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Hallmark’s “The Last Bridesmaid”

A little late because of our family vacation this past weekend, but I finally was able to put together my thoughts on “The Last Bridesmaid,” which aired June 22, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel and starred two Hallstars that I love, Paul Campbell and Rachel Boston. I love those two, and to have them in a movie together made me very, very happy. “The Last Bridesmaid” was filmed in Sooke, which is on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in Canada, and it was beautiful! The gorgeous wedding scenes in particular were filmed at Sooke Harbor House.

In a nutshell

Y’all. Rachel Boston is adorable. And my love for Paul Campbell is right up there with my love for Kris Polaha. And neither one disappoints in this charming, effortless summer movie.

Plot

Becca (Rachel Boston) is always a bridesmaid (literally – I believe at the beginning of the movie she has been a bridesmaid nine times), but as she helps her cousin plan her wedding, Becca gets to know Kyle (Paul Campbell), the videographer/documentary filmmaker hired to shoot not just the wedding, but every part of the wedding planning. Will the eternal bridesmaid finally become a bride?

Actors

I can’t possibly gush about Boston and Campbell enough. I’m not kidding when I say I adore these two. The actor likeability score is high with these two. Hallmark scored a winning team for this movie and they need to be in another one together soon (hello, Christmas???). If you follow Campbell on Twitter (you should – he’s hilarious (@ThePaulCampbell)), just before this movie aired he and Polaha got into a hunk-off battle with a woman who claimed she preferred Polaha over Campbell. The resulting thread was awesome since both Campbell and Polaha participated (I love how wonderfully engaged the Hallmark actors are on Twitter). As for degrees of separation, Paul Campbell is only two degrees away from Polaha. He starred in 2007’s “88 Minutes” with Stephen Moyer who then went on to co-star with Polaha in “Devil’s Knot” in 2013. My hope is that one day Paul Campbell will do another episode of his Two Pauls podcast with Paul Greene, and interview Polaha.

Chemistry

GREAT chemistry. But I never doubted it.

Feelgoods

I didn’t take notes, and it has been a few days since I watched it, so my memory is lacking a bit. It’s re-airing tonight and I do plan on watching it again, so maybe that will help. In the meantime, I laughed when Becca lamented about the yellow bridesmaid dress. It reminded me of when one of my good friends got married – it was a lovely outdoor wedding and yes, I wore yellow as one of the bridesmaids. Good times.

Tropes

No major Hallmark tropes that I recall. No promotion on the line in this one, although both were seeking new avenues for creative work. No major deadlines other than the wedding itself. I don’t recall any empty coffee cups although THAT REMINDS ME. You guys, last night my daughter and I were watching “Numb3rs” on Amazon Prime and in the episode we watched Rob Morrow hands another actor a cup of coffee and the cup was practically SIDEWAYS in Rob’s hand as he passed it over. He didn’t even TRY to make it look like there was actual liquid in that cup. That drives me crazy.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

I also don’t remember too many questionable moments except one BIG one.

There is NO WAY a filmmaker who has saved his life’s dream on his iPad (the dog documentary) is going to hand it over to someone and just say, “Be careful – that’s got my movie on it.” I snorted in that scene. If I’m Kyle and my LIFE’S WORK is on that iPad, I’m not giving it to ANYone – not even the chick that I’m crushing on. Yes, he built a nice website for her. But there was no need for him to hand over the iPad and say, “Keep it and take your time giving it back.”

And adjacent to that – how rude of Becca to clearly click around on his iPad and look at whatever she wanted other than the jewelry website he built for her. Granted, I know that’s the plot device in order for her uncle to see the dog documentary in a later scene, but still. RUDE.

And adjacent to that – he didn’t hand over a power cord, but he also must not have a password on his iPad because the next morning the iPad still had charge enough for her to watch the documentary AND she was still able to access everything without a password. I’m anti-Apple, so I don’t know much about iPads, but surely they have timed lock out screens?

Re-watchability

Yep. As I said, I’m planning on watching it again tonight.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? It made the Top 10!

Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
Love to the Rescue (air date: March 23) – 679 pts – 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 pts – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
The Last Bridesmaid (air date: June 22) – 643 pts – weighted score: 109.2 (76.6%)
Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
Mystery 101: Playing Dead (air date: June 23 (HMM)) – 425 pts – weighted score: 86.5 (73.9%)
True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 pts – 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 pts – 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 pts – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 pts – 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 pts – 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 pts – 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 pts – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
Love in the Sun (air date: June 1) – 361 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.8%)