It’s 2021, y’all, and time for New Year, New Movies! “Taking a Shot at Love” aired on January 2, 2021 on the Hallmark Channel and starred Alexa PenaVega and Luke Macfarlane.
The screenplay was written by Laura Grant with a heavy assist from one of my favorite Hallmark screenwriters, Julie Sherman Wolfe. Kevin Fair, who many know as the director for the “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” movies, directed this one. Vancouver, Canada is standing in for Connecticut this time around.
In a nutshell
I had my doubts about a hockey/ballet movie by Hallmark but Alexa PenaVega and Luke Macfarlane were a great pair and it was a pretty strong story in the end. This was a much better movie than I expected.
Plot of “Taking a Shot at Love”
Former professional ballet dancer Jenna works with NHL star Ryan Cooper to help him recover from an injury using ballet as therapy, and as they grow close, he helps her mend her injured heart. But when it’s time for Ryan to return to the ice and leave Jenna and her small, Connecticut town, they both must consider the paths they want to take and just maybe, love will find its way.
Actors & Chemistry
That Luke Macfarlane looks good with a 5 o’clock shadow, doesn’t he? And Alexa PenaVega is still beautiful even with tears pooling in her eyes. Not only that, but they were a REALLY good pair. With Macfarlane’s other pairings, the only ones I’ve *really* liked in his Hallmark history are Jaime King in 2016’s “The Mistletoe Promise,” Jesse Schram in 2017’s “The Birthday Wish.” However, this was a really good pairing and I wouldn’t mind seeing them get paired up again.
Tropes
As we all know, the non-Christmas movies automatically have fewer tropes overall, but a few still pop up now and again. So what popped up?
A lovely house with a front porch opened the movie. Does it count as ice skating when it’s at a hockey practice? Jenna’s business is in jeopardy with students quitting to do contemporary dance AND her rent going up. And by the way, those toddlers coming for ballet were ADORABLE.
This movie had the Bad Ex-Girlfriend (seen only in pictures) who dumped Coop after he got injured and wasn’t in the spotlight anymore. And it turns out that Jenna’s Bad Ex-Boyfriend did the same thing.
Then later on we had s’mores by the firepit in her backyard. We had an almost-almost kiss in the barn that was more of a leaning-in-I’m-thinking-about-it kiss. And of course, we had the winter festival.
We saw a lot of scarves but it was only on one occasion that we had a really big one. We also had a few scenes with actual liquid in the the cups/glasses. Thank you, moviemakers!!
Did I Hear/See That Right?
My first issue is that Hallmark changed their annual “Winterfest” title for January movies into “New Year New Movies” and then the first movie features an actual WINTERFEST??? WHY? *lol*
She’s a dance instructor in Connecticut and earns enough money to have a house with a guest house in the back? Even owning that studio, there’s no way she’d be able to afford that gorgeous comes-with-a-guest-house-over-the-garage-house AND the property taxes that come with it. Unless she rented out that guest house full-time.
Feelgoods
I don’t know if anyone else noticed the stove in her kitchen, but I loved it. It wasn’t an Aga – it looked more like a Wedgewood or an updated Magic Chef. I LOVE the look of those old stoves and if I had that kind of money I woukld 100% have one in my house. What was amazing though was that the kitchen had TWO stoves – the retro one AND a regular one.
I laughed out loud when neighbor Erin came over to meet Coop and basically handed over the goodies that Jenna had given her earlier in the movie.
I FELT Coop’s pain as he walked across the driveway to Jenna’s house the morning after his first lesson. I felt that exact same way the day after I walked 18 miles back in the day when I bothered with exercising.
My parents have an air hockey table and one of our favorite things to do when extended family is gathered is to have a competition. If my kids were younger I’d get a hockey table, but seeing as we’ll be empty nesters soon, it makes sense to wait until I have grandkids of my own and get one then.
