'Summer Nights' movie review: 'Wedding Every Weekend'

Hallmark faves Kimberley Sustad ('The Nine Lives of Christmas') and Paul Campbell ('The Last Bridesmaid') are perfectly cast as perfect strangers realizing they are perfect for each other in 'Wedding Every Weekend' (premiering Aug. 15 as part of The Hallmark Channel's Summer Nights).

In short: Brooke and Nate (Sustad and Campbell) discover they are going to the same four weddings, four weekends in a row. To avoid set-ups, agree to pair up as platonic "wedding buddies."

'Every Weekend' immediately became a 'can't miss' Hallmark Channel movie the second it was announced that 'A Godwink Christmas' co-leads would reunite for this wedding-centric summer romance. While the movie also gained publicity and hot takes for entirely different reasons, this movie was always going to flourish or flounder based on seeing Sustad and Campbell back together. And the pair once again shines ... but only after a plodding start that doesn't allow the usually charismatic stars to radiate their trademark charm until well into the movie.

'Every Weekend' lumbers to a slow, low-key start that, thankfully, the plot keeps moving along. The movie's obsession with Brooke finding her "soulmate" and "the one" is repeated over and over in just the first 15 minutes. Brooke literally can't have a conversation without someone trying to set her up with someone - and the movie forces her to keep insisting that she's not in a relationship with Nate. A more confident movie wouldn't need to beat the audience over the head with the same message over and over again. And a more energized movie wouldn't take nearly so long to warm up and finally get moving.

Beyond this lethargic pacing, the two leads are uncharacteristically low energy in the first act. Sustad and Campbell are experienced Hallmark Channel vets who have starred some of their best movies. They effortlessly light up in the screen in those movies ... but not so much in 'Every Weekend' (at least at the start). The movie seems content in just casting Sustad and Campbell -- and believing that alone can carry a movie. This only works if the script gives its charismatic lead performers the opportunity to be charismatic or charming - which it denies them for almost first half of the movie.

All that said, when 'Every Weekend' finally gives Sustad and Campbell a chance to let their characters shine, they put the movie reliably on their experienced backs. It's only in the back half of the movie when the audience finally gets an idea of who Brooke and Nate are as characters and what they want out in life. Even when 'Every Weekend' looks like its just going to be a plot driven story, Sustad and Campbell inject enough personality to keep the focus on the characters. Although the script takes its time to develop Brooke and Nate, it keeps the plot moving along at a nice clip from the very start.very Weekend' is a low-key high concept movie and the fact that the story revolves around four sequential weddings makes it easy to follow Brooke and Nate's developing relationship. And this just makes watching them slowly fall in love all the more enjoyable.

Finally, ‘Every Weekend’ features the first same-sex marriage - and this remarkable step towards wider inclusiveness should be celebrated and will be this movie’s lasting legacy. It was just last holiday season when Hallmark was widely panned for not airing commercials that featured a same-sex wedding. The fact that a Channel defined by romance movies - hundreds of them at this point - but did not have a single, confirmed LGBT character was itself a silent statement against inclusiveness. To be clear, this is a small step - as the same-sex couple are very minor characters who only have a few lines of dialogue and have less than 2 minutes of total screen time - but this small step signals Hallmark stepping into a wider world of romantic stories to tell.

Final verdict: If anyone other than Sustad and Campbell starred in 'Every Weekend,' then this movie could have very easily fallen asleep at the wheel. Their inherent charm is so strong that it distracts from a story that takes far too long to get moving.

Score: 3-out-of-5 summer nights

'Wedding Every Weekend' premieres on The Hallmark Channel on Aug. 15 as part of its 'Summer Nights' slate. The movie is rated TV-G and has a running time of 90 minutes.