Review: Hallmark’s “A Brush With Love”

“A Brush With Love” aired on March 30, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It starred Arielle Kebbel and a new Hallmark leading man, Nick Bateman.  This spring movie, despite looking warm and springlike, was filmed in Langley, British Columbia in Canada – sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.  Director Peter DeLuise tweeted the day after it aired that most of the flowers were fake and the actors very cold because of when it was filmed!

In a nutshell

I liked this movie more than I should have.  There were a lot of things to like, and several things I didn’t.

Plot

Jamie (Kebbel) and Max (Bateman), were childhood “friends” by way of Jamie’s best friend (and Max’s sister).  Jamie, a painter artist by trade isn’t fond of him and is not happy to hear the news that Max is moving into the other apartment in her building.  Trying to figure out her life path, Jamie paints a vision board that brings her success and possible love with an arts foundation director – only to realize that the mystery man on her vision board may not be who she thought it was.

Actors

I like Arielle Kebbel – I was a fan of hers on “The Vampire Diaries” and am always pleased when she pops up in a Hallmark movie.  She was great in this – very natural and open.  Unfortunately, that natural and open performance made Nick Bateman’s seem a bit wooden at times.  Not bad – I thought he was decent, but sometimes I could tell he was acting, which took me out of the movie.  That’s not to say I didn’t like him – I do want to stress that.  There were many interactions Kebbel and Bateman had together that I thought were absolutely perfect (notably the scenes where they joke around with each other).

Chemistry

I did think that they had chemistry together – as I said, I really enjoyed their scenes that revolved around talking about their shared history as childhood friends/enemies.  I also thought Kebbel had great chemistry with Hilary Jardine, who played Max’s sister Ava.  I adored Ava’s husband as well (actor Adil Zaidi) – he’s been in a couple Hallmark movies recently, including “Mingle All The Way” and “Christmas Bells Are Ringing.”  Kebbel is just one step away from Kris Polaha, having co-starred in this movie with Adil Zaidi, who then co-starred with Polaha in “Mystery 101” on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

Feelgoods

My main feelgoods came from the scenes where it was obvious that Max was her true secret admirer, before he told her it was not a prank like she thought.

Tropes

Only a handful of tropes in this one.  The perennial empty coffee cups, an important deadline, a romantic trip/catch.  The coffee cup thing is starting to annoy me – just put water in the cups, directors.  Is it too much to ask?

Did I Hear/See That Right?

My main quibble was the artwork itself.  Seriously – her artwork was terrible.  And in one scene I think I saw a copy of a cheap knockoff painting I bought off eBay back in 1998 when I needed artwork in my apartment and couldn’t afford anything expensive.  I bought a bunch of cheap $10 paintings and had them all over my apartment.  I swear one of them was on display when Jamie showed her work to the art show curator.  And the art that the art show curator ended up being excited about?  Way worse.  WAAAAYYYY worse.

Second was the plotline with the arts foundation director, Michael (played by Matthew Dowden).  So, he takes two private painting classes and takes her out to dinner and all of a sudden they are dating and/or getting serious?  What?!  I think some pages went missing from the script if we were to believe that they were THAT close after those few interactions.

Re-watchability

I will likely watch this one again.  Even though the score was strictly average, I just really like Arielle Kebbel, and Nick Bateman grew on me by the end of the movie.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? As I said, right in the middle.

1. Winter Love Story (air date: January 19) – 685 pts – weighted score: 115.8 (81.2%)
2. Love to the Rescue (air date: March 23) – 679 points – weighted score: 115.4 (80.9%)
3. Mystery 101 (air date: January 27 (HMM)) – 454 pts – weighted score: 94.2 (80.5%)
4. Love on the Menu (air date: February 23) – 642 pts – weighted score: 113.8 (79.9%)
5. Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
6. Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 points – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
7. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
8. A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 points – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
9. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
10. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
11. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
12. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 points – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
13. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
14. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
15. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
16. 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 “A Brush With Love”?