“Flip That Romance” aired on March 16, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It starred Julie Gonzalo and Tyler Hynes in a romance that features home flipping and interior design just in time for spring time. It was filmed in British Columbia, Canada in a town named Sidney.
In a nutshell
Gonzalo and Hynes are both solid actors and were great leads in this movie. Plus, I’m a sucker for an HGTV home flip, so this movie was right up my alley and I liked it.
Plot
Jules (Gonzalo) and Lance (Hynes) are former partners who parted ways years ago. He moves back home and after each of them buys half a duplex, end up in a house flip competition to renovate the house in order to win a coveted front cover article in a magazine. Can these former partners call a truce – and perhaps rekindle the romance they almost had?
Actors
Gonzalo has been around for a while – she’s been in several Hallmark movies but some might also recognize her from shows like “Veronica Mars” or even “Eli Stone” (one of my faves from the late 2000s). Hynes is new to the Hallmark brand, but was fantastic in “It’s Christmas Eve” this past holiday season. This movie also had Hallmark favorite Cardi Wong as home contractor Kenny. In this he played his character very low-key and at first it was oft-putting and I feared he was half-assing the job. But then I realized that Hynes was merely playing him with quiet strength, and by the end of the first hour Hynes had won me over with his portrayal. Gonzalo is three degrees away from Kris Polaha, having co-starred with John Hannah in 2002’s “I’m With Lucy.” Hannah then co-starred with Colin Firth in 2007’s “The Last Legion” and Firth and Polaha co-starred in “Devil’s Knot” in 2013.
Chemistry
At first I didn’t think the two leads had chemistry. It took at least 30 minutes into the movie for me to decide I liked these two together (to be honest, it didn’t help that Jules came off as a bit of a shrew during most of the first half of the movie). But what finally won me over was a scene where he was trying to tell her something and she cut him off with a “no no no no no!” – the look on his face in response to that was perfect and awesome and it was at that point I thought, “Yeah, I want these two to get together.” I also liked all the scenes that Gonzalo had with her gal friends, in particular the dinner where she admits she served them a frozen lasagna for dinner. It’s that kind of dinner party that is REAL, y’all. Bagel bites are FOOD and sometimes that’s all you can make when friends are coming over to hang out.
Feelgoods
The best feelgood? The kiss long before the movie ended – AND the fact that the attempt to interrupt it via phone call was ignored. THANK YOU, HALLMARK!
Tropes
Not too many tropes since this was a spring movie. There was a deadline and a job was on the line, so there are two right there. Lots of coffee being carried around in cups that were clearly empty. Dinner surrounded by candlelight. .
Did I Hear/See That Right?
So this is not the first movie of the year to feature lots of lit candles in a room. This time, it was because the power went out while they were painting shutters indoors due to a rainstorm. WHERE did all those candles come from? All shapes and sizes, all white. If they had to make a run to get food and candles, you can bet I wouldn’t be requiring that they all be the same color, first of all, and second of all, wouldn’t it be cheaper just to get a couple lanterns that are used by campers?
Re-watchability
As I’ve said with other movies I’ve seen, I’d probably watch this one again if I found it was on the schedule. I particularly like Tyler Hynes’ work in this one and that alone would make me Tivo it again.
The Ranking
So where does it fit in the rankings? Near the top for this one! It comes in with a solid score and is currently sitting in fifth place for 2019’s movies. That’s great!
- Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
- Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
- Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
- Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
- Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 points – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
- The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
- Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
- Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
- One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
- Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 points – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
- Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
- Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
- The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
- A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
To see where this movie lands in my entire ranking of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of “Flip That Romance”?
