I wanted to share my thoughts today on four recent movies I watched. One of the movies, in particular, left me with such a passionate viewpoint, I simply had to share my take with all of you.
Three of the movies I'm reviewing aired on Great American Family, Learning to Love, 10 Steps to Love, and Dream Wedding, and one of the movies premiered on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, The More Love Grows.
Please be sure to let me know what you think of my reviews or these movies in comments below.
MOVIE REVIEWS:
🎬 Learning to Love – This sweet, lighthearted movie is an ideal romantic comedy for all ages. Children will enjoy that there are two young girls in the story. However, I do want to caution that at two different times in the movie, the sisters are disrespectful and disobedient to two different nannies. They are, eventually, reprimanded for their bad behavior. Overall, the chemistry between the leads is a bit lackluster, but it’s still an enjoyable, heartwarming story. All of the faith elements truly touched my heart, and I was happy to watch the nanny, Steph, gradually bring faith back to Harry and his daughters. ~Net
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🎬 10 Steps to Love – I truly enjoyed this delightful rom-com. Mind you, some of the acting isn’t top-notch, and it took me a few minutes to get into the story, but as soon as Sophie visited the apple orchard and met Mason and his family, I was hooked! Sophie and Mason had wonderful chemistry together, and you could feel their sincere desire to come up with a business plan to save the orchard. Everything about this movie is sweet, including Mason’s mother’s special apple bacon nutmeg ice cream recipe! This movie is sure to leave you feeling good inside and give you the desire to take a trip to your local apple orchard. 10 Steps to Love is sweet as pie, apple pie, of course! ~Net
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🎬 Dream Wedding – Oh boy, what can I say? This movie was just plain awful. Due to pressure from her little sister, Rebecca Dalton’s character, Kate Wilde, claims a dream wedding prize, although she isn’t engaged and she doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Jesse Hutch portrays Andy Swenson, a photographer who sets Kate up with a fake fiancé, Paul Thompson, a bodybuilder and model, who is basically an airhead completely obsessed with his looks, muscles, and tattoos. For me, he wasn’t appealing, but Kate seemed to think he was drop-dead gorgeous. I usually try to find the silver lining in movies, but for me, this movie had none other than the fact that the leading stars, Rebecca Dalton and Jesse Hutch, are great actors who simply needed a much better script. ~Net
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🎬 The More Love Grows – (this review contains Spoilers) I agree with a lot of the other reviews on this movie. At first, I was totally Team Helen! I wanted Rachel Boston’s character, Helen, to move on with her life after her husband, Paul, of 20 YEARS, walked out on her and requested a separation. I also loved the story with the dogs (by the way, who doesn’t know dogs can’t eat chocolate?), and Helen’s new eccentric friend, Cindy, was such an interesting character, but I didn’t like it at all when Paul wanted to try one more time to save their marriage, and Helen said no, she knew moving away was really what he wanted, even though he was pleading to give their marriage one more try. That part of the story really disappointed me. Sure, Paul was a jerk for initially wanting a separation, but they were married 20 years and have a daughter, Aly, together, so saving their marriage should have been a priority. Helen seemed way too eager to end it and move on with her new friend, Ben.
Plus, the title of the movie is “The More Love Grows.” Helen’s mother’s advice was – “The more you tend it, the more love grows.” That is truly beautiful advice, but apparently, Helen decided not to take it. Instead of tending to her marriage and trying to hold on to it, she decided to let it go. It was truly disheartening to see this story about divorce, which made it appear to be easy. I believe "The More Love Grows" is a disillusioned view of the heartbreak separation and divorce typically brings to a husband and wife and their family. Please know, I realize divorce is not always the fault of both individuals; however, in this case, Helen is given another chance to make her marriage work and without taking time to even think about it, she declines to try.
"Heartland" fans will recognize one of the supporting characters, Alisha Newton (Georgie). Alisha portrayed the daughter’s college roommate, who is a carefree slacker who wears sleazy clothing and likes partying. She influences Aly to skip classes and take part in the party life. That sort of lifestyle was thankfully shown to be wrong, and it hurt Aly’s chances of keeping her scholarship.
Another star spotted in the movie was Andrea Brooks ("When Calls the Heart"), who, in one short scene, had a cameo role as a yoga instructor.
Overall, the acting in "The More Love Grows" is excellent, but the storyline with Helen and Paul suddenly ending their marriage so easily left me feeling very disappointed. Husbands and wives should take their marriage very seriously; it is a sacred commitment and covenant before The Lord. This movie is a Hallmark glossed-over version of divorce, and it is definitely not a keeper for me. ~Net
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So... that's my latest reviews. Did you have the same opinion, or do you have differing views on these movies?
A special thank you to Maria, Florence, Clara, melnewlife, CH Mom, Susan Ann, Paula, Joan, MPT, and 2 Anonymous reviewers for previously sharing your movie reviews of these films with us. You can read their reviews of these movies by clicking on their movie titles: Learning to Love, 10 Steps to Love, Dream Wedding, and The More Love Grows.
If anyone else would like to share your thoughts on these movies or others, please feel free to share in comments.
Happy movie-watching!
Net 🎬
