Review: Hallmark’s “Bottled With Love”

Obviously, I’ve been away and while gone I did not have access to Hallmark Channel movies, so I had to wait until I got back to watch the latest two offerings in the spring lineup!

“Bottled With Love” aired on April 13, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel. It starred Bethany Joy Lenz and Andrew Walker.  “Bottled With Love” was filmed in Victoria, British Columbia which was passing for Boston, MA this time around.

In a nutshell

This movie was hyped on Hallmark as being the “best movie you’ll see all year,” which is HIGH praise for any movie, much less a Hallmark movie. Thankfully, thanks to likeable stars and a good script, I did end up liking it a lot. Best Hallmark movie all year? Not quite. But pretty darn close!

Plot

After getting stood up by a date, Abbey (Lenz) writes an anonymous letter which she seals in a bottle and tosses into Boston Harbor. Months later, it washes up in Maine only to be discovered by Nick (Walker), who contacts the mystery woman and begins an online friendship.

Actors

I’m a big Andrew Walker fan, and I recently came to love Bethany Joy Lenz thanks to her movie “Poinsettias for Christmas” which aired on Lifetime this past holiday season.  I don’t think they’ve been paired up in a movie previously, and I enjoyed seeing them play off each other in this.

Chemistry

Chemistry was definitely there for Lenz and Walker, but then again – these two are really good with just about anyone they co-star with.  I mean, she made me grow to appreciate Marcus Rosner in “Poinsettias” and he’s not typical one of the Hallmark actors I tend to be a fan of.  Bethany Joy Lenz is one single degree away from Kris Polaha, having co-starred in an episode of his TV show “Life Unexpected” a few years ago.

Feelgoods

This movie was VERY reminiscent of “You’ve Got Mail,” so it earned feelgood points from that alone.

Tropes

There were a few notable tropes.  A big promotion was on the line, and the two main characters didn’t like each other at first but slowly grow into being attracted to each other.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Not too much to nitpick.  Initially I was REALLY perturbed by all the obvious post-production dubbing that went on in the opening scenes when Abbey gets to her office.  It was so glaringly obvious and just kept going and going.

Secondly, the first coffee company guy passes on a huge buyout simply because a dude cracks a joke about his wife’s ugly sweater?  Seems like bad business since everyone knows the first offer is always the best (at least, that’s typically how it is in real estate).

Lastly, I laughed out loud when the owner of the orchard took them on a tour and said, “here is my orchard!” and they were standing in front of only 3-4 trees.

Re-watchability

In the end, I liked this movie a lot.  On the re-watch scale it’s a definite “probably” simply because I really like Lenz and Walker, and I appreciated their characters’ growing friendship in the office outside of the anonymous email thing going on.

The Ranking

So where does it fit in the rankings? It wasn’t the highest scorer, but it was nothing to sneeze at either. It just made it into the Top 5 of the year thus far!

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. Bottled With Love (air date: April 13) – 649 pts – weighted score: 112.2 (78.7%)
6. Love, Romance & Chocolate (air date: February 16) – 627 pts – weighted score: 110.2 (77.3%)
7. Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 points – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
8. True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 points – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
9. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
10. A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 points – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
11. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
12. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
13. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
14. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 points – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
15. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
16. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
17. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
18. 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 “Bottled With Love”?