The Irresistible Blueberry Farm

Almost always enjoy movies with Alison Sweeney or Marc Blucas. There are some Hallmark actors that never disappoint and these two are on my list. What can I say about the movie? Great chemistry between Alison and Marc. Great cast, just enough humor to have me chuckling.

My only problem is the dart game Dead Presidents, I don't know how to play darts but shouldn't their target be a bill with a President on it? Benjamin Franklin was never a president dead or otherwise. I understand that they were playing for 100 dollars. They could have used two 50 dollar bills since Grant, a president, is actually on that bill. If the target doesn't have to be a president, then they should call the game something else.

Just saying and whew, got that off my chest.

Loved that she became a celebrity in the town as The Swimmer and the Karaoke scene, where she realizes that she no longer wants to be "living in somebody else's skin".. the whole movie was charming and just what I have come to expect from Alison and Marc.

If a sequel is not possible Hallmark at least needs to pair Marc and Alison in other movies, they are great together.

Read the book too, it is very good.

My local library offered up this DVD, originally a 2017 Hallmark TV movie. I'll readily admit it's not normal fare for me but I wanted to give it a try.

As one might expect it's sweet, poignant, predictable, and a little quirky. Alison Sweeney is very charismatic as Ellen, a NYC lawyer who travels to the small town of Beacon, Maine to deliver a mysterious letter from her recently deceased grandmother (Shirley Jones).

While trying to take photos from a rickety pier, Ellen falls into the water and is rescued by the dashing local Roy, who just happens to be the great nephew of the addressee of the letter. Marc Blucas ably portrays Roy and the chemistry between Ellen and Roy is believable. Oops! The complication is that Ellen has just been proposed to by Hayden (Kavan Smith), an aspiring politician.

With wonderful cinematography, I did get a good sense that I was in a small town in Maine. No regrets from me that I escaped for a while into this feel-good tale from Hallmark.

Great scenery, but not Maine. I spent a lot of time in Maine while in college and family vacations. The give away to me was that the mountains seemed too high for the supposed locale. I thought BC Canada where a lot of those kind of movies are filmed and I was correct.

This movie was a great surprise. Alison Sweeney was the actress from "Love on the Air". Absolutely loved her. Looked up her bio and she's been in 1800 episodes of Days of Our Lives. She was perfect. What a great role for Shirley Jones as the grandma. Marc Blucas from "Operation Christmas" was perfect as a construction worker. Kavan Smith from "When Calls the Heart" plays in a similar role. The crowd at the motel/inn was very well done and added so much to the movie. They gave our lead actress the nickname swimmer then got her to Karaoke "Foot Loose" (an excellent memorable scene). Now the blue berry plot did not make much sense and was a bit of a stretch, but this was a fun filled movie with true emotion.

2016 was rather hit and miss for Hallmark, which was hardly surprising as all the 2017-2021 Hallmark batches (that were seen before this year's) were very up and down as well. It boasted some good and more films, such as 'Love in Paradise', 'Love on the Sidelines', 'Summer Villa' and 'Journey Back to Christmas'. But also misfires, such as 'Unleashing Mr Darcy', 'Ms Matched', 'The Convenient Groom' and 'A December Bride'. And everything else ranging between mediocre and pretty decent.

One of the best 2016 Hallmark films, and one of the best 2016 Hallmark Movies and Mysteries films, is 'The Irresistible Blueberry Farm', which is also one of the best Hallmark films seen recently. Have liked Alison Sweeney and Marc Blucas in many other films, with more familiarity with Sweeney, and was not disappointed at all. Really liked the title, which was sweet and not corny at all, and the film lived up to it in execution and was even better than the charming sounding story already sounded.

'The Irresistible Blueberry Farm' isn't perfect. As is the case with most Hallmark efforts, it is very easy to predict where most plot elements are going to go with it being very faithful to a familiar formula.

Kavan Smith, a Hallmark regular and always worth watching, doesn't quite have the same amount of spark that the rest of the cast have with a character that could have been more fleshed out.

However, everything else succeeds. It is a good looking film visually, regardless of the lack of authenticity/accuracy the scenery is gorgeous and taken full advantage of in the photography. The music has been known to be overdone and intrusive in Hallmark, it is pleasant and well fitting here. The script is playfully light-hearted and has a good deal of heart without being sentimental.

Furthermore, the story is far from perfect, but it was clear what it was trying to do and wanted to be and it is very charmingly cute and heart-warming. The ending isn't over neat. The characters were ones worth engaging with, with flaws not being overdone while also not being too perfect. Both Sweeney and Blucas are great, both have a lot of charm and great comic timing, and their chemistry is very believable throughout. Both playful and full of heart, while not being rushed or aimless. The supporting cast are solid, with Shirley Jones in particular giving a performance of dignity and class.

Summing up, very well done. 8/10.