Advice to Love By

I really and honestly enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. It is definitely one of the better Hallmark movies. The acting was good all around, which is not always the case with sappy romance movies from Hallmark. I'm not sure I understood the storyline that set up the romance in the first place. Although, the actors had convincible chemistry. They play well together. It kind of got left by the wayside in terms of plot. I liked the ending, but what happened to the hallmark (pun intended) clapping at the kiss? No, no, don't bring that back - I'm just wondering. I liked the goofy dancing to send the audience off. Nice movie,

The premise was a common one and several of the usual tropes were used, but as another reviewer pointed out, some of the romantic elements were missing like physical touch and longing stares.

The social chemistry was there as the leads had great dialogue and verbal interaction. Brooks Darnell always has a comfortable presence and his voice draws you in. I thought Erinn Westbrook was perfect for the part and carried it well. This Kendall is a true nerd with a little bit of naivete especially in the experiential aspect of romance. I liked how the two contrasted the science vs the feeling aspects. Watching these two together was fun, but they didn't carry it through the finish line.

Another reviewer said the movie was choppy and that's one way to describe how the conflict and the ending just didn't flow or make sense. The conflict was forced without enough justification and then all of a sudden the conflict was gone, again without enough justification. In other words, that part of the movie was rushed like the director ran out of time to make it feel right. I was loving this movie up to that point, but the last part brought the whole movie down a bit.

Erinn Westbrook is very pretty and talented but she got stuck with a somewhat abrasive character (the "science of love" author). Kendall rudely dismisses the "love at first sight" feelings that her sister and boyfriend experienced because, you know, "science" (it's all "completely biological"). The problem with Kendall, is that she has all these strong opinions about "science" but it doesn't seem like she has actually studied any of the relevant "science".

For example, there's research out of the Netherlands which provides evidence in support of the phenomenon of love at first sight (Zsok, Haucke, De Wit, & Barelds, 2017), which she dismisses as nothing more than "signs from your neuroreceptors, not your heart" (and what's scientific about the "heart" in connection with love?). Although I wasn't a big fan of the writing, I did like the boyfriend's response: "Well, wherever the signs came from, I'm glad I was paying attention."

And what was the "science" behind pairing up two random strangers on National TV and pressuring them to go on a date together?

There were several other annoying things about the script. When Kendall calls Nathan, he says he has some follow up questions. She says "Saturday, lunch in the park" and then just hangs up. She doesn't wait for an acknowledgement, confirm a time, say "I'll see you then" or even "bye", she just hangs up. Huh?

And then she gets all bent out of shape about something that nobody would be bothered by (even those who know nothing about contractual confidentiality obligations). It was just a fake and phony conflict. If all of that seemed annoying (as it was for me), the blame goes to the writer and/or the director. Erin Westbrook is just reading her lines and doing the best with what she was given. Don't blame her for how Kendall was written. Some other reviewers don't seem to understand that an actress who plays an annoying character isn't necessarily a bad actress or annoying. Erinn Westbrook deserves a better script. As does Brooks Darnell. He's a really good looking and charismatic actor (he was quite impressive in A Winter Getaway, although that was another movie where the stars were better than their material). But his character's grand gesture just came across as poorly timed and embarrassing.

Finally, other reviewers noticed something else that really bothered me too. I've always thought it was ridiculous that nobody ever has sex in Hallmark movies. We don't need R-rated sex scenes, but there's not even a hint that anyone is having sex. It's never even implied. That's just weird and unrealistic. But it was even worse in this movie. These two went on a bunch of dates and never even kissed. Heck, they never hugged or even held hands. That's just ridiculous. Is Hallmark really that worried that their core demographic will clutch their pearls in horror and turn the channel if they see people showing physical affection for one another and, heaven forbid, going into a bedroom together at night and closing the door behind them?

Nice premise but the lead actress was not very good. Lead actor was great. Movie a little choppy, editing and/or direction was weak. The flow of the movie was choppy at times.

This was a good movie with good acting. The leads were beautiful and looked cute together. It was very odd, though, when the final scene took place, the kiss was perfunctory and brief. Not a usual Hallmark end of movie kiss. There were no romantic moments between the couple during the movie, such as a look of attraction, an almost-kiss, a hug. One falling down together earlier in the movie was not as usual for these Hallmark movies. Usually with the couple looking at each other in a moment of awkward chemistry. Nope, didn't happen. There was one momentary hand-holding. Not sure what was up with this. And it's NOT due to Covid, as some have said, as if there were no protocols in place during filming or there's any evidence that the virus can be transferred through a real kiss, but not a lip peck. Lol . But the movie was interesting, anyway. Gave it a 7.