In the hands of some of Hallmark's actor stables, this could have been a very schmaltzy, saccharined dud. However the seasoned & beautiful talents of Taylor Cole and a restrained but able support from Russ Paevey, elevated the film to something half-decent. No real surprises as a Matchmaker who attempts to find a match for an entrepreneurial Stay-Single guy, but begins to discover that maybe she is his ideal match ! The animals were definitely cute !

The premise is another one of those very unoriginal but potentially sweet and inoffensive. Both leads Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey are hit and miss for me as actors, and it is very dependent on the way their roles are written. When her character is likeable, Cole is charming. When the writers go overboard on the character flaws, she comes over as cold. Paevey similarly can be subtly charming when a character is written well, but he can be wooden too.

'Matching Hearts' is one of the 2020 Love Ever After films from Hallmark. And it is a pretty decent one, and a vast improvement on the previous 2020 Love Ever After film 'A Valentine's Match'. It is far from perfect and it is not great, but it also could have been a lot worse if unoriginality was taken too far and if the cast suffered from having poorly written characters. While having issues with the story, other Hallmark films (and this is including quite a lot of those from 2020) fare far worse in regard to the characters.

A lot works here in 'Matching Hearts'. It looks good, especially the scenery which is lovely. Other Hallmark films fare a lot worse when it comes to having ill fitting and intrusive music, neither of which were an issue really with me here. While the script is not Oscar worthy material, it at least has a natural flow and doesn't come over as too cheesy, schmaltzy or waffly.

Generally the story has a warm centre, is light-hearted and doesn't feel dull. The supporting cast all do solid work. Cole brings a lot of charm and confidence to a character that is hardly un-rootable and has strengths and flaws.

Paevey to me was less good, he has appealing moments but he underplays his underwritten role too much and comes over as wooden. There is definitely chemistry between him and Cole and the relationship is not neglected, but the relationship itself could have been better and more realistically developed. Just found it too rushed and the outcome is too abrupt.

While the story was better than expected, there are very few surprises and very little new. Basically standard Hallmark with no real variation.

In summary, nice film. 7/10.

There isn't much of a romance before things end. Most of the time she is trying to set him up with someone else. It feels rushed and abrupt that they develop feelings for one another. Taylor Cole is pretty and she makes a nice couple with Ryan Paevey - I think they have been better together in some other movie. At least here aren't any silly obstacles. It just feels they left out the main part.