Review: Hallmark’s “A Summer Romance”

“A Summer Romance” aired August 17, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel.  The movie starred a couple of Hallstars in the winsome Erin Krakow and the – let’s face it – incredibly handsome Ryan Paevey.  Seriously, the man is a looker. The movie was filmed in Vancouver (obviously), as well as including Surrey, British Columbia as Montana’s stand-in, and it did a WONDERFUL job.  That place was beautiful!

In a nutshell

Let’s shout out a giant YAY!! for a summer movie that was finally fun to watch!  This was a quieter Hallmark movie – I loved Erin Krakow’s stoicism and strength in her portrayal of Sam, since her character on “When Calls the Heart” is far from that in every respect.  And Ryan Paevey is winning me over with each and every movie he makes that is NOT a Darcy movie.

Plot

Ranch owner Samantha (Krakow) is struggling to keep her family’s Montana ranch, and has no interest in selling when there are still options to keep it in the family.  When land developer Richard (Paevey) shows up with a sales pitch, Sam isn’t interested in selling – but she finds she may be interested in Richard.

Actors

During the first ten minutes of this movie I had a few thoughts running through my head.  Several of them appear in the “Did I Hear That Right?” section below, but the other prevailing thought was MY GOODNESS but Ryan Paevey is a handsome, handsome man.  And it’s not like I didn’t know that already – one can’t help but recognize that he is good looking.  But when watching the first ten minutes, his face actually caused me to say OUT LOUD TO NO ONE IN THE ROOM, “Wow he’s attractive.” He’s also a good actor, it turns out.  I have not hidden the fact that I do not care of his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the Hallmark movies. However, he impressed me in “From Friend to Fiance” and impressed me even more in “A Summer Romance.”  I’m officially a fan.

And here is where I will also admit that while I do like Erin Krakow, sometimes she worries me (I’m not a fan of the Father Christmas movies).  But in this, she was fantastic.  As I already said, she downplayed this character and added some gravitas and much-needed stoicism.  If she had played this character as frazzled or….I can’t think of the word, but it’s adjacent to “helpless” or even “hopeless”…I would have been upset.  However, Krakow hit the nail on the head with her portrayal of a confident woman who doesn’t need rescuing (she said it herself) who is serious without being a shrew.  She was fantastic.

It as also nice seeing Sarah Strange in another movie.  I have liked her in her other Hallmark movies (notably, “A Christmas Detour”) so it was nice seeing her here as Catherine, the sister-in-law who helps take care of the ranch with Sam.

As for the six degrees of Kris Polaha, despite both being Hallstars, Erin Krakow is four degrees away from Kris Polaha.  She co-stars in “When Calls the Heart” with Kavan Smith, who back in the day (1996) co-starred in a 2-part TV miniseries called “Titanic” with Malcolm Stewart.  In 2006 Stewart had a role in “Eight Below” with Bruce Greenwood, who went on to co-star with Polaha in 2013’s “Devil’s Knot.”

Chemistry

Krakow and Paevey shined in every moment they were together on screen.  Did they sizzle?  No.  But you could just tell that these two people were enjoying the scenery, the horses, being outside, and making a movie together.  Much like I envision most Western romances, it was simple, but effective chemistry.  This was especially important given the fact that (by my count) Richard was only at the ranch for a handful of days.  Had he made a move on her after just a couple days, I’d have hated this movie.  Instead, all they did was hold hands until the very last scene – and it was delightfully well-earned.

Feelgoods

Yep, I had a couple.  I don’t get to see lightning bugs very often – we only have them occasionally where I am in SC – so I love the idea of having a twinkling sky full of them.  My other feel good moment came when JR (Richard’s nickname) was about to leave the ranch.  JR was hugging Catherine goodbye after he and Sam had a misunderstanding that caused her to think he bought her ranch out from under her, and as he’s leaving, Catherine said to him, “You are a good man, and don’t let anyone tell you different – even you.” I LOVED that line.

