I'm a huge Hallmark movie fan but this movie was too weird and unsatisfying for me. I didn't have a problem with the leads, but their story was uninspiring.
As the movie opens, Olivia is a struggling artist who's been in New York City for two years but is still crashing on her friend's couch (??). She has a job at a catering company with that friend but she's a terrible employee. After being fired (shocker),she finds out that she's losing the couch that she's been crashing on (her friend is suddenly moving and tells her she only has the place for another week).
So she catches a ride home with George, a high flying "40 under 40" golden boy and future Big Company CEO who, bizarrely, is driving an old car 2,800 miles across the country during the winter. Huh? He agrees to drop off Olivia in her hometown of Valentine, Nebraska but his old car breaks down once they get there (shocker). After the town's only mechanic incompetently fried the entire electrical system of his car (by putting the jumper cables on the wrong battery posts),George becomes understandably frustrated and calls the town "Nowhere, Nebraska".
But that town is, in fact, literally located in the middle of nowhere and only has a population of 2,603. I love how Hallmark has become more diverse and inclusive but the real town of Valentine only has one Black person. Just one. And yet virtually everyone featured in the movie (Olivia, her sister Vanessa, Vanessa's son, the restaurant owner, the town's only mechanic, and some random people in the parade) were all people of color. It came across as well intentioned but unrealistic.
When I watched this movie's premiere in February when the movie supposedly takes place, it was literally 24 degrees in Valentine, Nebraska. But some little old lady name Mrs. Hacky spent most of the movie sitting on a little stool outside in the freezing cold, staring at a barn.
Everyone was acting like the annual Valentine's Day parade in this cold tiny town was a huge event. Really?
I hated George's unnecessary lying about Olivia's "success" .
I thought her art was unimpressive.
I thought George's career crisis was poorly set up ("I don't want to spend my time making money for my company, I just want to spend my time giving its money away").
It wasn't as though he had some other clear path or passion that he wanted to follow like Olivia.
Nothing in the movie rang true for me and it was hard to root for anybody in a movie that just didn't make any sense, especially the fantasy ending.
Plot summary
Artist Olivia Lafferty has lived in New York City for two years with her professional life not yet having taken off, she and her actor best friend Tess, on whose sofa she has been sleeping for those two years, working as servers for a catering company to make ends meet. When Tess gets her big break which means an immediate move to Chicago, Olivia is forced to move out of their shared apartment by Valentine's Day two weeks away, made even more difficult as she, this time of year usually heading home to Valentine NE which the town does big for its namesake day, was unable to secure a flight home. In running into her wealthy and successful distant Los Angeles-based cousin George Kessler at a high end event catered by the company for which she and Olivia work, Tess, upon learning that George is driving back to Los Angeles in a family owned classic car, suggests he give both of them a ride, Tess to Chicago and Olivia to Valentine, which he is more than happy to do. Upon arriving in Valentine, George is faced with a time issue in making it back to Los Angeles for a meeting on Valentine's Day when the Board of the family company, Kessler + Kessler Asset Management, will vote him in as next CEO taking over from his father, the now malfunctioning car wanted by Kessler Sr. for the celebratory event following. In their time together in Valentine, Olivia and George have to get over some points of contention, which masks the mutual attraction that exists between the two. As George works to get his car fixed and as Olivia helps her sister Vanessa with the annual Valentine's Day Parade which she has taken over from a bitter Miss Hackey who was pushed out of the role after thirty years, they may help the other find their path in life, for George specifically to find his passion as opposed to the destiny set by his father, with that help borne out of Valentine's motto of love.—Huggo
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It can't be fun being stuck in Nowhere, Nebraska in the cold of winter
No Story No Chemistry
This was flat and dull. Not funny, not romantic, not dramatic...there was nothing to the story line.
Acting was listless and we bailed out on it. As reviews come in, the rating will drop. The father-son interaction was forced. Giving up the CEO position was cliché and not realistic. They only had one "Frankenstein-face" (bad plastic surgery) which is at least consistent but they didn't do any facial close ups, mercifully. Opening seen with two women and a boy rolling on top of each other was cringe worthy. The actors are talented but they deserve good writing. They had nothing to work with.
Maybe new writers?
Why?
I'm left with any number of questions.
Why did she fall for him? Even going beyond their early antagonism, which is standard for these movies, I didn't see much to justify her liking him much less love.
Why did his dad think he would make a CEO? His personality was not decisive but it was arrogant. Unlike many movies where the rising star performs many feats that prove their competence, there was nothing in George proving competence in anything besides auto mechanics.
What happened to the float?
What next? But I will say as a positive that this movie didn't feel like it was necessary to have absolutely every little thing turn out HEA.
The acting was fair to terrible. Louise Kerr was the worst, badly overplaying Miss Hackey. I have liked Kathryn Davis in a lot of things, but best I can say about her in this is - fair. And there was no chemistry with Markian Tarasiuk. They barely had any one on one screen time.
The story wandered. It was disjointed.