Oct 6

Oct 6 'Fall Harvest' movie review: 'Over The Moon In Love'

Hallmark Channel favorite Jessica Lowndes ("Christmas at Pemberley Manor" and "A December Bride") doesn't just star in "Over the Moon In Love" (airing Oct. 5 as part of the Hallmark Channel's Fall Harvest) she's also pulling double duty as the flick's screenwriter and executive producer.

In short: Professional matchmaker Brooklyn (Lowndes) plans a major publicity event, but to land a prominent magazine article she has to set up magazine writer Stephanie (Miranda Frigon) with her childhood friend Devin (Wes Brown, "Christmas at Graceland").

Once the story puts all the pieces in place, the fun becomes watching Brooklyn will a romance between Devin and Stephanie, with Brooklyn effectively going full 'Cyrano de Bergerac.' Against her better professional and personal judgement, Brooklyn goes out of her way to set up a woman whose publicity could take her business to the next level ... with a guy who has had a crush on her for two decades. The scenes with Brooklyn secretly telling Stephanie what to say to Devin is a devilish delight.

Brown is well cast as the earnest guy sucked into the middle of this crazy scheme. He's so earnest and likeable that it's actually kinda hard to watch him subjected to Brooklyn and Stephanie's scheme. For her part, Lowndes is visibly and deeply conflicted with the ruse - which makes it easy to keep rooting for Brooklyn despite deceiving "Dev." Even though she knows Stephanie and Devin are not a match made in heaven, Brooklyn is in constant conflict with herself - pushing ahead with the ploy despite knowing the match isn't right and struggling with her feelings for Devin.

Gotta give a shout out to Miranda Frigon for her performance as the x-factor and "other woman" in this love triangle. Stephanie is as wrong for Devin as she is determined to win him over, and despite her character being demanding and at times abrupt, Frigon still keeps her sympathetic. It's difficult not to care about Stephanie's feeling as she's caught in the middle between Brooklyn and Devin's relationship. There's a genuine charm to Stephanie, that makes it easy to see why Brooklyn would be impressed with her, and just the glint of a sinister edge -- because the film does hinge on Stephanie essentially forcing Brooklyn to find her a husband, or she might withhold the magazine coverage. The audience has to believe Stephanie can torpedo Brooklyn's event yet still hold the audience's empathy - Frigon keeps her from being a one-dimensional monster.

"Over the Moon" does tick a bunch of requisite boxes of the Hallmark Channel formula and lingers a bit too long in the setup. The first 15 to 20 minutes is tedious set-up and exposition, so it takes a bit for the movie to get rolling - but once everything is set up, watching the three characters

Final verdict: An enjoyable trio of main characters and some fun character dynamics make "Over the Moon" an enjoyable delight.