“Just One Kiss,” starring Krysta Rodriguez, Santino Fontana, Illeana Douglas and Aida Turturro, aired on Hallmark Channel on April 2, 2022. Prolific screenwriter Nina Weinman created the script while Jeff Beesley directed. It is part of the network’s “Spring into Love” series of movies.
The movie was set in New York City but was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. They did a good job making Vancouver seem like NYC, including the set pieces made to look like the city streets.
Music: The movie featured lead Santino Fontana singing many songs from the American Standard songbook, including “It Had to Be You,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “New York New York,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” and “Fly Me To The Moon.” And while his versions are not available for purchase, if you like those songs, I highly recommend the soundtrack to 1989’s When Harry Met Sally, as well as Christine Andreas’ 2007 album Love is Good as two great examples of that kind singing style.
In a nutshell
Despite figuring out the plot twist pretty quickly, I still really enjoyed this movie a lot. Great writing, great actors, interesting choices by the director, and adults acting like adults – I appreciated every minute of it.
The Plot of “Just One Kiss”
Sparks fly between professor Mia and lounge singer Tony through a series of chance encounters. Little do they know their mothers are scheming to set them up.
Actors & Chemistry
This pair was magical. I don’t know if it’s because they have Broadway experience, or just a natural chemistry, but I LOVED this pair of actors together. I’m not familiar with either of them (despite both of them being on many TV shows in the recent past), and so I came into “Just One Kiss” completely in the dark as to what I was going to see, and I saw near perfection. Rodriguez brought enough gravitas to her role as a newly divorced mom trying to figure out her next steps without making the movie overly heavy or sad. On the flipside, Fontana brought charm and whimsy without feeling like a caricature. Put them both together and they were a lot of fun. I also loved seeing Illeana Douglas back on my TV screen – she is such a great actress. It was also nice seeing Aida Turturro, who I’ve not seen on TV since “The Sopranos” was still on the air (she’s been in other projects, I’ve just not seen them).
As for chemistry, I absolutely felt it. I felt the good chemistry between two people who like each other, decide to be friends, and then immediately throw it out the window for romance. I also felt the awkward chemistry between two exes – one of whom was not necessarily wanting to be exes. Everyone was at the top of their game in this movie, from beginning to end.
Tropes
Only a handful since it’s not a holiday movie. But we did get a few. A drone shot of the city skyline to open the movie. A cute kid (one of the child actors from “When Calls the Heart”). The two leads seemingly didn’t like each other at first. Taylor wore a circle necklace at some point although not “the” circle necklace. She also had a bad ex.
Did I Hear/See That Right?
Before I realized that the moms (grandmothers?) were ghosts, my initial thought was “Why are these women talking so loud in the movie theater?” But then about 45 minutes later I realized they were ghosts and the confusion from that scene was cleared up.
In one scene, Tony is in a bar chatting up a woman for whom he bought a cocktail. He’s flirting away talking about meeting someone special, and then she says, “Yep – my husband just walked in the door.” Um. MADAM. You are a married woman. You should NOT be accepting drinks from men who clearly think your single. ESPECIALLY when you know your husband is meeting you there. Inappropriate in all ways and scenarios.
Did anyone else think Tony’s ex Katie’s kid was clearly older than five years old. Is that Tony’s kid? What, they couldn’t hire a toddler to fill that role in that one scene?
Feelgoods
I love Cary Grant movies. In fact, over the past month or so I’ve been watching several of them. This weekend I rewatched “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer,” starring Grant with Myrna Loy and a teenaged Shirley Temple. It’s SO SO good. I also have rewatched several others of his in recent months.
I appreciated that a mother said her daughter wasn’t getting a phone until she was in middle school. That’s the same time I allowed my own kids to have cell phones. So many young kids have their faces in their phones and while my kids complained about not having one, in the end I was able to avoid phone addictive tendencies. My son almost never uses his phone and my daughter went through a VERY brief stage of over-usage when she first got the phone but now, at almost 19 years old, has a healthy relationship with it.
I LOVED the moment when Mia rang Tony’s doorbell and we heard him whistle the theme to “Three’s Company” as he answered it. It’s such a throwaway moment, but as a child of the 70s, it made me laugh out loud. I immediately starting singing, “Come and knock on our door!”
This movie was basically a love letter to NYC in the same way “When Harry Met Sally” was a love letter to NYC. The only thing that would have made it better was had they actually filmed it in NYC.
Adults having adult conversations and not beating around the bush. CAse in point – when Tony and the ex-husband were sitting in Mia’s kitchen. The only thing that would have made that conversation better:
Ex: “She’s my wife.”
Tony: “Ex-wife.”
Ex: “Semantics.”
To which I would have replied, “Not according to her.” But either way, I appreciated that Tony was not completely scared off by the ex-husband in that moment. In any other Hallmark movie, the leading man would have believe the ex and left the apartment in a huff. I loved that Tony stayed in his chair and refused to move.
General Thoughts
As I stated before, I managed to figure out the moms were ghosts before the halfway mark. It was weird that the leads had NO interactions with them, and that they were always together even when “the kids” were around.
