Much like my last post, I’m doing another round of mini-“reviews” of several movies that have come out since May, in the hopes of catching up by the time Christmas movies start in October. I won’t be reviewing all of them, but I will be SCORING all of them and adding the scores to the list at the bottom of each post.
“Road Trip Romance” starring Natalie Hall and Corey Sevier
Written by JB White and Steve N. White, who started as a producer of Hallmark movies and moved into screenwriting in 2018 with “Return to Christmas Creek.” The movie was directed by Samantha Wan. Road trip movies can be fun if done well, so I looked forward to watching this one.
The Plot of “Road Trip Romance”
An escalating series of unfortunate events keeps delaying a young woman’s journey to her sister’s wedding – a journey she is forced to take with the guy who was her biggest rival in high school.
General Thoughts
So much to dislike about this movie. The Kansas mechanic and his wife – don’t get me started. The Renaissance festival in general – don’t get me started. It was the worst part of the movie for so many reasons and we had to suffer through a full 25+ minutes of it in this movie. Dad jokes? Ugh. Hall and Sevier did the best they could with the material they had. Everyone else? It was so awkward to watch. It was like the movie was cast with first timers who had only done student films before this one. This movie had almost nothing to do with a road trip. They couldn’t fly, so they drove to a festival that was a few hours away, stayed for a couple days, then continued on to where they needed to go. That was it. The only scene I liked was the overhead shot of them talking while lying on the hay bales. I liked the dialogue and the cinematography of that one scene. That’s it.
“14 Love Letters” starring Vanessa Sears and Franco Lo Presti
This acquired movie premiered July 31, 2022 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. Amy Force directed this one, with Jennifer Snow, a newcomer to Hallmark, providing the screenplay. The movie was filmed in Newmarket, which is on the eastern side of Canada near Toronto.
The Plot of “14 Love Letters”
After historic love letters start anonymously appearing in Kallie Sharp’s mailbox, the hobby farmer searches for her secret admirer and opens herself up to love.
General Thoughts
I tried, y’all. I tried MULTIPLE times to watch this movie. Upon my sixth attempt, I couldn’t get through it and deleted it from my DVR. It wasn’t that the actors were bad (although the woman playing Sahara could not hide her French accent to save her life and should have just been given a line about moving from Montreal to Vermont to let her speak in her regular voice), and it wasn’t that the story idea of the love letters was bad. No, the issue I had with this movie was that for a 2-hour movie, with commercials, there was almost no dialogue. It was mostly us watching people while music played. That’s not a movie. That’s a music video. Once we reached the almost kiss in the barn, we were an hour into the movie, and I knew NOTHING about the characters and had no buy-in on the blooming romance between the two leads. When we came back from commercial after the barn kiss, almost 2 minutes went by with only 11 words spoken. That’s a lot of time to waste showing a character sitting at her laptop then finding flowers at her door, and another character sitting on a tractor doing NOTHING. And speaking of almost kisses – I’m all for them if done well. A kiss interrupted by a little sister rushing into the room? Discontinue kiss. A kiss interrupted by a best friend coming around the corner? Discontinue kiss. But a kiss interrupted by a baby goat in a barn with no one else around? You chuckle together, ignore that goat and continue with the kissin’. Then when the reveal came that it was her mother and best friend sending the letters, just so she’d date? Ugh. I didn’t think it was possible to make a movie I disliked more than January’s “Where the Heart Belongs,” but someone out there managed to do it.
“Campfire Christmas” starring Tori Anderson and Corbin Bleu
Aired July 16, 2022 on Hallmark Channel during this year’s Christmas in July. The screenwriter was Anna White with David I. Strasser directing. According to Heavy.com, the summer movie was filmed on Vancouver Island during the winter months. This is the opposite of the Christmas movies, which are normally filmed in summer and force the actors to wear heavy coats and scarves. This time they were cold in shorts and t-shirts!
The Plot of “Campfire Christmas”
Romance rekindles for Peyton and her closest friends when her parents decide to host a holiday themed reunion before selling their family owned summer camp.
General Thoughts
I definitely got Christmas-y vibes from this Christmas in July movie. I totally want to go to a Christmas camp now, and am sad I didn’t when i was a kid. My own kids had the opportunity to do Christmas in July camp when they were younger, but both opted to do “night owl” camp where they stayed up all night doing activities and slept during the day. I thought Tori Anderson was fabulous, as was Corbin Bleu, and the chemistry among the whole group was completely believable. The Christmas in July movies tend to be hit and miss, but this was a good one that I completely enjoyed because of all the Christmas involved.
The Rankings
- Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
- Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
- The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
- Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
- A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9% (74.3%)
- Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3% (73.9%)
- Campfire Christmas (air date: July ) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
- Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
- A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
- The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
- Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
- The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
- Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
- Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
- Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
- The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
- Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
- Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
- The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
- Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
- 14 Love Letters (air date: July 31) – 420 pts – weighted score: 73.5 (51.6%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of these movies? Comment below and let me know!
