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Hallmark’s “Sister of the Bride”

“Sister of the Bride,” aired June 29, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel and starred Becca Tobin and Ryan Rottman. It appears as though this entire movie was filmed in California, more specifically in gorgeous Palm Springs.

In a nutshell

I didn’t like this one as well as I thought I would. Becca Tobin is growing on me (I was not a fan when she initially began popping up as the female leads in Hallmark movies) and Ryan Rottman will be a GREAT leading man over the next decade or so, should Hallmark continue to use him. Add in Beth Broderick and Michael Gross as Tobin’s parents, and the cast was a winning team. However, this one fell flat for me.

Plot

After only 6 months of dating, Stephanie (Becca Tobin) and Ben (Ryan Rottman) get engaged and are excited to share the news with her family during a visit to the family vacation home in Palm Springs. However, upon arriving they discover that Stephanie’s sister is engaged AND Stephanie’s father is concerned that the couple has moved too fast.

Actors

As I said already, Tobin is growing on me. She has lost some of her quirky facial expressions that she had in some of her earlier Hallmark movies, which I appreciated. She was very natural in this movie, and was a good partner with Ryan Rottman. I don’t believe I’ve noticed Rottman in anything prior, but looking at iMDb, it seems he was in one 2018 Hallmark Christmas movie I did not like very much. But he was GREAT in this one, so I’m looking for his 2019 Hallmark Christmas movie, which is currently titled, “The Best Worst Christmas Ever.” As for connections to Kris Polaha, Rottman is three degrees away, having starred in 2018’s “Billionaire Boys Club” with Emma Roberts, who then went on to co-star with Cliff Bemis in 2007’s “Nancy Drew.” Bemis then co-starred with Polaha in “Billy: The Early Years” in 2008.

Chemistry

Really nice chemistry between Tobin and Rottman, and I really enjoyed the scenes with Rottman and Michael Gross as well.

Feelgoods

Sadly, this movie gave me NO feelgoods – I think that’s what hurt it’s overall score a bit.

Tropes

A few tropes. Two 80s stars in Broderick and Gross. The marble laptop cover – I need to begin taking pictures of it to see if it’s always the same pattern. If it is, I’ll start documenting it much like I’ve been Instagram documenting the grey Hallmark Lobby that pops up all the time. Lastly, Ben was seeking a promotion of sorts to become a guest lecturer at Oxford in England while she was hoping to become tenured at Los Angeles College.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Y’all – there were a lot of questionnable things in this movie – another thing that brought down the overall score.

First, I’m sorry but that house was ugly. Not the backyard, but the front. When they got out of the car, they were wise not to show too long a shot of the front exterior of the house because it was NOT attractive. The backyard? Absolutely gorgeous. But the front was awful. If that is what passes for “amazing” in Palm Springs, remind me not to move there.

At one point Ben and Stephanie have sat down for a picnic. Ben opens the meal by saying, “We need to talk” (about his promotion) but then just two minutes later says, “We don’t need to talk now – it can wait.” Uh, which is it, Ben?

Who hires a wedding photographer whose due date is clearly within a week of the wedding. That would be a hard pass for me. Even moreso if I WAS the photographer.

Lastly, I could SWEAR there was a woman in the back row of the wedding wearing jeans. Am I wrong? I even rewound to double check. They definitely looked like jeans AND it looked like she had a cellphone tucked in her back pocket. Bad manners, wedding-goer! Bad manners!

Re-watchability

I don’t know that I’ll watch this one again, but I didn’t hate it. It’s just not the type of Hallmark movie I want to see. It was obvious from the beginning that they were planning THEIR wedding, not Stephanie’s sister.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? On the lower end, unfortunately, but far from the worst. This movie was helped by the cast, for sure.

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%)
Sister of the Bride (air date: June 29) – 516 pts – weighted score: 89.8 (63.0%)
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%)