Love in Design

Hannah McElroy (Danica McKellar) has hosted four seasons of her modern renovation show in Los Angeles. Network brass Wally wants to change it up and for her to renovate a historic manor in her hometown of Lewisburg. She reluctantly accepts but is shocked to find her ex Jeff Winslow (Andrew W. Walker) as her liaison with city hall. The former couple clashes and reconnects.

Obviously, Danica has decided on steering her career directly into the Hallmark lane. That's no crime and she's good at it. She has the natural goodness charms since her childhood days. She's Winnie Cooper for heaven's sake. As for her co-star, he's also a veteran of these movies. They have the basic chemistry to make this work and it's not terribly demanding. It's a simple Hallmark movie and it doesn't need to be more.

Having seen the ads for a movie starring two of Hallmark's most popular regulars..Danica McKellar and Andrew Walker, this viewer could not wait to see this couple in a new film. Sadly, their names and star status did nothing to make this movie worth watching. The characters were formulaic. Career girl who leaves her small town to make it in the big city comes back to oversee a huge and challenging project. Surprise, surprise, the man she left in order to pursue her big city dreams is assigned co-partner with her and to add his talents to her work .Predictable, old angers arise, who really left who, and old unfinished business gets note way of their working smoothly together. How often will Hallmark bring out this old premise in order to make a movie try to feel new? These two stars are magnetic, each in their own way..McKellar is a forceful power in her private life as a mathematics genius, author of math books for girls, and even with a math theory named after her. Walker is a talented actor with great variation in facial expression and with sparking eyes. One of his best films, from some time ago, is Bridal Wave, If you have never seen it, look for it. It confirms his acting talents and his romantic appeal. However, in Love in Design, none of this is visible. He is overshadowed by McKellar's perky, bouncy manner and her take-charge style. His role becomes one of a passive bystander with very few interesting lines, and even fewer opportunities to show any passion or romantic gestures..other than being remembered for brushing her hair off her face. Oh,my goodness..this is almost embarrassing. The relationship between the stars falls flat. Of course, the ending is predictable, albeit contrived..This is a Hallmark movie,after all.

But one is left wondering WHY?? There is no chemistry at all between the stars or their characters. The ending is overly contrived. Additionally, there is a scarcity of significant dialogue..way too many pauses, silences and frought facial expressions. McKellar's eyebrows turn upward, his face goes blank, no words are utter. They both give the impression they can't wait for the filming to be over. Another Hallmark cliche should be addressed here..The female character almost always has a best friend, supporter, cheering section. And recently, it seems to be role assigned to young talented women of color. I this a nod to diversity in films? Why not really become part of the new day and the new reality and make the heroine a woman of color and make her best friend a woman of any color at all? Time is fleeting..Hallmark needs to catch up.

Another cliche Hallmark needs to address is the over-use of the heroine's parents as the ideal married couple, middle aged and playfully in love, an ideal she is sure she can never achieve. This harks viewers back to the old tv shows, Father Knows Best, Donna Reed Show, etc..and has very little to do with today's reality. Time for Hallmark to catch up or to be forever stuck in a cliche that may have gone by the wayside years ago. If you are looking for a bland, predictable, under-acted, under-written Hallmark movie, this is the one for you.

Hannah's modern renovation tv show needs a refresh and she is sent to her home town to remodel a historic manor. The twist is she is being over-seen by her ex-boyfriend the consulting architect for the local preservation society.

These two rarely agree on anything...except the feelings they have for one another.

Fun, happy-go-lucky, a little competitive but not as deeply romantic as some of the other Hallmark romances.

The donuts looked delicious! I also loved that the parents seemed like they could really be parents.

This is light fare, but romantic if that is what you are looking for.

Two old flames collide in a home improvement style Hallmark film that is boosted by two very likeable leads in Andrew Walker and the ever lovely Danica McKellar.

Yes, it's very predictable, and it drags a bit in places, but I cannot fault a film that thoroughly entertained me for the 86 mins run time too highly, because I thought it was warm, funny and heartfelt.

As usual Danica McKellar was exceptional, and she worked well with the always superb Andrew W. Walker.

Be the way, if you haven't seen Andrew in "Dashing Though The Snow" it's great, one of my favorites.

Be sure to watch Danica in "Campfie Kiss" she gets to show off her math geekiness, it's great.

The supporting cast was splendid, especially Alvina August as best friend/coworker, and Jan Skene and Eric Pollins as Hannah's parents.. Paul Essiembre was a hoot with directions like "Be bold, but not too bold." Is that the kind of advice you want from the head of the network. It was like and inside joke with people on set.

The plot was not real original, designer is redoing a house, her ex is involved, they bicker, they reconnect, and all is right in design world. This is what we love about HM movies, they are predictable. If wanted orginal we would all be watching Hamlet and Taming of the Shrew. Oh, wait, even Shakespeare wasn't original.

"Many academics, most notably author Christopher Booker, believe that there are only seven basic plot structures in all of storytelling - frameworks that are recycled again and again in fiction but populated by different settings, characters, and conflicts." thank you Google.

So we love our HM movies, just some more than others.

My Advice: watch this movie, it is entertaining and fun.