Moriah's Lighthouse

Had high hopes for this one. There are some funny moments but the storyline is unrealistic, requiring a stretch of the imagination to make the story remotely believable. The lead actress bouncing between a French accent and English with no accent was distracting. Hallmark movies of late are using the same plot devices over and over. Too formulaic, and lacking in originality despite beautiful locations and some wonderful actors.

Could've been an 8 if Rachelle Lefvre's accent hadn't been so bothersome and inconsistent. The secondary characters were French and it showed in the dialogue. Otherwise I liked the leads a lot enjoyed the story well enough and loved the beautiful scenery. So nice to see a movie that reflects the actual location.

Wood worker Moriah (Rachelle Lefevre) dreams of restoring the old lighthouse in her small seaside French town. Ben (Luke Macfarlane) arrives in town with plans of his own. She hits him with her bicycle. I like the French location. The story is fine for a Hallmark romance. This could be a nice romance but one thing keeps bugging me. Lefevre is playing a French girl. She may be well-skilled in French but the audience have seen her speak perfect English. In this, she's speaking English with that fake French accent and it's weird. My brain keeps telling me that she's faking this. The last thing I want from my brain is it telling me that it's all fake. Everything else is secondary.

Good dialogue. There are a lot of funny lines. Luke Macfarlane is good as the foil for a lot of jokes.

Macfarlane and Rachelle Lefevre have great chemistry. They connect both in comedic moments and serious ones.

The early part of the story revolves around a crazy assumption that a property would just sit empty until Moriah saves enough money to buy it. It generates a lot emotional energy which in my mind is wasted because it is so unreasonable. This is too bad because otherwise, the story and the movie have so much going for them. The rest of the story is quite good, although the ending is a bit cheesy.

The font for translations of French lines is ridiculously small and sometimes lost in the background.

Aside from the obvious upside of shooting 'Moriah's Lighthouse' on the French coast, the movie also benefits from having a script written by Paul Campbell. When he isn't starring in some of Hallmark's best and most successful movies, he's writing them. One heck of a double act.

Luke Macfarlane is as reliable as ever in the role of Ben McCane and has some genuinely funny scenes. Sometimes "comedy" in Hallmark movies falls awkwardly and embarrassingly flat, but not in 'Moriah's Lighthouse'.

Macfarlane and Rachelle Lefevre, who I've never seen before in a Hallmark movie, are a brilliant couple. Their chemistry works really well.

Throw in the undeniably beautiful scenery, and - despite a few plot holes - you have an above-average Hallmark movie.