I REALLY appreciated the time reference in the movie. When Coop gets the call to go back to NY, Jenna mentions they had 30 days of rehab together. That’s much more acceptable than “I’ve developed strong feelings for you after only a week.” As a result, the I love you’s at the end of the movie felt earned.
“We didn’t say ANYTHING that needed to be said.” GREAT line, Julie Sherman Wolfe!!!
Re-watchability
At some point while watching the movie I had to pause it, and I was surprised that I was only an hour in. I felt as though there may only be 30 minutes left. That’s how FULL this movie was. Too often Hallmark movies come off as really vapid and lacking real content, but this one was full of the characters truly getting to know each other, and it showed. The result? A movie worth watching again.
The Ranking
“Taking a Shot at Love” is the first movie of the year, so it is automatically in the top spot right now. But looking at the score, I predict this movie will easily end up in the upper third for the year.
- Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of “Taking a Shot at Love”? Comment below and let me know!
FANTASTIC REVIEW that has convinced me to give it a try! I’m still watching my beloved HM Christmas recorded movies so I was going to skip this one. I am THRILLED to have found your account & look forward to years, yes years!!, of many more informative & insightful reviews!
PS: As an empty-nester…if your kiddos want an air-hockey game to play at your home now, GET IT! Make as many wonderful memories with them as possible while you can! And hopefully, they’ll come home many times before grandchildren appear! 🙂
Thank you, Becky! At the moment we have no space for an air hockey table, but believe me – once we reach our retirement years, if we decide to move, I’ll be sure I get a house that has a space that can be turned into a game room for the grands! And my kids are older teens now – they have no desire to make memories with their parents at the moment. *lol* (actually, I’m pretty fortunate – I have great kids even if they think I’m occasionally embarrassing to be around)
Loved this show and the actors – favorites of mine!
I also really liked this one. I thought the story was fun. I just assumed that she had the house when she was a professional dancer.
A brief search online tells me that the average ballerina earns anywhere between $20K – $60K per year. Add in a bit more since it’s NY/CT, and that’s still not enough for a single gal to purchase that particular house/property in CT. Although I think she said at one point that she bought it with plans to renovate and sell, and opted to keep it once she was done. Did I imagine that conversation? *lol* I can’t remember, despite watching the movie only 12 hours ago.
I happen to be watching this one now for the second time just because I LOVE it! and totally agree – the chemistry between these two is beyond awesome and the movie as a whole makes me feel like I’m watching an old school Hallmark movie when it seemed like the actor pair-ups and overall movie vibe and chemistry came off as smooth and natural because it was that good. I had a laugh though when I read your comment about the property taxes on the house because the first time I watched this movie, I absolutely thought the same thing too lol I didn’t catch when the goodies got passed back to Coop so I’ll have to pay attention this time
Love, love, love this movie and watch it every time it comes on. The chemistry is great!!! Luke is AMAZING. Love the fact they had a young male ballet dancer who also played hockey. Only complaint? The kiss was awful at the end. But I still will watch it many times and it’s made it to my Hallmark rewatch list.
I just discovered this movie, and I love it too! I totally agree with you about Luke Macfarlane’s other pairings. I would turn off movies with him in general, but his chemistry with Jesse Schram was so good that I found myself giving him another chance. Glad I did, especially with this movie as it’s definitely in the rewatchable category with better character development and a more plausible timeline as you described.
One note about the comments that Jenna could never afford this property: She tells Ryan when he asks about the Hugge sign that her grandparents started the farm and named it that. And when they get the firewood from the barn, she tells him that her father wanted to renovate the barn and use it as a cider mill and store. So it seems clear that this property has been inherited by her, and if it was first owned by her grandparents, then it’s not hard to believe that it’s completely paid for and that all she needs to do is pay property taxes. When she talks about renovating and selling it, she does not say she bought it. Instead, it was the family home that she had to figure out what to do with, and she thought she didn’t want it anymore. But then she says she fell in love with the place and her hometown all over again.
Obviously, I missed that conversation about the house – thank you for clarifying it for me! That completely makes sense.