Hallmark For All Seasons

 

Spring is officially here, y’all!  And along with spring comes a lot of movies (and just in time since we’re probably all a bit stir-crazy from being stuck inside at this point).  “Just My Type” aired on Saturday, March 28, 2020.  This movie was filmed in Vancouver, Canada but supposedly took place in Oregon (Vanessa says she works in Portland and she and Amber were at least within driving distance from the small town where she meets Martin).  Unless they meant Portland, Maine, but I doubt it.

In a nutshell

I initially thought this was a typical “writer with hidden identity” plotline, but I was happy to discover that was NOT the case.  The cast was great and overall it was an enjoyable movie.

Plot

Pop culture writer and aspiring novelist Vanessa (Bethany Joy Lenz) lands the interview of a lifetime with the illustrious, elusive and reclusive mystery author Martin Clayborne (Brett Dalton) in his quaint rural town only to realize her own aspirations, dreams and romantic life have taken a back seat along the way.

Actors/Chemistry

I really enjoyed the Bethany Joy Lenz and Brett Dalton pairing.  She has an uncanny ability to have chemistry with ALL of her co-stars.  She’s very open and vulnerable on screen, and it translates each and every time.

But not only did the two main characters have chemistry, but the entire cast played well together.  It was fun seeing a gal pal friendship that seemed really genuine.  Aleque Reid, who played Amber, was very well cast.  She and Lenz played perfectly off each other in every scene they had together and I suspect they got along just as well when the cameras weren’t rolling.

Six Degrees of Kris Polaha:  Brett Dalton is three steps away from Polaha.  Dalton starred in the 2011 made-for-tv movie “Killing Lincoln,” which also starred Billy Campbell.  Campbell played Major General George Pickett in 2003’s “Gods and Generals.”  One his co-stars was Matt Letscher, who ten years later shared the screen with Polaha in “Devil’s Knot” (which I finally saw a few weeks ago and enjoyed, although it is a dark story).

Tropes in “Just My Type”

For the non-holiday movies it is hard to keep an eye out for tropes, since there typically aren’t as many as in the holiday movies.  This movie featured the big city drone shot and a cute dog. If there were more, I didn’t write them down.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

There were only a couple things that stood out to me.

First, there were at least two scenes in which they shot a scene of Vanessa’s boss and for some inexplicable reason used an obvious green screen.  A shockingly obvious green screen.  I realize that the movies may not have a budget to film everything on site in the 15 days allotted, but surely there was enough money in the budget to avoid using a green screen for an OFFICE scene?

During the movie, Vanessa and Martin went to Dottie’s house in the morning.  When they left the B&B it was light outside as they headed to Dottie’s.  As they left Dottie’s it was almost dark, but she gave them a picnic basket.  Then in the next scene it was light again.  I was totally confused by the timeframe of that entire section of the movie.

Lastly, Vanessa packed WAY too many clothes for a 3-day weekend.  She had SO many different outfits (including multiple outfits worn in a single day) for a fun lazy weekend with her bestie.

Feelgoods

I had two things that I loved in this movie.  The first is when we first see the inside of Martin’s house, there is a puzzle in progress on his dining room table.  I happen to love doing puzzles and so seeing one on his table made me smile.

Another thing that made me smile?  HIS HOUSE.  Oh my word.  In particular I loved the upstairs library balcony.  When I was watching the movie I paused the movie at some point and called my husband over.  “That’s the library balcony I always wanted!”  Many years ago my husband and I had hoped to build a house on some land we owned, and in every single floorplan that I drew up, it included a 2-story living room that featured a balcony on three sides of the room solely for the purpose of built-in bookshelves. So when I saw Martin’s, my race pulsed.  The interior of that house was GORGEOUS.

Re-watchability

This movie was a “slow burner” in that it didn’t have anything wacky or crazy.  No misunderstandings, no hijinks.  It was just a simple, well told story.  I don’t know that I’d watch it again, but if I come across someone that hasn’t seen it, I’d definitely recommend it.

The Ranking

The current ranking for “Just My Type” is deceptively low.  I think the fact that I wouldn’t necessarily watch it again hurt it, as well as a lack of even the most general tropes that Hallmark usually has on offer.  But I really DID enjoy the movie a lot.

1. Matching Hearts (air date: Feb 8) – 640 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
2. Winter in Vail (air date: Jan 4) – 623 pts – weighted score: 108.8 (76.4%)
3. Love in Store (air date: Feb 22) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.2 (75.9%)
4. The Secret Ingredient (air date: Feb 15) – 617 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
5. A Valentine’s Match (air date: Feb 1) – 562 pts – weighted score: 99.8 (70.0%)
6. Love On Iceland (air date: Jan 18) – 563 pts – weighted score: 99.4 (69.7%)
7. Hearts of Winter (air date: Jan 25) – 561 pts – weighted score: 98.2 (68.9%)
8. Just My Type (air date: Mar 28) – 565 pts – weighted score: 95.4% (66.9%)
9. Bad Date Chronicles (air date: Feb 28) – 520 pts – weighted score: 91.0 (63.9%)
10. Love in Winterland (air date: Jan 11) – 508 pts – weighted score: 90.7 (63.6%)
11. Amazing Winter Romance (air date: Jan 20) – 487 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.1%)
12. In the Key of Love (air date: Mar 14) – 470 pts – weighted score: 82.5 (57.9%)

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 “Just My Type”?  Comment below and let me know!

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