in Carolina
❤"Agree with everyone else that this was a very good movie ' definitely one of Hallmark's best recently although I'm perhaps not just quite as overboard about it probably because I'm not a big fan of Erin Krakow (apart from Finding Father Christmas). Seems that one of the main talking points was Erin's wig/ hairstyle! (whichever it was) - I wasn't a big fan of it but it wasn't THAT important and I did think Ms Krakow gave an excellent performance here. Tyler Hynes is going from strength to strength - he always seems to mould himself into the part. I do have to admit that I found his character somewhat irritating in the first part of the movie when he seemed to interfere in matters which he had no business to. I found Giles Panton as Elizabeth's fiance very wooden although to some degree that was part of his character and surely if he had to be back on the island and the bridge was to be closed for 4 days he could have hired a boat or is this too simple?! The script flowed nicely and I particularly enjoyed the scene where Elizabeth managed to climb up to the treehouse for the very first time And then we come to the ending - David's declaration of love was wonderfully heartwarming and beautiful but what is it with Hallmark. We got a few almost undecipherable murmurings from Elizabeth. Surely she could just have said that 4 letter L word just once and left the fans happy?" ~Anonymous
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First, I know Hearties are going to be thrilled to see Erin Krakow star in an all new original Hallmark movie and funny enough, her character's name is... Elizabeth! Thank goodness neither Kevin McGarry or Chris McNally are her co-stars for this one. Her co-star is another Hallmark fan-favorite, Tyler Hynes! As Erin and Tyler filmed "It Was Always You," they shared cute pictures from the set - so it was quite obvious the two had lots of fun making it. Tyler even teased it was a Christmas movie; I think he was trying to play a little with the fans.
In addition to "It Was Always You," I'm am looking forward to "Beverly Hills Wedding." (See my UPDATE on this movie below.) When this movie was in the early stages of development last summer, I remember talking about it with my friend, Sherry. At that time, Andrew Walker was originally the one believed to be starring with Brooke D'Orsay, but due to Andrew filming "Christmas Tree Lane," Brendan Penny got the role. Brooke D'Orsay will always be Annie Hayes from "How to Fall in Love" and "Miss Christmas" to me - I typically love all of her Hallmark movies!
UPDATE: The wedding planner in "Beverly Hills Wedding" did portray a gay man. Overall I did not enjoy this movie. See reviews above. Also, based on promos, we know there is a same sex couple in "Mix Up in the Mediterranean." In the commercial for the "Love Ever After" movies one man is shown kissing another man on the cheek. I wanted to be certain you all were aware of this. I will not be watching or promoting this movie.
Now, for another "Love Ever After" movie I'm looking forward to... As I've shared before, I am quite the Jane Austen enthusiast. The first of her works I instantly fell in love with as a young girl was Emma. I loved the novel and over the years many adaptations on film, first the theater version starring Gwyneth Paltrow and most of all, the PBS Masterpiece Theatre film version of Emma. The Emma story will always hold a special place in my heart. It's often interesting to see various films take on the well known Austen matchmaking scheme or rather, theme (*wink*); therefore, I'm very much looking forward to seeing this modern take on the classic story with Hallmark's all new movie, "Playing Cupid." Update: I personally wasn't exactly taken by this movie after all. There was really very little relation to the Jane Austen book, other than the name of the school being called Austen and the young girl was a matchmaker. It was family friendly, but not a keeper for me.
Which of these new "Love Ever After" movies are you looking forward to seeing? Please share in comments below...
Joyous Blessings! Net
