Hallmark For All Seasons

It’s time for the third round of my 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.

“Dating the Delaneys” starring Rachel Boston and Paul Campbell

Written by Jennifer Barrow and directed by Allan Harmon, this movie aired the Hallmark Channel on August 20, 2022..  I adore Rachel Boston and Paul Campbell, and was excited to finally have a chance to sit and watch this movie. Barrow wrote the screenplay on one of my top faves, 2016’s “The Dater’s Handbook.”

The Plot of “Dating the Delaneys”

Three generations of Delaney women explore the highs and lows of modern-day dating, learning that love and romance can be found at any age…and sometimes where you least expect it.

General Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed that this movie was a romance crossing multi-generations, even if the grandmother’s story was limited to only two or three scenes. The screenplay was very well written even if by the end the puns were too much. I’m not a fan of dad jokes, and this movie felt like it had at least 100 of them. I thought the entire cast was great and I appreciated that the characters were in different stages – widowed, divorced, first love.

The growth of Maggie and Michael’s friendship during the movie felt very natural to me, and well-paced.  I appreciated that they already knew each other and were friends when when the movie started, and it didn’t feel weird when he offered to take her on practice dates.  They already had a base of friendship to build on, versus rushing into a relationship like a typical meet-cute romance. I liked that aspect a lot.  The movie made top 5 for the year thus far!

“My Grown-Up Christmas List” starring Kayla Wallace and Kevin McGarry

Aired July 9, 2022 on Hallmark Channel during this year’s Christmas in July.  Screenwriters Bryar Freed and Shawn Riopelle provided the script, with Andrew Cymek directing. The movie started strong with Amy Grant’s song (affiliate link) (which provided the film’s title) as the opener, but this attempt at a heartwarming emotional movie fell flat in the end.

The Plot of “My Grown-Up Christmas List”

Taylor, a journalist, and Luke, in the military, share a special bond that grows between them over the course of several Christmases that they spend together and apart.

General Thoughts

Unfortunately, as I said, the attempt at being an emotional movie was a miss for me, and I actually found this movie a bit boring. Military movies on Hallmark are hard to get right – there are usually a million obvious mistakes that the filmmakers make when trying to represent the military.  And this movie was no exception.  Not only that, but the two lead characters already meeting, falling in love and being in a relationship within the first hour didn’t allow me to connect to Taylor and Luke in any way.  And so I had no buy-in when he proposed and even moreso when Luke went out into enemy territory to fix the communications (insert eyeroll here).

And the movie had me asking so many questions – the military lets him have hair longer than mine while on active duty (even if it was a training camp)? the hub for the entire military base comms system is in a small box nailed to a tree in a random nearby forest? she looks uncomfortable in that wedding dress with the pink stole pinned to the bustline. – that I just got frustrated as it continued.  Those faults outweighed all my beloved tropes that the movie had.

“Wedding of a Lifetime” starring Brooke D’Orsay and Jonathan Bennett

This acquired movie premiered September 17, 2022 on Hallmark Channel.  This movie had two directors at the helm, Elizabeth Avellan and Anne Wheeler, with Greg Baldwin providing the script. The movie was filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

The Plot of “Wedding of a Lifetime”

Jake and Darby, a recently separated couple, rekindles their romance when they are inadvertently entered into a nationally televised contest competing for an all-expenses-paid for wedding.

General Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  I loved the script, and I loved how it was directed, and I loved Brooke and Jonathan as our leads.  They had great chemistry and I was engaged throughout the entire thing. This movie also had a lot of popular 2nd tier Hallmark cast members to boot.  The comedy of this movie was baked in (much like last year’s “An Unexpected Christmas” and this year’s “Two Tickets to Paradise”) and was fantastic (Jonathan’s face recovering from the kale smoothie near the beginning of the movie was the top winner for me). The movie was a nice mix of that comedy and emotionality of Jake and Darby’s reconnection throughout the contest.  At the end of the movie I had a big smile on my face, and the fact it’s also Top 5 for the year is no surprise.

The Rankings

1. Two Tickets to Paradise (air date: June 25) – 664 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
2. Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
3. The Presence of Love (air date: Mar 13) – 650 pts – weighted score: 110.9 (77.8%)
4. Wedding of a Lifetime (air date: Sept 17) – 640 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
5. Dating the Delaneys (air date: Aug 20) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.5 (74.7%)
6. Love, Classified (air date: Apr 16) – 624 pts – weighted score: 106.1 (74.4%)
7. A Royal Runaway Romance (air date: Apr 9) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.9% (74.3%)
8. Rip in Time (air date: May 22) – 622 pts – weighted score: 105.3% (73.9%)
9. Campfire Christmas (air date: July ) – 621 pts – weighted score: 104.9 (73.6%)
10. Always Amore (air date: Apr 3) – 618 pts – weighted score: 104.5 (73.3%)
11. A Tail of Love (air date: Apr 23) – 557 pts – weighted score: 94.4 (66.2%)
12. The Perfect Pairing (air date: Jan 15) – 563 pts – weighted score: 92.7 (65.0%)
13. Christmas in Toyland (air date: July 23) – 544 pts – weighted score: 92.4 (64.8%)
14. The Wedding Veil Legacy (air date: Feb 19) – 543 pts – weighted score: 92.0 (64.5%)
15. Welcome to Mama’s (air date: Feb 26) – 540 pts – weighted score: 91.9 (64.5%)
16. Butlers in Love (air date: Jan 29) – 527 pts – weighted score: 91.3 (64.0%)
17. Feeling Butterflies (air date: Mar 12) – 542 pts – weighted score: 91.2 (64.0%)
18. The Wedding Veil Unveiled (air date: Feb 12) – 515 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (61.0%)
19. My Grown-Up Christmas List (air date: July 9) – 514 pts – weighted score: 86.9 (60.9%)
20. Road Trip Romance (air date: May 14) – 492 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.3%)
21. Don’t Forget I Love You (air date: Jan 22) – 508 pts – weighted score: 85.8 (60.2%)
22. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
23. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)
24. 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!