Review: Hallmark’s “Love Under the Rainbow”

“Love Under the Rainbow” aired on March 9, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It starred Jodie Sweetin and David Haydn-Jones as well as a plethora of other Hallmark actors in secondary roles.

In a nutshell

So many questions and plot points that made no sense at all, but the stars were extremely likeable and the actress that played the daughter was great.  The actors elevated the plot and made this one more enjoyable than it could have been.

Plot

School teacher Lucy (Sweetin) isn’t sure if she will ever find true love, but then Sophie shows up as a new student in her class, after moving to town her her widower dad, Jack (Haydn-Jones).  After bumping into each other several times, Lucy and Jack find they have a connection – even as each fears getting close.

Actors

I liked Jodie Sweetin in this movie much more than the Christmas movie she had out a few months ago (“Entertaining Christmas”).  In this one her character was much more engaging and I liked her a lot.  David Haydn-Jones is a popular Hallmark leading man, and deservedly so.  He’s always fun to watch and his scenes with the actress that played her daughter (Dakota Guppy, who was apparently the daughter in the forgettable “Hope at Christmas” a few months ago) were all fantastic and so well done.  Jodie Sweetin is three degrees away from Kris Polaha, having co-starred with David Koechner in 2007’s “Farce of the Penguins.”  Koechner co-starred with Nick Swardson in 2007’s “Reno 911! Miami” and Swardson and Polaha co-starred in “Back in the Day” in 2014.

Chemistry

The two leads had great chemistry together.  In fact, both of them had chemistry with all their co-stars.  Whether it was Lucy and her sister, or Jack and his co-worker Kevin, they both definitely connected with their costars on screen.  I just wish they had given Brendan Zub (who played the coffee shop owner) more to do than three scenes that made him look like a clueless putz.

Feelgoods

The main feelgood moment for me was when Lucy’s dad serenaded her mom in the garden, as well as the words they spoke to each other in celebration of their 40th anniversary.  It was a lovely scene for the actors who could have easily just been throw away characters, but that scene made the movie in my opinion.

Tropes

This movie had quite a few tropes as well as one weird thing I’m going to look out for going forward to see if it’s something that only happened in this movie or if it’s something they do in every Hallmark movie.  First, some of the regular tropes included at least one of the homes having a covered front porch (Lucy’s home), a cute kid, the spilled drink meet cute, a former TV star (Sweetin, obvs), and at least one interrupted kiss.

But the weird thing I noticed about 45 minutes into the movie was that the director/wardrobe person put Sweetin and Haydn-Jones in similarly colored outfits throughout the movie.  At one point they wore shades of purple when they went running, and at the end of the movie they were both wearing blue.  It happened a couple other times as well, which leads me to believe it had to be on purpose.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

First of all, I know the town is supposed to be rainbow heaven, but how can a dozen rainbows appear in a field in all different directions when there has been no rain or when there is no moisture in the air?  There’s no way that many rainbows would be seen, right?  Am I wrong? Feel free to comment and correct me if I’m wrong.

Other things that I considered plot holes – Jack gets his daughter to school well after the day has started and that’s okay?  Not the best first impression (or second, in this case). And how did that other teacher know his whole history on the first day (she told Lucy about the widower situation in the hallway)?  Lastly, I know that when I had my two kids, the hospital had a two guest rule for visitors.  No more than two visitors at a time in the room.  Apparently Ocean Hill allows much more than two AND the new first-time mom had no qualms about letting some random dude and his daughter be in the room when the family saw the baby for the first time?  I don’t think so.

Re-watchability

I’d probably watch this one again if I found it was on the schedule.  I don’t know that I’d Tivo it to watch, but if it was on live and I had nothing else going on, I’d sit for a bit.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? Right in the middle of the pack, which feels right to me.  When I was done watching I knew it wouldn’t be near the bottom, but I also knew it wouldn’t score as high as “Winter Love Story” or “Love on the Menu,” either.

1. Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
2. Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
3. Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
4. Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
5. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
6. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
7. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
8. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
9. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 points – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
10. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
11. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
12. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
13. A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)

To see where this movie lands in my entire ranking of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “Love Under the Rainbow”?