Hallmark

Review: Hallmark’s “Love, Fall and Order”

by Jaynee

Last week’s movie was decidedly not a fall movie even though Hallmark tried to pass it off as such.  So I was very happy when last night’s movie was so much a fall movie that it made me want to move to Vermont and become a Leaf Peeper!  “Love, Fall and Order” aired October 12, 2019 on the Hallmark Channel and co-starred Erin Cahill and Trevor Donovan. This film takes place in Vermont, but was actually shot in Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah, which is an interesting choice.  I knew the NYC scenes were definitely not shot in NYC, but I didn’t figure it was Utah subbing in for Vermont.

In a nutshell

I’ll be honest – I wasn’t expecting much from this movie.  The plot didn’t sound interesting, and it just wasn’t one that I was looking forward to seeing.  However, this movie was so entertaining and I definitely enjoyed it.

Plot

When attorney Claire (Erin Cahill) goes home to help out with her dad’s annual Fall Fest on the family pumpkin farm, she discovers that the farm’s neighbor has filed a lawsuit claiming a portion of the land is hers.  Sparks fly when Claire agrees to represent her dad in court, only to realize that opposing counsel is an old high school rival, Patrick (Trevor Donovan).

Actors

I would not normally put Cahill or Donovan at the top of my “must see” list, but together?  They were fantastic.  I totally believed that they were high school rivals, and their acting was totally in sync throughout the movie.   And see that little girl that Donovan is holding in the picture above?  Oh my word – how adorable was she?  She was so precious every moment she was on screen.  The movie also featured 1980s heartthrob Gregory Harrison as Claire’s dad.

As for the six degrees of Kris Polaha, we’re going to go with Gregory Harrison this time around.  Harrison starred in a 2016 movie called “Fair Haven” with Michael Grant.  A couple years prior Michael Grant co-starred with Polaha in a charming little movie called ‘Where  Hope Grows,” making them separated by a mere two degrees.

Chemistry

Here’s is where I repeat the fact that I thought Cahill and Donovan had tremendous chemistry on screen.  Their reunion and subsequent interest in each other felt organic and natural in every way.  I also loved how the movie showed us their old rivalry instead of just talking about it.  The scene when they played trivia was so great (and I loved hearing all the random answers without hearing the questions) and we really get a sense of the serious competition but healthy respect they have for each other.

The other bit of chemistry I appreciated as that of Cahill with Gregory Harrison.  In some scenes I actually felt like they had similar mannerisms to let us know they were related.  I’m not sure if it was intentional or if I noticed things that weren’t there, but I thought those two played very nicely off each other.

Feelgoods

Fall!  Leaves changing the color!  It’s the gateway season to my favorite season of the year, so what’s not to love about all that red, yellow and brown on all the trees?  Simply gorgeous.

There were a couple other things that gave me the feels – first, it was fun seeing the Bubbly Sesh podcast hosts as the Leaf Peepers all over town was great.  For those that don’t know, Bubbly Sesh is the official podcast for Hallmark Channel and each week they review the movies and interview cast members.  It’s a light-hearted podcast and fun to listen to.

Secondly, the oldsters!  Whether it was the computer-illiterate man with the massive jar of candy corn, or the city employee making copies, or the bakery owner selling muffins – I loved seeing all the oldsters.

Tropes

Empty coffee cups.  Donovan made a valiant effort to imply his cup had liquid in it, but nope.  The other tropes were the initial Bad Boyfriend (who ended up being a decent guy that helped Claire try to determine the property lines on the farm), and Gregory Harrison himself, representing the older TV generation.  You could say that having a fall movie in itself was a trope.

No baking, but she did make candy apples – does that count?  And it was city girl coming home to her small town, too.  And while the fall festival wasn’t in jeopardy of failing, you could say it was because of the land didn’t belong to him, he’d no longer be able to host the festival going forward.

Did I Hear/See That Right?

There were a couple major ones.  First of all, at the beginning of the movie Claire is in NYC at a fall market near Fulton Street Station.  They even made a point of having a subway entrance set up in the background.  The problem is – Fulton Street Station is in the Wall Street area of NYC and nowhere near a park such as that shown in the movie.  Also it has many more subway stops than the four listed on that entrance sign.

Secondly, every time Claire had luggage with her, she’d park it and walk away.  They did it when she first arrived at the farm, and then again when she came back later in the movie.  No NYC girl leaves her luggage behind, even if she’s on the family farm in Vermont.  Case in point – we haven’t lived in NYC in over 20 years, but we still lock all doors in our house when we’re home for fear of someone walking in our house unexpectedly.  No city girl is going to leave her luggage alone.  That instinct to protect your stuff doesn’t go away.

