Hallmark For All Seasons

Fall Harvest

My Best Friend’s Bouquet

I know it has been almost a month since my last post. Things have been busy, and to be honest, Hallmark movie reviews took a back seat. I also had no inspiration to write reviews for a couple of those movies which were less than impressive. I did write one for Daisy Hills, but could not write one for Look Lodge. However, with things gearing up in two weeks, I knew I had to get back on the saddle and get a review out because once Countdown to Christmas starts up, it’ll be a mad dash to the end of 2020! While I did not review 2-3 movies, you CAN find their scores in the list at the bottom of this review.

“My Best Friend’s Bouquet” was Hallmark getting back to Hallmark. It starred Chaley Rose and Nathan Witte in a film helmed by actress turned director Jessica Harmon (Niylah on “The 100” and Dale on “iZombie”). It was filmed in British Columbia in places such as Harrison Hot Springs and Agassiz. The friend’s engagement party wedding where Jill breaks up with Will, in particular, was filmed Fraser River Lodge.

In a nutshell

I enjoyed this movie. It was so refreshing to have a HALLMARK quality movie versus a subpar acquisition. Granted, I did like “Country at Heart” last week; I just never got around to reviewing it. But I liked “My Best Friend’s Bouquet” quite a bit.

Chaley Rose in My Best Friend's Wedding — image: Hallmark Crown Media

Plot for “My Best Friend’s Bouquet”

Josie Hughes is a hopeless romantic who believes in the kind of romance in black-and-white movies where the leading lady finds her one true love and gets swept off her feet. She also believes the wedding bouquet always finds its way to the right person when tossed by the bride, as proven time and again at weddings dating back to her childhood.

But single Josie ends up with the bouquet at her friend Emma’s wedding instead of their not-single friend Athena and fears she’s wrecked her chances of getting engaged. But when Josie begins dating eligible bachelor Will after meeting at the reception, she decides the bouquet is responsible for the budding romance and begins to think that Will is “the one.” As Josie clings to the notion that the bouquet is always right, she’s missing the real-world signs that her perfect match is someone else who’s been right in front of her all along.

Actors/Chemistry

This is Chaley Rose’s second movie for Hallmark and I liked her even more in this than I did in “A Christmas Duet.” I’ve not see Nathan Witte before (although he has starred on several shows that I’ve seen in the past, including “Supernatural” and “Arrow,” just to name two). It took me a while to warm up to him, but in the end I thought he was a good foil for Rose. I was happy to see Casey Manderson and Cardi Wong in secondary roles – it’s always a pleasure to have them on my screen. I normally like Jaime Callica (who played Josie’s love interest Will in “Bouquet”) but he didn’t fit this role, in my opinion.

Rose and Witte had great friend chemistry. Actually, the whole gang of actors playing friends felt <I>real</i> to me. I totally believed that those 6 people had all been friends for a long time. The casting department did a great job in that regard. Did I feel ROMANCE vibes from Rose and Witte? That was a little tougher for me to get behind, but I did get there in the end.

The ladies of My Best Friend's Bouquet — Image: Hallmark Crown Media

Did I Hear/See That Right?

I was pleasantly surprised by how few notes I took with regard to gaffes and plot holes. It was refreshing to have a movie that was pretty well thought through.

1. What’s up with that stove? In one of the first scenes we see Casey Manderson’s character at a stove and WOW is that some stove. I first noticed the vent hood overhead – it was massive. When I noticed it I thought, “Who needs a vent hood that big?” Then I saw the stove – it looks like side by side ovens, with 4 burners each AND possibly a grill area? It was so big. And I thought, “What kind of jobs do these people have to have a stove like that? My noting this is NOT to say it is a gaffe or plot hole. It’s more a note that I really loved that stove. *lol*

2. The movies aren’t real. At some point during a conversation Josie was having, she stated that she wants to fall in love the way they do it in the movies. Unfortunately, that’s not how life works, Josie. And again, that’s not a gaffe or plot hole, just commentary.

3. The coffee shop closing early. Did the cafe owner give a reason as to why they were closing early? Unless there was a special corporate event that was well-advertised, I don’t know of many (or any) food service shops that will just randomly close early. And yet while Alex is finalizing his love letter to Josie, our intrepid waiter informs him the shop is closing early. Weird.