Tropes

Not super-trope heavy, which was fine.  The first of the biggies was that obviously her ranch was in trouble and the land developer was swooping in to save the day.  Secondly, we got to see Ryan Paevey chopping wood.  A hilarious new Hallmark trope that is very popular nowadays (I’m predicting now that over half the Christmas movies will somehow feature the lead actor chopping wood).  And the third trope was him wiping chocolate off her face while they were eating s’mores.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Folks, the first ten minutes of this movie was such a hot mess that I feared it would end up as the worst movie of the year.  Seriously.  SO MANY issues in the first ten minutes.

First, the security guard in Richard’s office building is listening to sports on his earpiece.  NOT, apparently, paying attention to keeping the building secure.

Second, when Richard arrives in Bighorn, Montana on his prop plane he realizes the pickup truck was actually the car service his admin arranged for him, but then proceeds to ask him about places to stay.  Um…when his admin was booking the car service, did she/he not think to book a place to stay?  Because, speaking as an admin here, if I arranged for a rental car for my boss but NOT a hotel room, I would be considered a terrible admin.  Just sayin’.

And here is where we talk about what the definition of “bird’s eye” is.  When Richard meets Sam, she volunteers to take him to see a bird’s eye view of the ranch.  At that point I thought she was going to take him back to the airport and fly him over the ranch to see the whole thing. But no, instead they go for a walk in the woods.  Um…Isn’t a “bird’s eye” view meant to be a view from overhead from where, you know, birds fly?

This is a bird’s eye view:

And this is a place similar to where they walked:

So clearly in Hallmark’s version of Montana the phrase “birds eye view” means something entirely different in other parts of the entire world.

My final confusion came with the summer festival.  I’ve been to plenty of festivals in my life, and at every single one, we’ve had to pay to participate.  Anyone could walk through for free, but if you want to ride rides, eat food, play games, win prizes – you have to pony up some dough.  But apparently we all need to go to the Bighorn Summer Festival because you can ride ferris wheels for free, eat cotton candy at no charge, win stuffed animals playing carnival games with nary a dollar exchanged.

Re-watchability

I would absolutely watch this movie again.  Between the two well-cast lead actors, the gorgeous scenery, and the easygoing story, I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first ten minutes made me assume I would.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings?  Pretty good placement, I think!  There were a lot of things to like about this movie.  Unfortunately, the first ten minutes of the movie tanked its score a bit, otherwise it would have made the Top 10 thus far for the year.

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 pts – 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. Bottled With Love (air date: April 13) – 649 pts – weighted score: 112.2 (78.7%)
6. Love Takes Flight (air date: April 27) – 670 pts – weighted score: 111.0 (77.9%)
7. Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
8. The Last Bridesmaid (air date: June 22) – 643 pts – weighted score: 109.2 (76.6%)
9. Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
10. My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
11. Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
12. Mystery 101: Playing Dead (air date: June 23 (HMM)) – 425 pts – weighted score: 86.5 (73.9%)
13. A Summer Romance (air date: Aug 17) – 577 pts – weighted score: 103.7 (72.7%)
14. True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 pts – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
15. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
16. A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 pts – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
17. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
18. Love, Unleashed (air date: July 6, 2019) – 559 pts – weighted score: 96.2 (67.5%)
19. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
20. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
21. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 pts – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
22. From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 pts – weighted score: 94.8% (66.5%)
23. Christmas Camp (air date: July 11) – 530 pts – weighted score: 93.9 (65.9%)
24. Love and Sunshine (air date: Aug 3) – 504 pts – weighted score: 91.7 (64.3%)
25. Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For (air date: March 10 (HMM) – 354 pts – weighted score: 74.1 (63.3%)
26. Sister of the Bride (air date: June 29) – 516 pts – weighted score: 89.8 (63.0%)
27. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
28. Love, Take Two (air date: June 15) – 507 pts – weighted score: 87.8 (61.6%)
29. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
30. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
31. Sailing Into Love (air date: May 18) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.0 (54.7%)
32. Rome in Love (air date: July 27) – 436 pts – weighted score: 76.7 (53.8%)
33. A Taste of Summer (air date: Aug 10) – 403 pts – weighted score: 70.9 (49.7%)
34. A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
35. A Feeling of Home (air date: May 11) – 386 pts – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
36. Love in the Sun (air date: June 1) – 361 pts – weighted score: 62.5 (43.8%)

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

What did you think of “A Summer Romance”?  Comment below and let me know!