Third – the pumpkins.  They looked like they were made of felt-covered styrofoam.  Not only that, but someone needs to get an acting coach on site to teach people how to lift a styrofoam pumpkin and make it look like it actually weighs 30-40 pounds.  The pumpkins that people were lifting in this movie were massive, and yet appeared light as a feather every time.  That’s almost as egregious as the empty coffee cups.

Lastly, can a hot shot New York lawyer practice law in Vermont?  Is there some kind of reciprocity between those two states?  Somehow I don’t think so, since they are not border states.  So I don’t believe that Claire would have been able to represent her dad in court.  But there she was, nonetheless!

Re-watchability

Despite its flaws, there was a lot of humor and heart in this one, and I’ll definitely re-watch this movie.  And I hope Erin Cahill and Trevor Donovan get paired up again in the future.

The Ranking

WOW on the ranking for this one!  Once the scoring was done, I was happy to see that it is in my top 10!

  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. Love, Fall and Order (air date: Oct 12) – 636 pts – weighted score: 109.0 (76.5%)
  10. Paris, Wine & Romance (air date: May 4) – 638 pts – weighted score: 108.3 (76.0%)
  11. My Boyfriend’s Back: Wedding March 5 (air date: June 8) – 635 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
  12. Over the Moon in Love (air date: Oct 5) – 613 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
  13. Flip That Romance (air date: March 16) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
  14. My One and Only (air date: Aug 31) – 597 pts – weighted score: 105.6 (74.1%)
  15. Mystery 101: Playing Dead (air date: June 23 (HMM)) – 425 pts – weighted score: 86.5 (73.9%)
  16. A Summer Romance (air date: Aug 17) – 577 pts – weighted score: 103.7 (72.7%)
  17. True Love Blooms (air date: April 6) – 598 pts – weighted score: 103.1 (72.3%)
  18. Forever in My Heart (air date: Sept 14) – 560 pts – weighted score: 102.4 (71.8%)
  19. The Story of Us (air date: February 9) – 605 pts – weighted score: 101.3 (71.1%)
  20. A Brush with Love (air date: March 30) – 563 pts – weighted score: 97.7 (68.6%)
  21. Ruby Herring: Silent Witness (air date: January 20 (HMM)) – 357 pts – weighted score: 79.5 (67.9%)
  22. Love, Unleashed (air date: July 6, 2019) – 559 pts – weighted score: 96.2 (67.5%)
  23. Love Under the Rainbow (air date: March 9) – 581 pts – weighted score: 96.0 (67.4%)
  24. One Winter Proposal (air date: January 12) – 535 pts – weighted score: 95.8 (67.2%)
  25. Just Add Romance (air date: March 2) – 548 pts – weighted score: 95.6 (67.1%)
  26. From Friend to Fiance (air date: May 25) – 555 pts – weighted score: 94.8% (66.5%)
  27. Christmas Camp (air date: July 11) – 530 pts – weighted score: 93.9 (65.9%)
  28. Love and Sunshine (air date: Aug 3) – 504 pts – weighted score: 91.7 (64.3%)
  29. Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For (air date: March 10 (HMM) – 354 pts – weighted score: 74.1 (63.3%)
  30. Sister of the Bride (air date: June 29) – 516 pts – weighted score: 89.8 (63.0%)
  31. Valentine in the Vineyard (air date: February 2) – 503 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
  32. Love, Take Two (air date: June 15) – 507 pts – weighted score: 87.8 (61.6%)
  33. All Summer Long (air date: Aug 24) – 512 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
  34. Snowcoming (air date: January 26) – 485 pts – weighted score: 87.3 (61.2%)
  35. The Winter Castle (air date: January 5) – 475 pts – weighted score: 85.9 (60.2%)
  36. Sailing Into Love (air date: May 18) – 455 pts – weighted score: 78.0 (54.7%)
  37. Rome in Love (air date: July 27) – 436 pts – weighted score: 76.7 (53.8%)
  38. A Taste of Summer (air date: Aug 10) – 403 pts – weighted score: 70.9 (49.7%)
  39. A Winter Princess (air date: January 18) – 380 pts – weighted score: 70.5 (49.5%)
  40. A Feeling of Home (air date: May 11) – 386 pts – weighted score: 69.7% (48.9%)
  41. 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 “Love, Fall and Order”?  Comment below and let me know!

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