When trailers for this movie first came out, I thought the title was awful. But I had high hopes because it starred Jessy Schram, a long-time Hallmark actress who has some solid movies on her resume, such as fan favorite “The Birthday Wish” and last year’s “Road to Christmas.” But then I realized they were dumping this movie onto a Monday night, and I thought that didn’t bode well either. And then after it’s premiere on Monday, January 20, 2020, the next morning I saw the movie being skewered by fans. Just very little positive things to say. I had Tivo’d it and debated whether to even watch it given the negative feelings this movie elicited.
In a nutshell
Last night after my family all tucked into their beds for the night, I gamely turned on the movie and watched. And do you know what? It was not nearly as bad as people were saying. I certainly didn’t think it was shockingly awful like some folks were implying. Is it the best Hallmark has ever offered? Certainly not. But I didn’t hate this movie, and in fact, in my overall rankings of all Hallmark movies, it’s not even in the bottom 25 of the 164 I currently have ranked.
Plot (from Hallmark Channel website)
When journalist Julia goes back home to find inspiration, she discovers her childhood friend has built a giant snow maze which prompts her to find her way to true love.
The plot seems like it could be fun. A snow maze? I’m down for that! But the trailer did this movie no favors whatsoever. The snow maze really exists, in the town of St. Adolphe (Manitoba, Canada). A portion of the movie was shot there, obviously, as well as Winnipeg.
A Different Kind of Review
This review/commentary will be slightly different because I took absolutely no notes during the movie. My notes usually help me gather my thoughts, but I went into the movie assuming that it was going to be terrible and not worth reviewing at all. In those cases, I simply give it a score and move on. But in the end this movie wasn’t that bad, so I feel like I still need to write something about it. But I won’t do my typical category breakdown that I normally do.
Did the actors do a good job? They did – although poor Jessy Schram needs to speak to the production crew about seeing dailies if only to ensure she doesn’t look windburned in all the outdoor scenes. Because that poor girl’s complexion turns red when she’s out in the cold. Marshall Williams is new to Hallmark but did a fine job as Julia’s childhood friend Nate, the builder of the snow maze. I liked the fact that Julia and Nate were childhood friends, which allowed them to immediately fall into a pattern of getting along well and having a lot of positive history together (Nate’s childhood crush on her notwithstanding).
I suspect this movie was filmed around the holidays because Julia’s parents’ house had noticeable Christmas decorations in a couple of exterior shots – lights around the columns, some type of red wreath over the door. In one scene near the end, the lights on the bushes near the front door were actually ON in the background.
I did think the snow maze would be so fun to do. Living in the south where we haven’t had significant snow fall (read: more than 5 inches) since we moved here in 2006, I see huge amounts of snow and get very, very jealous. In 2004 my area got almost a foot of snow, and then prior to that the most snowfall was in 1988. As such, seeing vast amounts of snow in “Amazing Winter Romance” was fantastic. My husband and I used to live in NJ and we did have significant snow up there, and I probably COULD have built a snow maze in our backyard had I thought of the idea!
I just don’t have much else to say about this movie. It wasn’t boring. Even though it was late at night when I turned it on, I never had the notion to turn it off or skip it. It was interesting enough to keep me watching. But it was missing a sparkle, an extra something, that some Hallmark movies have. I don’t blame the story, or the actors, or the director. It just happened to be a puzzle in which the pieces just didn’t quite fit for some reason that I can’t express.
The Ranking
“Amazing Winter Romance” is at the bottom for the moment, but I can almost guarantee it won’t stay there. I’m reasonably confident that there will be other movies that fall far below the mark of this one.
- Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
- Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
- Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
- Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of Hallmark’s “Amazing Winter Romance”? Comment below and let me know!
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