Romance with a Twist

The story is a little rough at times. Rough outline, it sounds like another one of those where the leads get thrown together to do a project, and more specifically to do a performance. You could call this a dance performance in the air. But it starts out rough. Olivier Renaud does everything he can to make his character, Bennet, a spoiled, arrogant former Olympian with no tact whatsoever. What I found more disturbing was how much real hurt was inflicted on Luna. But she's no snowflake. She stood up to it and gave some back.

There are some ups and downs for just about all the major characters. Some of the actors handled that better than others, with Jocelyn Hudon being one of the better. Through all their practices and rehearsals, it didn't seem like this could become anything worth watching. But if you don't watch anything else in this movie, you have to watch their performance. I have no idea how much either of the stars did on the silks. Probably not a lot except the still shots, but the performance was beautiful. The stunt doubles should get first page credit in this movie. (Michel Bray, Emma Carrothers and Edio Silvio).

The ending was sweet too.

So good I'm giving this 7 stars, which I'm not sure I've ever done for a Hallmark romance.

Accept for one small thing, this movie was perfect. It was mission driven "gotta learn this aerial routine in six weeks because the annual small town festival DEPENDS on it." And then there was a beautiful performance at the end. I rewound the final performance no less than five or six times and put the song Catch Me by Thomas Bergersen on my YouTube playlist.

The hero and heroine looked beautiful together. The banter was funny. Nobody was annoying. The small town didn't have any of those "cute" quirks, which I usually can do without. ( I grew up in a small town and it was *nothing* like they show in these Hallmark movies.) This movie showcased a realistic small town atmosphere.

There was some tension and drama with the question of whether Luna could transition from dance to aerial silks. Whether she would stay in the construction business, whether the hero would leave town and continue to tour, etc. So I guess this was also a Work vs Love romance

There was a stepfather in this movie, which was a refreshing change from the widowed parent, which is the norm for a Hallmark romance.

I mean there was *nothing* annoying and everything to like about this movie.

There was just one little tiny thing, the sound was off during the performance of Give My Regards to Broadway so it looked like a bad lip sync performance. But otherwise I really enjoyed this romance.

From the start Bennett was somewhat cold. Luna knew how to deal with him though. I thought the car scene was sweet and realistic when he said he had a surprise for her. Loved when the prospective partners auditioned. So funny. Felt there was a lot of Luna with her family. The couple definitely needed a hug together when they danced at the festival, to warm things up before the lovely ending! Olivier Renauds facial expressions made me smile and the finale was super, especially as the music escalated and the couple climbed higher. It was a little slow in places but came together well at the end.

Jocelyn Hudon is a very beguiling, bright and beautiful actress who shines as Luna, a former dancer trying to replace an aerial gymnast who dropped out of The Small Town Festival just 6 weeks away. The role of a former dancer wasn't a stretch for her given that she actually trained and performed at the National Ballet School of Canada starting when she was eleven.

Luna is paired with Bennett, an Olympic gymnast and professional aerialist who has been performing around the world with Cirque du Reve (a fictional Cirque du Soleil). Bennett is played by Oliver Renaud who actually did perform with the real Cirque du Soleil. He's lost his partner and the script would have us believe that a former dancer, who's spent the last few years working in her family's construction business, could learn to be a world class aerial gymnast in just 6 weeks. Maybe. The real Cirque du Soleil has an intensive training program that lasts at least 3-4 months.

As is often the case with these kinds of movies, the Big Festival is presented as having some sort of monumental significance when, in fact, it's just a small town festival. When it finally happened, it didn't look like more than a few dozen people showed up to watch. But Luna and Bennett's festival performance was actually pretty good.

Along the way, a small town reporter for a small town paper (Hazleton Weekly) inexplicably turns a puff piece about the up coming local festival into a bitter critique based on a preview she should never have seen. That would never happen and it bothered me. It was the kind of unrealistic plot development just added to create conflict and tension.

I had to look up the actress who played Luna's mom (Tonya Clarke) because she seemed too young and pretty to be Luna's mom. But she's 52 and has some nice scenes being very supportive of her daughter's dreams. I liked her even though I was a bit confused by the family's construction business. It seemed to consist of no one other than Luna, her brother and her mother and father. They're very excited and very busy about getting the contract for the festival but I never saw anything that they did in connection with that contract. And what would the festival need constructed? The Big Performance took place inside an existing theater.

This movie had one of my least favorite Hallmark tropes (the interrupted kiss) but Luna and Bennett's actual first kiss was pretty memorable.

Overall, the movie was just OK. I would probably rate this a 5 or 6 in most cases but I bumped it to 7 stars because I like Jocelyn Hudon.

This film had some issues, but it was fun to explore a different topic for a Hallmark romantic film and smart to use an actress with former ballet training.

Premise:Luna gave up her dreaming dance to help her family out in their construction business. Her best friend is responsible for putting together an arts festival that is pairing professionals with local talent...including her brother who is a famous Olympic gymnast and now does silk Aerials for a Cirque du Soleil-like show. He gets paired with Luna, agreeing with his sister to give her one week.

The two main actors were cute and the premise was did enough it was worth watching. While not my favorite Hallmark offering, I appreciate that they are trying new things.