Dschungel der Gefühle

I thought this would be a good one, and I wasn't disappointed.

The combination of an on-location shoot - I mean, those images of Costa Rica are self-explanatory; the scenery is almost the real star of the show - two very good leads in Hallmark veteran Christopher Russell and Australia's Rhiannon Fish (herself nearing Hallmark veteran status now with a string of titles under her belt), and you have all the makings.

That said, Hallmark have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory before...but thankfully not on this occasion. "A Costa Rican Wedding" is great. Russell and Fish have great chemistry, the acting is, for the most part, good from all concerned, despite the occasional cringey moment, and the ending, as always, is satisfying. It's Hallmark, after all.

More of this couple, please, Crown Media.

This movie was difficult for me to watch because the lead character, Emily is an absolute dunce to the point where I couldn't stand it any longer. It wasn't funny or cute..it was Flat out ridiculous and asinine. I could understand making a character a little ditzy or whatever but this, it's way too much. It completely takes away from movie as a whole. It's a shame because it is filmed in a beautiful location and the movie does have the premise to be decent. This characters stupidity ruins the movie for the other characters and actors. The family members of the bride seem like condescending weirdos (granted Emily is a moron, but still). I couldn't finish this just because of the sheer amount of stupidity, cluelessness, and flat out annoyingness of Emily.

I like Rhiannon Fish but Emily may be the most unlikeable Rom/Com lead ever. She is clumsy, but that can be cute. She is a total moron, arrogant, and refuses all help, much to her detriment. But when she gets really desperate, she starts manipulating Ryan. For literally half the movie Emily screws up one thing after another. Ryan is an OK guy, but Emily was so frustrating it didn't help him look good. Phoebe's parents are totally mean to Emily and even though she probably deserves it, that doesn't make the movie fun to watch.

Their search is totally hopeless despite the importance of what they lost. But since it's Hallmark, I assumed the impossible will happen, but you'll have to see.

As in many of these movies, the whole tone of events changes so quickly the viewer gets whiplash. In this case, at the half way point (with commercials) the relationship settles down and the calamities get a little less depressing. Also like most of these movies, there is a conflict based on a misunderstanding toward the end, but this one comes and goes so quickly, it might as well have been skipped.

There is some great local scenery. And I was a little surprised to find this swimming "scenery" in a Hallmark movie. Not that revealing, but more than the usual.

The midpoint recovery was enough to take this movie from avoid-at-all-costs to almost watchable.

I love that new movies are released on Hallmark Movies NOW before the network. I adored these actors and was excited that they were in a film together. Rhiannon Fish's character, Emily, was a bit deshelled and sometimes annoying, especially with Christopher Russell's character. Their chemistry was there, and it improved as the movie went on. On the other hand, the bride's mother, I wanted to tell her to shut up numerous times. I wish the bride had done it, but I understand that type of personality.

The scenery in the movie was breathtaking, and now I know where I want to go on my next vacation. Overall, the movie was great and a definite rewatch.

Christopher Russell is one of the few Hallmark males that I find to look like a romance movie lead and generally acts credibly as such, so I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 new movies back to back with him in the lead. I thought the chemistry and physical match was better with Ashley Tinsbrough in Operation Nutcracker (also just released), but this match with Ms. Fish was not bad. The scenery was fantastic, the storyline hasn't been done before and both leads acted their scripted roles well. My 2 negatives were 1) the getting lost part seemed to last longer than necessary and despite writing in a variety of obstacles to overcome, still seemed to drag a bit. Secondly, while Ms. Fish is cute enough, her scripted character was too overdone to be fully attractive. Nonetheless, more watchable than a lot of what Hallmark cranks off the assembly line.