'Love Ever After' movie review: 'Love in Store'
Co-stars Alexandra Breckenridge and Robert Buckley absolutely crackle and pop as the perfectly mismatched hosts, who go together like peanut butter and chocolate in the romantic drama "Love in Store" (premiering Feb. 22 as part of the Hallmark Channel's Love Ever After).
In short: Two competitive home shopping channel hosts Terrie (Breckenridge) and David (Buckley) vie to take the place of the retiring network's lead host (Jackée Harry, "227").
The two hosts theoretically have the same job, "Store" clearly illustrates how differently Terrie and David approach home shopping. Although an Escape Room sequence is oddly shoehorned into the story, it does nicely showcase the differences between the detail-oriented Terrie and the laid-back David as they work together to solve puzzles. Their genial but slightly barbed ribbing of eachother makes it clear they're not exactly close work buddies - which make it just seem impossible that they would ever work together, much less get together.
The script, unfortunately, makes some sadly lazy choices to just force the storyline along. Apparently the ratings for the network get a bump when Terrie and David begin working together - but there's very little evidence for why this is true, except that some character merely states it as fact. "Store" shows why viewers might see as David as a "friend," but just tells the audience that viewers are "inspired" by Terrie. Showing some examples of the "always perfect" Terrie actually inspiring people through her aspiration image and style would be stronger than just telling the audience that Terrie "inspires" her viewers and fans.
That said, "Store" works because it clearly defines Terrie and David as kind of the complete opposites - and gently nudges them toward romance. And it's refreshing to see a Hallmark movie play with the usual formula, by not just arriving to the obvious conclusion that Terrie and David are better together than they are apart - but by coming to that realization so early in the movie. Reaching that understanding forces them to wrestle with their own conflicted professional and personal feelings.
And just in the movie's background, the notion of what Terrie and David choose to do with their "one wild and precious life" pushes them to reconsider what they want out of life. They're so confident in their life philosophies at the beginning of the movie - but they slowly but surely start to affect each other ... and ultimately change each other for the better.
The last scene is so great because it follows Terrie as she confidently takes control of the situation, and completely embraces how she feels about David. At the outset Terrie is totally OK with settling for a life that is comfortable as long as she keeps up her perfect image - the final scene really shows her growth over the course of the story.
Final verdict: "Store" is so close to becoming one of the best Hallmark movies of the year - if only the script put in a little more effort instead of resorting to lazy dialogue to push the plot along. Breckenridge and Buckley have great chemistry and their characters have engaging and layered depth that keeps them interesting.
Score: 4/5
“Love in Store” premieres on The Hallmark Channel on Feb. 22 as part of its “Love Ever After.” The movie is rated TV-G and has a running time of 90 minutes.
