I want you to imagine you're meeting someone for the first time. You find them attractive, but being above the age of fourteen, you've come to realize that looks are far from the most important thing in establishing a relationship with someone. You greet them in a friendly manner, and tell them about the single most important thing in your life, your greatest passion and joy. Now, how would you feel about this person if they immediately scoff at your interests, belittle them, and assert that THEIR way of doing things is intellectually and morally superior. You probably wouldn't have a very high opinion of this person, right.
Wrong! If you're this movie's protagonist, Violet, you fall desperately in love with the smug little sack of obnoxiousness.
Granted, Violet DOES act, at first, as if she dislikes the movie's love interest, Dr. Blake Williams (if you forget he's a doctor, don't worry - he'll remind you ever five freaking seconds; if you forget his name, meanwhile, remember you're watching a Hallmark movie, which limits the male love interest's name to either Luke, Blake, or Josh). And why shouldn't she? The dude is a textbook narcissist who loves himself like Kanye loves Kanye. He immediately disparages Violet's career in music therapy (or rather, Hallmark's version of music therapy - I think it's probably about as accurate as Disney's version of Pocahontas), and is generally just a jerk to her. I don't care how attractive you think a person is - if they're a jackass to you right out of the gate, they're not a suitable romantic partner.
Now, let's go back to our exercise in imagination for a moment. I want you to imagine you're in line at the grocery store. While waiting to purchase your goods, someone purposefully rams their shopping cart into you, curses you for being in their way, and throws tomatoes at you. Afterwards, you go home and tell your best friend about the encounter. How would you expect your friend to react? Outraged, right?
Wrong again! If you're Violet's best friend, Desiree, you think that the assailant sounds like a perfect match for your bestie. Violet tells her about how rudely Blake has been treating her, to which Desiree responds, "You seem to care an awful lot about what this Dr. Blake Williams thinks." ........ Huh? Let's back up and talk about Desiree for a second. The woman is borderline swooning on a twenty-four-hour basis. If she were a midwestern reptile, she'd be a horny toad. She thinks of nothing but an extremely unrealistic and unattainable version of romance every second of her existence. For example, when Violet tells her that she's going out of town, Deisree's immediate response is, "Ahh. Romantic getaway for one?" What the heck does THAT mean, you nitwit substitute for Belgian waffles? Take a cold shower, start collecting stamps, watch a documentary on Sumatran rhinos, SOMETHING other than obsessing over "romance."
Those are really my two biggest issues with this movie. It does, of course, have all the traditional Hallmark tropes. The girl and the guy don't like each other, but slowly they start to develop feelings for each other, because reasons (what those reasons are, I'm not sure; Blake is consistently a jerk to Violet throughout the movie). Jessica Lowndes sings a couple of times (because I'm pretty sure it's in her standard contract that she has to sing at least three times per film), and isn't terrible in the role of Violet (except that Violet is kind of an idiot). I won't spoil the plot for you. It's far from the worst Hallmark movie I've ever seen, but given the characters of Blake and Desiree, I have to give it a low score. They're just completely insufferable throughout the movie.
Wrong! If you're this movie's protagonist, Violet, you fall desperately in love with the smug little sack of obnoxiousness.
Granted, Violet DOES act, at first, as if she dislikes the movie's love interest, Dr. Blake Williams (if you forget he's a doctor, don't worry - he'll remind you ever five freaking seconds; if you forget his name, meanwhile, remember you're watching a Hallmark movie, which limits the male love interest's name to either Luke, Blake, or Josh). And why shouldn't she? The dude is a textbook narcissist who loves himself like Kanye loves Kanye. He immediately disparages Violet's career in music therapy (or rather, Hallmark's version of music therapy - I think it's probably about as accurate as Disney's version of Pocahontas), and is generally just a jerk to her. I don't care how attractive you think a person is - if they're a jackass to you right out of the gate, they're not a suitable romantic partner.
Now, let's go back to our exercise in imagination for a moment. I want you to imagine you're in line at the grocery store. While waiting to purchase your goods, someone purposefully rams their shopping cart into you, curses you for being in their way, and throws tomatoes at you. Afterwards, you go home and tell your best friend about the encounter. How would you expect your friend to react? Outraged, right?
Wrong again! If you're Violet's best friend, Desiree, you think that the assailant sounds like a perfect match for your bestie. Violet tells her about how rudely Blake has been treating her, to which Desiree responds, "You seem to care an awful lot about what this Dr. Blake Williams thinks." ........ Huh? Let's back up and talk about Desiree for a second. The woman is borderline swooning on a twenty-four-hour basis. If she were a midwestern reptile, she'd be a horny toad. She thinks of nothing but an extremely unrealistic and unattainable version of romance every second of her existence. For example, when Violet tells her that she's going out of town, Deisree's immediate response is, "Ahh. Romantic getaway for one?" What the heck does THAT mean, you nitwit substitute for Belgian waffles? Take a cold shower, start collecting stamps, watch a documentary on Sumatran rhinos, SOMETHING other than obsessing over "romance."
Those are really my two biggest issues with this movie. It does, of course, have all the traditional Hallmark tropes. The girl and the guy don't like each other, but slowly they start to develop feelings for each other, because reasons (what those reasons are, I'm not sure; Blake is consistently a jerk to Violet throughout the movie). Jessica Lowndes sings a couple of times (because I'm pretty sure it's in her standard contract that she has to sing at least three times per film), and isn't terrible in the role of Violet (except that Violet is kind of an idiot). I won't spoil the plot for you. It's far from the worst Hallmark movie I've ever seen, but given the characters of Blake and Desiree, I have to give it a low score. They're just completely insufferable throughout the movie.