"You have to learn how to be a team player."
Hello everyone!
See, I'm good about it with some of them, but for the most part usually join the bandwagon only AFTER everything's already over, but there ARE instances in which I actually pay attention, and this was one of them over the weekend.
Hallmark is implementing some changes to the way it does things and to some of its roster, but luckily they also know which actors really draw in the crowd.
And when you have a tried-and-true formula, you got to stick to it.
Besides, everyone and their mother wants to see some foreign parts nowadays with the pandemic, so stopping in beautiful Hawaii sounds like a good idea to me!
You Had Me at Aloha is definitely worth a watch for that alone.
There will be links to some past work connected to the actors and the programming down at the bottom of the post, as always, and I encourage you to have a look!
Because it features Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith's work outside of When Calls the Heart - but both of them are such gems and have such amazing chemistry together that each time Hallmark announces a movie with them as leads, my heart does a little happy skip and dance.
You Had Me at Aloha was no different!
The movie begins with Paige (Hutton), an executive producer on a travelogue show who's trying to salvage something of the footage after their host walked out on them (because he needs a bigger clothing budget or something? Dude, it's a travelogue, not Vogue!), and gets told that the network is already looking for a new host because they're on a deadline.
Funnily enough, they reach out to Ben (Smith), the man who used to co-host the show back in the day but is now a famous daredevil Youtuber and otherwise videomaker who jumps off cliffs for a living.
The moment Ben and Paige meet, sparks fly - almost literally, given they spend the entire slot of his audition arguing, but when the execs see the footage, they decide they want BOTH of them to host the Hawaiian segment of the show.
Paige wants to dig her heels in on this one - she had a VERY bad experience while still hosting this one show, and it involves goats, high heels, no filming permit that was followed by lawsuits, and over ten million views on Youtube - but gets convinced to do it anyway, and of course, those sparks I was talking about earlier?
They're still there.
See, Paige is a bit OCD and likes to follow a plan, a set list of things to do and to tick off, but Ben likes to wing it and just fly by the seat of his pants. This OBVIOUSLY leads to a lot of back and forth as they try to figure out how to do this hosting gig without strangling each other on camera.
Especially as Ben takes her out with a jeep that eventually gets a flat in the middle of nowhere and keeps making some suggestions to the script (and Paige's list) which keep throwing her off-kilter.
At the same time, however. Paige does instill SOME respect for lists in Ben ... eventually.
Both of them are so used to doing things their own way and being individuals that it takes them a while to become team players, but after a little bit (and a lot of advice from their friends) they begin to compromise and thus slowly forge a show that's actually worth watching (and if Hutton and Smith ever DID co-host a travelogue, you can bet I'd watch!).
This of course opens the door to OTHER possibilities, because as they explore Hawaii they get to know one another bit by bit as well, and so Ben learns about Paige and her goat disaster, and she learns about the person he thought was 'the one' and dropped everything for because he was all in ... but they weren't, which then convinced him that having a plan just wasn't worth it.
The execs are also loving the end results they're getting thus far, but when Ben proposes they continue working together - and maybe see where this leads for them, personally - Paige is hesitant.
She only really signed on for one season, though once she tries to talk about maybe doing more, her producer friend tells her that, hey, the network is considering others because they want to keep Ben, but for some reason Paige changing her mind (even as a senior employee) somehow doesn't fit in with the plan - even if they love their chemistry.
Bzuh?
We don't have time to dwell on THAT, however, because Todd, the original show host, suddenly shows back up, and not only does he want the gig back, but he also wants Paige, which is a complete one-eighty on everything else, and Paige is understandably upset - though then again so is her friend who explains that she didn't know about the decision from above until one hour before the showdown, either.
Naturally, this upsets Ben and he won't even stop to talk to Paige about it, but rather finishes off his filming then books a plane for Australia, basically as far away from everyone else as you can physically go.
Meanwhile Paige quits and runs off to catch said plane - only to miss it, naturally.
Not to worry, however, Ben didn't ACTUALLY board the plane, because he shows up again and the two of them share smiles on a beach in Hawaii, where Paige admits she has no job and no plan, but Ben, surprisingly, HAS a plan.
More co-hosting, of course!
The movie wraps with them on a zipline in Bali, and very obviously happily in a relationship, as evidenced by the trademark Hallmark kiss, as well as attended to by Ben's cameraman who is deathly afraid of heights.
But they are together, they are on an adventure, and that is all that matters!
Fun, sun-loving, with the backdrop of stunning Hawaii which we have ALL missed since Hawaii Five-0 stopped airing (I dare you to disagree) and with Hutton and Smith at the helm, as this was actually THEIR brainchild, not the network's, this is an enjoyable entry in Hallmark's Summer Nights programming, but I will say that it doesn't pack as much of a punch as The Perfect Bride duology did.
I'm not entirely sure why.
Everything is really enjoyable and on point, but there seems to be SOMETHING missing that I can't put my finger on at the moment (and definitely not the print shirts).
Still, I will say, the leads are delightful, as always, the supporting cast does its job well, and if we ever do get a sequel I will DEFINITELY watch it.
More, please!
xx
*images and video not mine
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