Love on the Sidelines

I really enjoyed this movie and was even surprised a couple times throughout. It was interesting to see how it played out. I'm glad I stuck to it after not loving either character in the beginning because then they had time to grow. I'm a football fan(go Bills!), but they kinda overdid the football analogies. Once I lived through that, it was fun and honestly one of the best I've seen in awhile.

Laurel graduated with a degree in fashion design, but is having trouble breaking in to the industry. To make ends meet she takes a job as a personal assistant to a famous football player who just went on the injury list. These two do not get along and it doesn't help that Laurel knows nothing about football. Feeling sorry for Laurel and really wanting a male assistant, Danny Holland agrees to keep her till he gets back to playing. As time goes by, Laurel makes herself invaluable as she slowly learns the trade with a little help from her new roommate and her best friend's boyfriend, who just happens to be Danny Holland's biggest fan.

The two romantic leads are fantastic and have a lot of chemistry in this slow burn hate to love sports romance. The supporting cast is rounded out with an actual football playing father and two gorgeous best friends (both Laurel's and Danny's).

This reminded me a lot of a book I read last year...The Wall of Winnipeg (fun romance, if you are interested).

So cute - kept me intrigued and I love Laurels character- wish she would be in more hallmark movies !

Very cute movie!

A bit more intelligent than the usual Hallmark stuff. Sparkling dialogue and good casting. At first I wasn't gonna watch it as I know nothing about football but I was delighted to find out that it was light on the spory and long on the romance!

I did not know Emily Kinney before, she is adorable.

And the lead male is quite handsome...

I really liked the young woman who played Ava. I would like to see her star in something.

Thanks for making my Saturday nite more enjoyable.

Of the two leads, there is more familiarity with Emily Kinney from watching 'The Walking Dead' in its early seasons (back when it was great) when her character Beth was on the show. Am one of not many who didn't dislike her, despite her there being far more interesting and plausibly developed characters. Have not seen enough of John Reardon's work, but in what has been seen of him has not stood out that much. Watched 'Love on the Sidelines' primarily as someone who has been watching Hallmark films for a while now.

'Love on the Sidelines' impressed me on the whole and it is one of the better faring Winterfest films. It isn't a great film and is not exempt from flaws, but there are a lot of good things as well and it is a nice effort generally. As far as Hallmark films from that year go, 'Love on the Sidelines' is not one of the best. And it is also not one of the worst. Instead one of the solid middle efforts, which is not too bad a position to be in when seeing how variable that year was for Hallmark.

It isn't perfect. There is absolutely no doubt how everything is going to map out or end, the Winterfest films are quite samey structurally and 'Love on the Sidelines' follows the formulaic structure to the letter pretty much. Making it predictable too many times, especially in the final third, and pretty much all the standard Hallmark cliches are here.

Would have liked more spark from Reardon's performance, with him coming over as a little bland at times. The ending is also too convenient for my liking.

There is however a lot to like, with 'Love on the Sidelines' being especially worth watching for Kinney. Who is a real charmer in her role and brings a lot of energy and charm, this is a role that suits her well and it helps that the character is a likeable one. The supporting cast are solid and Kinney and Reardon do work well together, understated but not disconnected and the affection is felt.

It is a good looking film visually, regardless of the lack of authenticity/accuracy the scenery is gorgeous and taken full advantage of in the photography. The music has been known to be overdone and intrusive in Hallmark, it is pleasantly festive here. The script is playfully light-hearted and has a good deal of heart without being sentimental. The story is far from perfect, but it was clear what it was trying to do and wanted to be and it is very charmingly cute and heart-warming.

Overall, nice film. 7/10.