cozymoviefan

Hallmark Mysteries and More has been adapting books for years, but this one is outside its usual 'cozy' orbit. While it has some of the hallmarks (ahahahah) of the usual Hallmark mysteries, a hunky police officer, brainier love interest, the setting of Ireland and ghost aspect set it outside the usual fare of librarians, caterers and bakers who solve crimes on the side. I actually had to give the movie my undivided attention since it didn't quite follow the formula. The scenery and wardrobe alone make this worth watching. I do find Tamara Mowry to be a bit of an over actor but she is always entertaining.

Horrifyingly bad acting, one dimensional characters, improbable coincidences and bizarre plot twists combine to create a movie that is beyond annoying and unwatchable. If I hadn't had it on in the background while doing chores I would have given up on it half way through. I honestly thought at one point in my life that Hallmark Movies were the low point of made-for-TV movies, but streaming services have made it clear to me that no in fact that is NOT the case. For the oldies, this is a straight to video quality effort at best. Who knows where it aired and its so bad it has two names, so bad they named it twice?

I was looking forward to seeing what kind of mystery GAC might offer because I do enjoy a nice cozy mystery, but I couldn't even follow the mystery plot in this movie. The plot was constantly interrupted by random discussions of religion between the main character Abby and well every other character. I guess this was an attempt to differentiate from Hallmark channel and appeal to the GAC base but goodness please first nail down the plot and develop the characters. Signed, Sealed, Delivered was a very successful mystery movie series with religious overtones that didn't have me cringing or reaching for the remote.