Sherri Saum (who played Barrett) and James Denton (who played Jack) do a really nice job of portraying two people who begin to see each other in a new light after being forced together in a common Hallmark set up (a Best Man and Maid of Honor who don't get along but need to work together). I liked the way in which their relationship grew as they spent more time together, had some meaningful conversations, and learned a lot about each other.
This movie kept surprising me. I would come to a scene where I would become skeptical and ask questions like: "why don't they say this?" or "why don't they do that?" and then a few minutes later the movie would answer my question.
The "enemies to lovers" trope is probably the most popular rom-com formula, but sometimes the initial antagonism seems forced. That wasn't the case here. We are given very satisfying explanations for Jack and Barrett's initial behavior towards each other. And the writer, Alicia Lomas-Gross, and the director, Stefan Scaini, added 2 effective Rashomon-like scenes that depicted 2 very different recollections of how they first me (yes, I did just throw in a reference to a classic Akira Kurosawa movie in my review of a Hallmark movie).
Crappy music can sometimes sink movies like this, especially when one or both of the characters are presented as Big Stars. The music here wasn't hit worthy, but it wasn't horrible either, and it worked within the story.
I was annoyed at first by Jack's son (played by Denton's real life son) who seemed inexplicably sullen. And I wasn't clear on why a college student was living at home with his father rather than in a dorm or in a house with other students. But there was a scene where he overheard part of a conversation with Barrett which I assumed would be played out like that trope is usually handled in a Hallmark movie. I assumed he would tell his father what he heard, and then his father would be upset, reject Barrett, and then they would reunite once the misunderstanding was cleared up. And yet this partially overheard conversation was handled in a completely different and very satisfying way. It even softened my view of the son.
I loved all the hand touching and hand holding as the attraction between Jack and Barrett grew.
And I liked this exchange:
Barrett: "It seems like every week I read some article about some woman who lived to be 105 years old and when the reporter asks her what's her secret, you know what she always says? 'Stay away from men'"
Jack: "What are you doing with me?"
Barrett: "I'm trying to calculate how many years you're going to take off my life."
But...
Why did it take their best friends 10 years to get married?
Why did they suddenly need to move the wedding up to "next month"?
Playing a music video with the volume on in a restaurant is NOT cool.
Taking someone's private notebook without their permission is NOT cool.
The notion that two people can come together and perform a song for the first time together, without any rehearsal or preparation (either together or individually) without, at least, a teleprompter is, well, ridiculous (but those performances were still lovely).
