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Hallmark’s “Love, Take Two”

“Love, Take Two” aired on June 15, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel and starred two Hallmark newcomers with support from lots of friendly faces as secondary characters. The newcomers were Cornelius Smith, Jr. and Heather Hemmens. “Love, Take Two” was filmed in Squamish, Canada, but was apparently subbing as a small college town less than 3 hours north of LA, replete with mountains and lakes galore. A quick bit of Googling confirms that yes, snowy mountain peaks CAN be found within 2-3 hours of LA, so what do I know?

In a nutshell

I just couldn’t get behind this one. I tried, and it’s not the worst Hallmark movie in 2019, but it’s nowhere near what the best of Hallmark can be.

Plot

Lily (Hemmens), the executive producer of a wedding-themed reality show (Hemmens) returns to her college town to film an episode of her show. When one couple backs of of the episode, another one steps in – but finds that her ex-boyfriend Scott (Smith, Jr.) is the groom-to-be.

Actors

The cast was perfectly fine. As newcomers to Hallmark both Hemmens and Smith, Jr. did a really great job and I look forward to seeing them in more Hallmark movies going forward. This movie also had a plethora of popular backup Hallmark actors, such as perennial favorites Casey Manderson and Leanne Lapp (just to name two).

Chemistry

Sadly, as great as the actors were, and well suites for Hallmark, I felt almost no chemistry between the trio of actors that were the focal point. Where I did feel there was chemistry were the scenes between Smith Jr. and Manderson, as best friends. Those two were great on screen together and I’d watch a buddy-cop movie with those two any time. I also felt chemistry between Smith Jr. and the lovely actress that played his mom (I forgot to catch her name on the credits and she’s not listed on iMDb, so if you know her name, drop it in the comments below!). But the chemistry between Smith and Hemmens was strictly friend-level. I never saw a romantic connection between those characters. And even less between Scott and his fiance, Brynn.

Feelgoods

Not too many feels on this one. I liked the dog.

Tropes

Quite a few tropes. A promotion was on the line, in that Lily was hoping to get a second season of her show. Lily’s assistant (portrayed by Leanne Lapp) is the one wear the circle necklace this time around. At least one scene holding empty coffee cups. Girl returns to hometown (in this case, college hometown) and sees ex.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

So. Many. SO. MANY!!! Let’s pick some nits, y’all.

First of all, why is 2.5 hours considered “too far apart” to continue dating? They talked as though Pineville was HOURS AND HOURS away from Los Angeles. It was 2.5 hours. So, technically they could have both moved one hour closer to each other and been only 30 minutes away from each other and a reasonable commute’s distance away from work. Back when I was single I dated guys that lived 30-45 minutes away and it was not a big deal. Heck, when Denis and I met we only saw each other 1-2x month since he lived in NYC and I lived in DC, and we made it work. And people do hour-long commutes all the time. There was NO REASON for them break up over long distance issues.

Second of all, Scott and Brynn should have been having the “where are we going to live” conversation LONG before they agreed to be on the wedding show. Remember how I mentioned in the last paragraph that Denis and I lived in different cities? That long-distance lasted until our wedding day and upon returning from our honeymoon I moved all my stuff to NYC to be with him. But believe me when I say we had “The Talk” about where we’d live well ahead of getting hitched.

Thirdly, what bridal shop lets women get dressed up in their gowns all day long when they have no intention of purchasing a dress??? Brynn was there to pick up her dress, and Lily was just tagging along. But hey, no biggie – let’s try on half a dozen dresses we will not buy and waste the shop owner’s time? Really? Nope. Not really. And that’s not even bringing up the fact that Lily had no business trying on dressed with the fiance of her ex-boyfriend with whom she has had a couple non-dates-but-kinda-dates since her arrival in town.

Speaking of the bridal shop – I seem to recall that Brynn was picking her dress up the DAY BEFORE the wedding, and yet she wanted to try it on to see if it needed any last minute alterations? Uh, no girlfriend, that dress had better be DONE DONE DONE the day before the wedding. Admittedly, I know she fast-tracked the wedding in order to be on the TV show, but still. No alterations are done the day before the Big Event.

Fourth, their table at the restaurant. I can’t remember how many years they said it had been since they were in college, but let’s assume 7-10 years. No way is “their” table in the EXACT SAME spot in the restaurant, but I suspect that table will have been replaced at some point if so many people carved their names into it.

Fifth, so do the other couples on the wedding reality show ATTEND the other two weddings? Is Pineville so big a college town that three brides are all having their ceremonies within a week or two of each other AND participating on a reality show AND willing to have their competition attend those weddings?

There were more, but those are the biggies.

Re-watchability

Nope.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? Pretty low, but the movie is definitely not the worst I’ve seen in 2019.

Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
Love to the Rescue (air date: March 23) – 679 points – weighted score: 115.4 (80.9%)
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%)
Bottled With Love (air date: April 13) – 649 pts – weighted score: 112.2 (78.7%)
Love Takes Flight (air date: April 27) – 670 points – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 points – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 points – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 points – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 points – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 points – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
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%)
From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 points – weighted score: 94.8% (66.5%)
Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For (air date: March 10 (HMM) – 354 pts – weighted score: 74.1 (63.3%)
Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
Love, Take Two (air date: June 15) – 507 points – weighted score: 87.8 (61.6%)
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%)
Sailing Into Love (air date: May 18) – 455 points – weighted score: 78.0 (54.7%)
A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
A Feeling of Home (air date: May 11) – 386 points – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
Love in the Sun (air date: June 1) – 361 points – weighted score: 62.5 (43.8%)