Review's Resort: Talkie Tuesday: Taking the Reins

"Sometimes you have to step away from something to realize how much you love it."

Hello everyone!

Okay, OKAY.

I did sort of imply I would be watching the new Cinderella movie, but then I got side-tracked by a commercial for the new Hallmark Channel Fall Harvest release, and of course I ended up watching that instead.

Sorry Cindy, I'll be seeing you soon, I promise.

Maybe.

But I'll admit Hallmark is my guilty pleasure, though I also make sure I don't start watching their Christmas programming until way after November 15th, considering starting mid-October, while it might make sense for them as this is their biggest flagship, makes zero sense for me. I need it to at least SMELL like Christmas before I watch those movies!

Anyway, I digress.

Tonight's blog post is all about horses and finicky women, in Taking the Reins.

Links for any movies important to the one tonight, either from the same programming or by the actors, can be found down at the bottom of the page, as per usual.

Taking the Reins is the story of writer Samantha who used to be a professional showjumper for her family's ranch until she quit and put her journalism degree to use. Now she lives in the big city but has a hard time connecting with her readers because, as per her boss, she has a wall between her head and her heart, which is stopping her from getting a cover story.

This same thing probably stops her from having a decent relationship with her father too, as the two are much too alike (read: stubborn) to do anything but clash whenever they get together.

Anyway, hearing that her family is hosting a big equestrian championship event (judging by the way everyone reacted to it, it sounds like it's top tier, very professional, very difficult), she heads on home to cover the story, because horses are what she knows (the one pulling a carriage in the city agrees with her on that).

What no one bothers to tell her, right up until the moment she runs into him in the stall of the horse her father will be riding in the championship, is that her ex-husband is also on the property.

He's also conveniently (or inconveniently) training her dad for said championship, because her dad is a little bit older, has been off the circuit for YEARS, and needs all the help he can get (he's also played by Corbin Bernsen, he of Major League fame, and my oh my but does Dorn need to get back into training!).

Naturally, Sam clashes with Luke (Scott Porter) first, then with her parents for not telling her, since, you know, this is kind of important information to know, though at the same time she's being incredibly obnoxious about it.

Also spoiler alert, she's the one who insists they're all adults and can handle things, but continues going off the rails and can't seem to decide if she wants him to stay or to go.

As you do.

Anyway, after an awkward encounter at the local bar/pub deal where Luke is on a date with the owner of the bakery, and Sam keeps bringing up reminiscences that both of them would rather forget if they want to move on (who brings up missing slow dancing with their ex out of thin air and expect it to not get awkward?), the two sort of bury the hatchet, and Luke even gets her to ride a horse again.

Much to the delight of her parents, might I add, who I swear are playing matchmakers just because they can.

Luke and Sam kiss, which is unheard of in the middle of a Hallmark movie, but Sam puts the breaks on, again giving that hot-and-cold vibe which will probably leave Luke reeling, but they're kind of distracted when the dad gets hurt, and thus can't really ride in the championship a week later.

This puts Sam back on the horse, and I will come across as incredibly mean, but given how arrogant in her own skill she's been all movie long, purposely doing everything that Luke tells her not to, I cheered for the horse when, against everyone's wishes, she got on him, and rode straight for a jump, which the horse balked at and slid her right off.

Listen, I would obviously NEVER wish a fall from a horse on anyone, and definitely not for anyone to get hurt, but Sam needed a kick in the butt and a quick wake-up call that she wasn't God's gift to the riding community just because she had natural talent, but would have to listen to Luke and his teaching, like he'd said she'd have to right at the get-go.

This also translates into her listening to him, period, because as it turns out, their marriage fell apart mostly because she was driving herself so hard on these championships that she was then dropping all her frustrations on her husband's head, and he was already under enough pressure because she was the boss' daughter and he was an upcoming trainer, and he continuously felt like he wasn't able to give her what she wanted - aka she was reaching for something impossible instead of acknowledging what she had, and eventually he walked away.

ANYWAY, enough of my amateur psychology, the championship starts and Sam doesn't have the perfect first ride which rattles her through, considering she stopped riding when it stopped being fun (that's the official reason anyway, but Hallmark did a weird job in portraying it because it literally sounds like she stopped competing when she stopped being 'perfect' and winning).

This is a golden opportunity to patch things up with her father, who shows her he's saved clips of every article she's ever written, and says he's always been proud of her, contrary to what she's believed given she thought she let him down when she walked away from the sport. He then tells her to just enjoy herself, which translates into the perfect score and she wins the whole thing.

The movie ends with a hilarious insert about Sam's younger sister who's been on a bend about this stablehand of theirs and why he hasn't asked her out yet, when it's revealed he has a boyfriend, and that she got promoted to running the whole family shebang as the parents are retiring. They've also offered Luke a permanent position as head trainer, which is definitely something given the area's pedigree.

But truth be told this is also the moment it's confirmed they've been playing matchmakers, as Luke and Sam slow-dance and kiss after each apologized to the other previously about the mistakes they'd made in their first run together.

Add a cover story for Sam, roll credits, and that's another one in the bag!

One that I wasn't as on board with as the rest, I will say.

Nikki Deloach is a veteran on Hallmark Channel and usually nails every role she's given, so I'm blaming the weird script in this one for making her seem as neurotic as she was. I understand that a lot of professional athletes could be along the same vein, but that doesn't give any one person the right to rip into their partners and bring them down with their own negativity.

In fact, the way it's portrayed, like I said earlier, is that Sam had an image in her head about how things were going to be perfect, but then when cracks started to show she didn't double down to patch them up but started thinking of all the negatives and what could go wrong, which drove an even bigger wedge between her and Luke.

And man, do I feel for Luke! Poor guy was probably left high and dry not knowing what it was she wanted at any given moment, and not being a mind reader, and her not exactly telling spelling it out, he was just confused all the time. He even says so in the movie, admitting just how impossible the situation used to be, and I'm with him, that sounds unbearable.

Everyone else was giving Sam little kicks in the butt throughout, but again, because of the weird writing, she was portrayed as the victim in all of this, which makes no sense to me, especially the weird trade-offs with her dad. The man was just telling the truth, the way it was written and acted, but to Sam it was the end of the world.

I don't know, I got a weird vibe off the entire thing, and I won't even touch that the equestrian side of the movie was also a little bit lacking (in that the jumps looked entirely too low for a top-tier event, among other things), as for the most part I was kind of in it for the horses.

So on the grounds of that alone, I say it was an okay movie, but the lead's storyline threw me off. I'm not sure if it was just me, though looking through some of the reviews people do seem to agree the story was silly and Nikki deserves better as the powerhouse she is.