"Love is not about making sense."
Hello everyone!
Well, it's official I think.
Sure we have to wait just a little bit longer for it to actually be calendar autumn, but the weather is definitely not pulling any punches, it's been raining since mid-afternoon yesterday and it doesn't seem like it'll stop any time soon!
This is basically autumn weather; it's autumn, y'all.
Not that I'm complaining. I've had enough of summer for the time being. I love the heat and the sun and all that, but I equally enjoy the transition between seasons, and spring and autumn are lovely when the weather starts to shift again.
To say goodbye to summer, I watched what is I think labelled as the last movie in Hallmark Channel's Summer Nights series, although I was mildly disappointed.
Still, what's done is one. My One and Only, right here on the blog.
My One and Only was a movie I dearly wished to watch because it features Pascale Hutton whom I absolutely adore, she SLAYS as Rosemary in When Calls the Heart and has had great success in some of her other Hallmark movies. I wasn't so sure about Sam Page, but was hopeful that everything was going to work out swell.
I mean I guess it kinda did?
The movie begins with Stephanie, whose friend has submitted her name for a reality show called 'The One', calling out her friend for doing so and explaining she doesn't even like the show's premise - in which two individuals are introduced to each other and sent on a series of dates over the course of a couple of weeks, after which they mostly agree the other person is 'the One' for them and they fall madly in love.
The producer is more than happy to try and prove Stephanie wrong, and of course it'll be great for ratings if they can find love for a woman who's a little more on the realistic side.
Actually, I really liked Stephanie; she walked into situations with her eyes wide open, she was a mature, respected woman who did her job incredibly well, and who dealt with unknown, new situation with grace and poise.
If it's one of those reality shows, you need this.
She eventually agrees to participate after feeling miffed about a pass she got at work; Stephanie works as a recruiter and there's a VP position the company's looking for, which she's expressed interest in before, but now they aren't even interviewing her and she feels like that's her entire life's work, down the drain.
I would also like to note that, with everyone around her saying to just ask them, well, she kinda did? She spoke to them about the position. Is she supposed to keep launching herself at her bosses? Shouldn't the bosses have taken her into consideration anyway? What is the world coming to?
Anyway.
She drives up to Wyoming to go to this ranch which reminds her of her grandmother's ranch she always enjoyed spending time at, and randomly encounters the rudest man on the planet when there's a pit stop for iced lattes.
I'm not sure how people end up falling in love when someone is as rude as this guy was, and you can tell he's the final love interest, but me personally I was just repulsed by him immediately making assumptions about Stephanie, and having the nerve to say SHE was making all the assumptions.
Miffed, Stephanie arrives at Aurora's Ranch where she meets the owner - and of course the owner's son turns out to be the rude person from before. His name's Alex, he'll hopefully one day take over the ranch itself, and he seems to be just as cynical about love as Stephanie is, only for some reason he can call her out on it and it's considered fair, but she can't do the same for him.
Like, what?
Stephanie is introduced to her bachelor, Oliver (another Hallmark channel rising star, Stephen Huszar, whom I infinitely preferred to Alex's character) and so begins the awkward encounter with a bunch of dates where they circle one another nervously and learn things about each other, namely that Stephanie seems to enjoy spending her time here on the ranch but Oliver is a city boy, among others.
Also, that because this was the direction the actors were given, they have no chemistry, since I firmly believe Pascale can make it work with a paper bag. The direction was just not there to include Oliver.
While she's struggling with Oliver and the producers see this, she's having the time of her life whenever Alex and his judgements are around, mucking stalls, hiking, kayaking, etc.
Did I mention there's also a really good friend of Alex's who sells her company so she can work at the ranch, and Stephanie is convinced she's the right person for Alex?
That too.
Anyway, Alex kind of helps Oliver out a few times, but what he wants most is just to take over the ranch and expand, though his mom is dead set against it, saying they have to preserve the family legacy, which is obviously what's going to happen too, but she's kind of terrified either way, sadly.
Founder's Day comes and goes and the chemistry between Alex and Stephanie grows, especially by the time the mystery date for Stephanie and Oliver rolls around.
This was what made me furious, by the way.
Stephanie has stated before she's terrified of heights, and since her best friend is a producer on the show she might have had some input - but by the time the mystery date arrives, it's going up in a hot air balloon.
Like, no?
Stephanie naturally freaks out, and because she and Oliver are simply friends, she walks away, runs into Alex, who explains he tried to intervene, and then ends up taking her up in the hot air balloon himself because ... I'm not even sure how he convinced her, to be honest. Fears are debilitating, and the excuse that she was afraid of falling, not heights, is a little bit thin.
But alright, we get a first kiss, in a balloon, so I guess that's something.
Of course that goes down the drain when she spots Alex with the best friend later and she pretty much bails, but the GOOD news is that she got the VP promotion she wanted!
The bad news is that Alex walks in on the show runner patching footage together to make it seem like Stephanie has to choose between him and Oliver, and storms off to confront Stephanie herself, furious. She's calm through the encounter, telling him she has no clue about what he's talking about, and he spits out what's going on. She figures out he actually doesn't believe her when she denies everything, and gets naturally hurt because throughout the time they spent together so far she has always been forthcoming with him, and very honest.
In turn, he somehow makes this about her not willing to take the risk with love, and that's why she's now so upset.
Me: are you SERIOUS RIGHT NOW, MAN? SHE'S UPSET BECAUSE YOU'RE BEING AN ABSOLUTE JERK, YOU MORON!
I don't even know how to describe my fury at him at this point. Somehow, the movie ends with Stephanie having helped Alex's mom figure out she needs to pass the ranch to Alex, Oliver and Alex's best friend getting together, and Alex and Stephanie managing to patch up their differences by ... not even really discussing it? He makes HER say she's sorry, and this entire thing is so convoluted that by the time their kiss rolls around and the end credits start I'm sitting there wondering what I just watched.
This had all the potential to be a great movie and fell into disaster zone because whoever was given creative license over the writing needs to be walloped over the head with some universal truths, and because the two leads didn't really work together. Pascale and Sam were okay on their own, but because of the character Sam portrayed, they just didn't mesh well.
I was secretly rooting for her to end up with Oliver.
This one is a pass for me in terms of Hallmark movies.
xx
*images and video not mine
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