The Engagement Plot

This was an okay movie that had the potential to be better than it was. But I still enjoyed it somewhat. The 2 leads are some of my favorites, so even though I didn't see any really chemistry between them, they're still good actors and carried the story pretty well. Sadly, I'm so turned off by the Bachelor franchise in general that the first bit of the movie was cringy for me - but pretty well done, superficiality and all. Good performance by Hannah's Dad as well, liked his down to earth task with Hannah. The editing was choppy at times, just not as smooth and professional as it should have been making it hard to follow the plot.

And now to the biggest issue for me - Rachel Boston is an excellent actress and is always chic and stylish, no matter what type of character she's playing. This time she was consistently dressed in frumpy clothing and over-sized sloppy coats that leads me to believe that she was probably pregnant during filming. Come on, these movies take 2 weeks to film - was it not possible to carve out that much time when she had her normal figure? It was almost as distracting as the overdone hats.

This is a movie which can be divided into two halves. A bad half and a pretty good one.

Is it bad acting when it is deliberate? The acting and the story were deliberately exaggerated in the first half. There was a definite hit on the romantic reality show genre. The actors all seemed so unnatural in this part. While there were definite aspects of the story that were spot on, such as Kelcie, I find it hard to believe the scenario of what was happening to Wil's business could really happen. But that seemed necessary to set up the romantic story in the second half and the engagement plot.

Rachel Boston has a very appealing personality and I have always enjoyed her in this kind of role. She has very nice chemistry with Trevor Donovan. I felt the attraction between them. Unfortunately, the setup took up so much screen time, basically the whole first half of the movie, and then there were a few other distractions in the second half so in total, their relationship screen time was diluted.

The story in the second half was more natural even with the conflict and twist. Not a huge twist. I'm sure some people saw it coming. It was obvious the deception would come out, but I didn't see how that would happen.

As to Rachel Boston's figure, it sure looked obvious how the director was trying to hide it. Boston welcomed a baby in early 2022 and I'm not sure when this was filmed. Either way, it should be irrelevant if reasonable efforts are made to minimize it. And it is done quite often.

There is a religious aspect to the story. Hannah is called Holy Hannah for a reason. This movie treats her faith sympathetically but without a lot of preaching or Bible thumping. More than anything, it emphasizes that Hannah makes choices based on a certain moral code, especially with the ultimate aim of honesty. And she is also allowed to make mistakes because she ends up taking responsibility despite tremendous embarrassment.

Overall, I have a positive take on this movie. The bad half is deliberately used to set up and emphasize the good half. Much of that is thanks to Boston.

As a faithful tv movie viewer, this film left me sadly disappointed. The story was predictable and unoriginal. And, while this is the comfort zone one expects from a made-for-tv movie, this story felt contrived and forced. One can always clearly see how a plot will develop and how it will end, but this one seemed to cross a line into being a bit too predictable.

A few of the secondary characters (the tv show contestants) seemed to be over-acting in order to define their roles.

Add to that, the distracting issues of Rachel Boston's trademark giggle between spoken lines, and the fact that she was visibly quite pregnant, and spent the film hiding her pregnancy with big pocketbooks, coats held closed, and fluffy, billowy dresses.

In addition to his leading man's script conflict, poor Trevor Donovan looked visibly uncomfortable throughout. He's a wonderful, attractive actor, a reliable leading man. But one got the feeling he was not enthusiastic with this role.

And as a faithful fan, I will remain true to made-for-movies, but I will expect more honesty and quality in future stories.

Another great film with Trevor Donovan, who never disappointed his viewers. In fact, I would even go so far as to refer to Donovan as the King of this genre. I also enjoyed the rest of the cast as well. No one disappointed me this time. They all gave great performances. And you could see that they worked hard.

And that's rare with all films nowadays. I'm not always this positive. The entire film seemed to flow so naturally that once again I didn't realize how quickly the time passed. There was also a certain spark with this film that's not always there with other films in the romance genre.

It's a feel good movie that takes you away from life's issues. The perfect and safest kind of escapism that sometimes we all need and crave. I'd watch it again and I would recommend it to others without hesitation.

Oh how I enjoyed my time spent while watching this movie. I started it right as I was leaving on a trip which entailed lots of sitting. I laughed out loud, had some pretty big smiles, a few grumpy face moments and possibly a couple sighs. My hubby kept asking me for updates and what was happening in the plot to cause my many different moods. He'd smile and shake his head at me, I'd smile back and dive right back into this fun read.

A fun twist on the Bachelor/Bachelorette premise with all the twists and turns you might expect of a couple who met on a reality TV show and the aftermath of the show. The book starts several months after the show and a pretty epic blunder on the Bachelor's part. With a little bit of a hidden agenda, work pressure, longing of the hearts, relentless paparazzi, some behind the scenes intrigue and much more going on, the question is whether or not Hanna and Will can forgive each other and have closure or possibly move forward with their lives, happily and together.

There are many great moments throughout this movie. Not just great moments between the couple but moments of individual, quiet reflection, growth and healing. These two characters were well developed. I wasn't quite sure when I started reading if I should expect that or, if this would be more of a lighthearted and fun fluff type movie. I was very pleasantly surprised that it was fun and fluffy, but it was also full of depth and some great gems scattered throughout.