“Love to the Rescue†aired on March 23, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It starred Nikki DeLoach and one of my favorite Hallmark leading men, Michael Rady, in a spring romance that features adorable dog adoptions, school fundraisers and a couple of cute kids. It was filmed in lovely Savannah, Georgia – a town you must visit if you have the chance. Denis and I have been and it is just as gorgeous as the movie implies.
In a nutshell
Y’all – I loved this movie. From beginning to end I found very little to nit pick about and just loved everything about it. This one is going to score HIGH in my rankings.
Plot
Kate (DeLoach) and Eric (Rady), two single parents, must figure out a solution when their kids want to adopt the same dog. They agree to co-foster for a month, during which time, creative Kate and follow the rules Eric decide the dog’s forever home.
Actors
As I said earlier, Michael Rady is one of my favorite Hallmark leading men. One of my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies is “Christmas at Homestead” (which I haven’t ranked yet, but I know it will rank high once I watch it again), and he even helped elevate “Christmas at Pemberly” in 2018, which ended up being ranked #4 in my initial list. I adore him and wish he did more Hallmark things (Although he was good on NBC’s “Timeless” the past couple of years). DeLoach is a great actress, and was so enjoyable in this movie. You may have also seen her in”Days of our Lives” or other Hallmark movies such as “Christmas Land” and “The Perfect Catch.” DeLoach is one single degree away from Kris Polaha, having co-starred with him in “North Shore,” a TV series from 2007-2009 that also starred none other than Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa.
Chemistry
DeLoach and Rady were perfect together. Oh my word – I loved their interactions and it looked so effortless and natural from where I sat in my family room. Not only that, but I felt as though they also had great chemistry with the kids, played by Michaela Russell and Max Ivutin. I really hope DeLoach and Rady make more movies together.
Feelgoods
I can’t think of any stand out moments that provided all the feels, but I just know what the movie ended, I thought, “Well I loved that,” which is the best feelgood of all, right?
Tropes
As with other spring Hallmark movies, there were not too many tropes brought out. We did have a deadline, we did have a “promotion” of sorts in the form of a potential Oscar nomination up for grabs, we had kids and we had a dog. And again, lots of coffee being carried around in cups that were clearly empty.
Did I Hear/See That Right?
My main quibbles – I don’t know that rescue groups would really allow two families to co-foster a dog with the intent to adopt? But this is the second movie to feature that plot (I tried desperately to find the title of the other one but can’t – if you know it, comment and tell me. The guy was a confirmed bachelor with a messy house and she was a Mom who wanted more structure – that’s one plot point I can remember). Edited to add: A reader let me know that the movie I was thinking of was “Puppy Love” starring Candace Cameron Bure and Victor Webster (thanks, Jennifer!).
Secondly, animated movies take a LONG time to make – Pixar takes YEARS to make a movie. So are we really to believe that an 8-minute animated short plot can be changed and reanimated in 6 weeks? AND that she can subsequently come up with a brand new beginning to the plot of her animated film seemingly days away from the deadline and not have her entire team quit on her when she announces that change? I don’t think so.
Re-watchability
I will absolutely watch this one again – in fact, when I was done with it last night I did not delete it off my Tivo, but plan to leave it there indefinitely.
The Ranking
So where does it fit in the rankings? It almost took over the top spot for the year, y’all. I told you I loved it!
- Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
- Love to the Rescue (air date: March 23) – 679 points – weighted score: 115.4 (80.9%)
- Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
- Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
- Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
- Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 points – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
- The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
- Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
- Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
- One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
- Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 points – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
- Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
- Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
- The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
- 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 to the Rescue”?
