My Secret Valentine is a recent Hallmark movie from the slew of Valentine movies that air around February. It stars Lacey Chabert and Andrew Walker. I'm a sucker for both these actors so of course I had to check this one out.
Chloe (Lacey Chabert) is General Manager at a successful restaurant in the city. She realizes that she has gone as far as she can in her current job and will either have to keep going with the status quo or make some changes. She heads back to her family's winery for a week to do some serious thinking about her future and to hear some news her father has been wanting to tell her.
Unfortunately her father is thinking about selling the winery and already has a buyer interested. Enter smooth-talking sales guy Seth (Andrew Walker) who has promised his bosses he can make the sale in 3 days. The two obviously don't get along and the proverbial sparks fly.
Meanwhile Chloe is also renting out her late mothers cabin and enters into a 'pen-pal' relationship with the occupant whom she has never met. He helps out by fixing some things around the cabin and calls himself 'Handyman' she replies under the name 'In need of repairs' and is soon asking him for advice on dealing with annoying co-workers. I think you can all see where this is going.
The plot is pretty standard for a Hallmark movie; there were not any surprises and the couple were mildly engaging. I feel like it was an okay movie but it was nothing special. I was kind of hoping for a bit more. I like these two actors so I would have liked to see them in something a bit more original. This was very reminiscent of movies like You've Got Mail and all the other adaptations of that kind of 'pen-pal' relationship.
The scenery was really nice, the costumes were good and everything was actually nicely done. For me it just doesn't stand out in a crowd of so many other Hallmark movies. We know that Hallmark can make nice movies but I guess what really makes one stand out for me is if it has something a little bit original or different that sets it apart from the pack. I would probably only give this a five out of ten but I'm giving it an extra point for Lacey and Andrew.
There was some drinking in the movie as they were at a winery. Also some mild affection and a bit of chaste french kissing.
Final Score - 6/10 watch it if you like Hallmark movies as you already know what you are getting yourself into. If you have watched a few then you are like me and don't really mind.
IMBD link to My Secret Valentine.
Drink, Slay, Love is an adaptation from a YA novel of the same name written by Sarah Beth Durst. I read the book a while back so when I saw they were making a movie I kept an eye out. It wasn't the best book ever but it was a quick and fun read so I knew that the movie would be right up my alley too. I like YA books and movies and I'm even okay with middle grade ones too if they have a good story line. I really prefer not to discriminate by age for my entertainment.
The movie stars Cierra Ramirez, Zac Peladeau, Gregg Sulkin and McKaley Miller. Most of them I had not seen much from but you might recognize Gregg Sulkin as he has been in a few things recently including the TV series 'Faking It'. Bella Thorne is also an executive producer.
Pearl (Cierra Ramierz) is a teenage vampire from a well respected vampire family. They live apart from humans and have their own night community. Pearl is a perfectly happy being an evil vampire and is pretty good at it.
One night while out hunting alone she is attacked; when she wakes up the next day she is mysteriously able to withstand sunlight. Pearl's vampire family soon find a way to use this new ability to their advantage. They have an important event coming up and need a fresh blood supply. Pearl's new ability gives her access to the daylight world like they have never had before.
So they send her to high school with a mission to infiltrate the community. Unfortunately what seems like an easy assignment soon becomes more difficult when Pearl starts to experience feelings and make friends. But she is a vampire first - she can't let her family down.
I was surprised when I saw that this was going to be made by Lifetime. As soon as I saw that I knew some of the special effects would not be possible. They would be working with a TV movie budget.
The main thing that I was wondering was how they were going to tackle the unicorn factor. The book is slightly tongue-in-cheek and as such it has shape-shifting unicorns. The short answer is they don't. So if you were expecting unicorns prepare to be disappointed. Without revealing too much, I think how the movie got around it was well done and worked out fine for the story line.
There were some other obvious budget constraints that I noticed. Some of the costumes looked very basic and not particularly well done. I think that they could have done a whole lot better in that department. It reminded me of something from the 80's; especially the armor that they had for the hunters. It was like it was all cobbled together from sports uniforms and knee pads. They are supposed to be these accomplished hunters but they just looked like a joke.
The acting was not the best but many of the cast seemed pretty new to it so we can give them a pass. The girls were pretty and the boys were cute so really for a YA movie that is mostly what it's all about these days. I found a lot of the vampire stuff to be very over the top but it would probably play better with younger audiences. I'm not exactly in their target age group for this type of movie.
Overall it's one of those movies that the average kid will love and probably wouldn't notice the inconsistencies and other issues. The basic story line is there and while there might be some things that are not explained it's not too bad. It has a beginning, middle and end so that's the main thing (and I've watched a few Lifetime ones that don't have an ending so it's not always a given).
The movie has a bit of french kissing in it and some mid-level violence.
Final Score 7/10 watch if you like YA paranormal stuff or if you don't mind some silly fun.
IMDB link to Drink, Slay, Love.
