Love Under the Olive Tree

Am not saying this with any pleasure. Despite not being that excited by the plotline, which sounded very derivative and unengaging, Hallmark did have some good films in 2020 and Tori Anderson has been good in other things, with well written characters and good material making a big difference. Hallmark did two A Little Romance films in 2020, the other being the weak 'Love in the Forecast' and of the two films that film is marginally worse despite trying to do something different.

'Love Under the Olive Tree' just didn't do it for me at all. Hallmark were no stranger to surprisingly decent and more films and no stranger to better than expected execution of very basic concepts. It has a few good things, few Hallmark films are irredeemable and there are very few of those made in 2020. It however has a lot of bad things, all major and the worst of them are executed absolutely terribly. Was really hoping that 'Love Under the Olive Tree' would be one of the better than expected films but alas that was not the case.

It's not without its good things. The scenery is very nice and well shot. There are parts where the music is also pleasant.

Shawn Roberts gives the film's best performance, he was quite charming.

Charming is an adjective that neither of the two leads are. Benjamin Hollingsworth is very bland and too uptight, but Anderson comes off even worse. She can be very appealing in the right role, but her character is too mean-spirited and neurotic and Anderson badly overdoes the neuroses. There is no chemistry between them, which feels disconnected and under-rehearsed. Other than Roberts, the supporting cast are unmemorable and none of the characters are remotely interesting, well developed or endearing. Only Roberts comes close.

Despite some light-hearted-ness later, though it does come too late, 'Love Under the Olive Tree' is dull and has a very mean-spirited edge. Just hated how over-the-top negative a vast majority of the characters were, the arrogance is especially overdone, and how they treated others, which made the first half pretty intolerable. It is thin narratively, which affects the pacing, and the lack of freshness with a done to death type of story makes it very predictable. The script is stilted and could have been a lot lighter and more subtle.

Not a good film at all. 3/10.

This film wasn't unpleasant to watch, just a little lacking in energy. It also was weird that a film that was obviously created for the channel's Fall Harvest promotion wound up on the air in June.

A lot of these films do the Romeo and Juliet family squabble thing, but this one directly steals almost its entire setup from last year's Fall Harvest entry, Love, Fall, and Order as a it involves a dispute over property lines.

The story of the two feuding families and the two main leads is nice. But the movie could have left out the gay hints with Adam.

Let's be honest, neither Hallmark, Lifetime or UpTv (to name a few) are very creative when it comes to plots. However, this is not a bad movie in general terms.

So, yes, it's another seasonal storyline involving some family feud and inconsecuential competitions. Another reviewer said it was a boring movie because he didn't care much about olive oil. I couldn't help but laugh, because most of these type of films involves things like that: pumpking pies; cranberries; maple syrup and a big etcetera. It's always the biggest and most important competition.... but you end up seing how many contestants? 3 or 4 at most, and less than 15 pleople in the public. But is what we are used to. You take it or leave it. I mean, we have seen way too many films based on small towns with plots like "save christmas", "save the anual celebration", "let's plan the town's dance".... and you end up watching less than 15 people in it.

So, my point: The plot is simple, non creative, but it works for this kind of movies (seasonal romance). The main characters were ok. Chemistry between them was just fine... not amazing, but certainly better than at least 30 other hallmark movies I've seen.

About the gay couple (which as being bashed by some old-dynosaur-school reviewers . Shame on you), I think both actors were great and their chemistry was quite good. Everything about them was very subtle (maybe way too subtle) and it was treated naturally, avoiding stereotypes, just how it should be.

This film has a rehashed plot of the 2016 Hallmark Film "Autumn in the Vineyard". The female leads in both films are both neurotic and start off closed off in the beginning until the male lead helps them "open up". In both films the female and male leads have a "History" and are competitive. Both films had competition where the one of the leads gets the land if they win. The only difference this time around is that its olives/olive oil and not wine. The few occasional cutesy moments were not enough to redeem this film. The rehashed plots are getting more and noticeable. Hallmark films are a fun guilty pleasure but not when you can recognized a rehashed plot. "Autumn in the Vineyard" did it better. Hallmark needs to stop taking its audience for granted.