4. The mom was half-baked. Casey Manderson’s character (can’t remember his name off-hand) has a mom that offers to pay for the whole wedding, ruins a wedding dress, and interferes with the engagement party toast that her son is giving with his bride-to-be. Had they made the future mother-in-law a bit more oppressive, it would have made more sense. I could never get a bead on what the mom was supposed to be – a bit too close to her son, or a bit too controlling. In the end, the mom was so milquetoast that I wasn’t quite sure why bride-to-be Athena was getting so upset about things.

5. Speaking of Athena… I’m still not really sure why Athena was so upset about the whole thing? I mean, I get that the venue was damaged, the ring fell in the river, and the dress you liked has a small portion come off….but is that enough to over-react? Especially when your friends have come to the rescue and found alternatives? Specifically, at the toast scene, I don’t know why Athena ran away. She froze, and her fiance’s mom came to the rescue. But not out of vindictiveness – it played to me like an earnest attempt to help.

And that’s it – the first two I’ve listed aren’t even issues. And the last two are pretty minor.

Tropes in “My Best Friend’s Bouquet”

I only noticed a couple tropes of real note, but we did have some empty coffee cups AND Josie wore a circle necklace at some point. I’ve gotten out of the habit of looking for tropes, so I don’t know if there were any others, but I did spot those.

Feelgoods

I loved all the references to old movies – <I>especially</i> “The Philadelphia Story” which is one of my all-time favorite classic movies. I loved the wedding dress that Josie tried on. It was BEAUTIFUL on her and really was the perfect dress for Chaley Rose.

Lastly, I love a good spreadsheet and LOVED that one of the gal pals was big into organizing things by spreadsheet, including having categories for the wedding dresses (assuming the categories would also get points assigned). That character and I would be best friends.

At one point Josie mentions that the popcorn needs M&Ms and I feel like I need to speak to this because this past weekend my husband purchased a bag of popcorn flavored crispy M&Ms. And I know I’ve seen in movies where people dump chocolate candy in their containers of popcorn. I don’t do that, and never would, but I wonder if Josie and Alex would like the popcorn-flavored M&Ms?

Re-watchability

I would totally watch “My Best Friend’s Bouquet” again. It had just enough fall harvest for me (notably the wardrobe choices and the shots of trees in all their orange and yellowy colors).

The Ranking

“My Best Friends Bouquet” is in a good spot for the year thus far. It’s in the top 10! And while I don’t think it’ll stay in that spot since we’re about to get 40 Christmas movies over the next two months, I think it will easily stay in the top half by the time the year is done. .

Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
Wedding Every Weekend (air date: Aug 15) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
Hello, It’s Me (air date: Sept 27) – 628 pts – weighted score: 107.8% (75.6%)
Love on Harbor Island (air date: Aug 8) – 634 pts – weighted score: 106.9 (75.0%)
The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
Country at Heart (air date: Oct 3) – 611 pts – weighted score: 104.1 (73.1%)
You’re Bacon Me Crazy (air date: Apr 4) – 591 pts – weighted score: 104.0 (72.9%)
My Best Friend’s Bouquet (air date: Oct 10) – 599 pts – weighted score: 103.4 (72.5%)
Fashionably Yours (air date: Apr 11) – 594 pts – weighted score: 102.6 (72.0%)
Follow Your Heart (air date: Oct 4) – 585 pts – weighted score: 101.6 (71.3%)
A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4% (66.9%)
Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
Nature of Love (air date: Apr 18) – 520 pts – weighted score: 90.3 (63.3%)
Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
Love Under the Olive Tree (air date: June 20) – 473 pts – weighted score: 85.0 (59.6%)
In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)
Love in the Forecast (air date: Jun 13) – 440 pts – weighted score: 72.5 (50.8%)
Midway to Love (air date: June 26) – 410 pts – weighted score: 69.0 (48.4%)
Falling at Look Lodge (air date: Sept 26) – 350 pts – weighted score: 64.0 (44.9%)
Romance in the Air (air date: Aug 1) – 367 pts – weighted score: 63.2 (44.3%)
Follow Me to Daisy Hills (air date: Sept 19) – 337 pts – weighted score: 62.8 (44.1%)
How to Train Your Husband (air date: May 16) – 350 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.9%)