"There's nothing more beautiful in the world than a heart that's changing."
Hello everyone!
As I've now exhausted my Outlander binge and the Disney one I went on, it's time to go back to reality and just pick up random movies that I think might be fun to watch.
Of course, naturally this means Hallmark is going to come into play.
How could it not?
I tend to watch more of their movies than any others, honestly, because they help me turn my mind off, let it recharge, and along the way I might even find something or other worth my interest! You never know really.
Although granted, I may also run into movies that really don't work for me, that usually only happens every once in a while.
This weekend's pick aired as part of Hallmark channel's Spring Fling, and has been released a couple of weeks ago, but I only just got to it. Billed on IMDB as Love & Glamping, although it was marketed as Nature of Love, this is the story of how a city girl goes - you guessed it - glamping!
I'll be linking a few of my previous Hallmark channel reviews down at the bottom of this post, so if you're interested, scroll on down there!
In the meantime, let's get right into it.
Nature of Love - as that's how I learned about the movie, that's how I'll keep calling it - stars Hallmark veteran Emilie Ullerup as blurb writer Katie who dreams of someday writing more than 20 words per portion. She'd be happy with 100 to start, but anything more than 20 is success in her book.
Her luck changes when one of their travel writers gets sick and her boss really needs to send someone up to this glamping site, so Katie volunteers, saying it'll be a fun spin given she's a city girl who's never been camping before.
Her boss agrees, and off she goes!
Now of course, since this IS glamping, not traditional camping, it's a little bit different than what you might expect in terms of it being in the middle of nowhere and fend for yourself kind of thing. Katie's welcomed to the site by Chase, who'll function as her personal glamping instructor, and he makes sure she gets all settled in her magnificent tent (which also features Wi-Fi and a claw bathtub), plus hooks her up with some shoes that don't have 5 inch heels.
Girl, I know you're from the city, but some common sense wouldn't hurt.
ANYWAY, she runs into another glamper, Penny, who's here to take as many photos as she possibly can, and the two women strike up an immediate friendship - which is useful later when Katie spills why she's actually on-site, and it isn't to enjoy the stars at night.
Her first ever, relatively easy hike is cut way, way short when she rounds a corner to find herself face-to-face with a BEAR, causing her to run - even I, a city girl born and bred, facepalmed at this one because YOU DO NOT RUN FROM BEARS - and smack right into the guide that's going to form the second half of the equation in this movie.
Relative newcomer Christopher Russell (or at least, newcomer to me since this is the first time I've seen him in a Hallmark production) plays Will, the guy who's happy trekking across Alaska for who knows how many miles all on his own, but he's passionate about the glamping site because of its pristine nature and safe way of introducing people to conservation and natural beauty.
He also likes Katie, but that's beside the point here.
For most of the movie, Katie and Will dance around the subject, as she's convinced he and the resort owner Olivia have got a thing going (hint: they really don't, although Olivia may want it), and he's sort of, you know, the lone wolf.
Or something.
Let me tell you, a guy that looks like this guide will NEVER sit alone at lunch with a group of campers. That's just not how things roll. But anyway.
What follows is a pretty standard Hallmark trope of tossing the city girl into fairly easygoing outdoor activities that include but are not limited to hiking, bird watching, rope climbing, canoeing, and horseback riding. She also gets to dance with handsome Will because, well, there's got to be an excuse to get them close together, right?
Right.
The interesting thing here is that Katie feels very remorseful about not telling Will why she's really there, especially as he takes her to this place called Lavender Grove that nobody really knows about except him and Olivia (and is later the disputed bit of land since Olivia wants to build a hotel and expand the resort, which would also ruin the grove). Penny keeps gently nudging her to tell him the truth, but as always, once the lies are so deep, you can't really tell the truth without getting into a whole lot of trouble along the way.
Of course the truth does eventually come out, and not in the best of ways, especially since Katie's boss wants to run a story that's mostly about Will (something he hates and why he dislikes journalists and interviews as a rule from a bad past experience), so naturally Will wishes her a good end of the camping trip and heads off.
Katie and Olivia share a heart-to-heart, and Katie realizes she might be able to help the resort - by using her words. She straight-up tells her boss which story they should run, and a thrilled Olivia shows the article to Will later on, in which Katie extols the virtues of the place and the beauty of nature there (helped along by Penny's photos).
Touched, Will sends Katie lavender - this is important as he'd told her a story earlier about a cowboy who always left lavender for his wife before going on cattle runs, as it was the only flower to last until his return - and Katie heads back to the resort to speak to him in person. They kiss, and she proposes the idea that she might go with him on his next long hike which he has planned, so it'd be just the two of them for about 5,000 miles.
Hey, you gotta have SOME company, right?
Fairly easy-going, with a trope we've seen many times before, Nature of Love doesn't really introduce us to anything new in terms of plot, except perhaps that Katie doesn't even try to front that she's done this stuff before, which IS sort of refreshing. She straight out says she's a rookie and so avoids most of the rookie mistakes she would have made on her own.
However, Emilie is beginning to get type-cast in these writer roles (I think, besides Chesapeake Shores, I've seen her in two or three other movies where she's always some sort of writer), and despite usually enjoying her movies, this one fell a little flat for me, although I'm not quite sure why.
It was obvious that long-distance shots involved a body double, since the actress was pregnant when shooting, so maybe that threw me for a loop, but I'd like to think I'm not that shallow. Maybe it was that she seemed too bouncy or just too much? I don't know, something just felt off. I was a lot more invested and interested in Penny's character, the actress is a gem! I wish they'd give her a movie of her own, with some good script writing.
Will was alright, nothing too special in my mind, besides I was a lot more interested in the potential of a Chase and Olivia B-story, because it's pretty obvious Chase is head over heels for the resort owner, but she doesn't give him the time of day when Will's around. This changes towards the end, hinting at maybe more in the future, and I'd be interested to see that.
All in all, this is an okay Hallmark movie if you don't go in expecting too much (which I didn't, let's be real). You've probably seen it all before, but it'll definitely help you just clock out.
Don't pay too much attention to the atrocious green screens and overlays, though. THOSE may cause you headaches!
xx
*images and video not mine
Love on the Slopes (practically the same plot, except set in winter)
Winter Castle (Ullerup stars)
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