I appreciated so much that this movie tackled real life issues such as alcoholism, recovery, and divorce. To often Hallmark puts on its glossy lipstick and refuses to live in the real world, but this movie directly acknowledges a marriage broke as a direct result of alcohol abuse. I don’t think Hallmark has ever done that unless it’s a Hallmark Hall of Fame type of movie.
I also liked that the script, despite having a “classic misunderstanding” as it’s root problem, it also was truly a misunderstanding DELIBERATELY CREATED by the jealous ex-husband. It wasn’t a partially overheard conversation, but rather it was caused by a direct action taken by the ex-husband to basically tell Tony that he and Mia were getting back together and he was moving in with her.
I really appreciated Jeff Beesley’s direction – adding in the B/W dream sequences was a great move to show that Tony had some vulnerability even if he never showed it in his waking life. I also appreciated that this movie provided two Broadway stars the opportunity to showcase their voices in a natural way! More music in Hallmark movies – yes, please!
Re-watchability of “Just One Kiss”
Oh yeah, 100% I’m rewatching this one.
The Ranking
“Just One Kiss” is a sign that Hallmark is moving in a great direction. It had whimsy, it had heart, it had ghost moms, it had great music. It had everything! The only reason it didn’t score in the 80s was the lack of tropes. Adding in a couple more would have bumped this up to at least an 80%, I think.
- Just One Kiss (air date: Apr 2) – 660 pts – weighted score: 111.2 (78.0%)
- 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%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of “Just One Kiss”? Comment below and let me know!
I, too, enjoyed this one, especially the music!
You took the words right out of my mouth! I absolutely loved this movie and the leads were terrific. I will watch this one anytime it’s on. A wonderful breath of fresh air on Hallmark! I’m glad you are back. 🙂
One of the best ever. Creative and intelligent.
We enjoyed the movie so much with the music. Was wondering if you plan on making a soundtrack from the movie that can be purchased? Tony and Mia both sang great including songs from that era.
Michael, this website is not associated with Hallmark Channel, so they won’t answer your questions here. However, I can say that historically Hallmark has not released songs from their movies for people to purchase.
ok I loved this one BUT who wrote that tune “over the moon ” that Krista sang ? It sounded so Doris Day . I have been trying to find it online but Its like it doesn’t exist.
Roland, I looked for it as well, with no luck whatsoever! I agree it sounded very Doris Day-like. I would download it if I could find it!
i watch this movie often
I thought this movie rated at least 90%. Both actors have wonderful voices and did a fabulous job with their parts. I didn’t realize the mothers were ghosts until it was made clear. I thought that was such a nice twist. I’m sure what I’m going to say next will not even be included in this commentary. It’s possible my whole commentary will be scratched because of it. But, I would have given it a higher rating if it wasn’t for the gay inclusion. Hallmark has never been sexually themed before now. But almost every one of their new movies for the past couple of years includes a gay theme. I don’t know why Hallmark is pushing this gay thing. I’d like it very much if they would cease. Your movies have just lost so much because of this new gay inclusion. I originally thought to keep my Hallmark subscription because of the quality of the movies. It’s not that way anymore. I’ve stopped watching most Hallmark movies because so many of them have a gay theme to them. Hallmark, please remember that when you include a gay theme you are instructing our children that gay is the way. Please don’t do that to our children. And please don’t do that to me and others like me who don’t appreciate it. Thank you
If the movie had more tropes, it may have gotten a bigger score from me.
As for the rest of your comment, Hallmark is far from “sexually themed.” They are famous for dry, closed-mouth kisses at the most. It’s Hallmark, not Cinemax. You say you don’t want “gay themed” movies, but to date there have only been 7-8 movies in the past few years that actually feature more prominent gay characters. And this is nothing new – that fact is that Hallmark actually had more openly gay characters ten years ago. In 2012’s “A Bride for Christmas,” starring Arielle Kebbel and Andrew Walker, the sister character played by Kimberly Sustad literally said, “I’m a lesbian,” in one scene. No one blinked an eye.
The fact is that there are a lot of families that have LGBT members who love Hallmark and just want to see some representation on screen, especially in a fluffy rom-com. I have a long-time friend who is gay who LOVES Hallmark movies and is thrilled to see “himself” on the screen in more than a passing scene or two. He’s been with his partner longer than some straight married couples. Why shouldn’t he be able to see two gay people falling in love in a Hallmark movie? It’s no different than Hallmark showing a more racially diverse cast, which they are also trying to improve under this new leadership. Those are both GOOD things.
You say, “don’t do that to me and others like me,” but the great thing is – if you don’t want to watch Hallmark movies, you can change the channel. There is something out there for everyone! For instance, I’m not a huge fan of “Game of Thrones,” but I’ll never begrudge anyone else wanting to watch it as long as they don’t force me to watch it. The same is true for you – you have the option to not watch Hallmark. But don’t begrudge others who enjoy the more diverse movies the network is releasing.
I agree with Jane. The gay characters in this wonderful movie were not offensive in the least. I thought it was a 10 star movie with the two leads Krysta Rodriguez and Santino Fontana giving absolutely magnificent performances. This is one of the very best Hallmark movies I have ever seen. I especially liked the singing and the music. Thank you Hallmark for a great movie.