Swing Into Romance

Danica McKellar is by far one of my favourite actresses from Hallmark and I was so looking forward to this new movie. The first 30 minutes of the movie I turned it off it. The plot was so boring. . I couldn't watch anymore then a few hours later, I couldn't find anything on TV. I figured I'll go ahead watch it. It got a little bit better when she began dancing for a competition. The same fall decorations were everywhere and way too many of them. It was too much and borderline obnoxious! The storyline was just boring overall not what I was expecting from a movie with Danica McKellar in it. And the wardrobe she wore was so out of date and old school. The music she danced to during practice & the competition was music I've never heard of. Can you please use music that is from this decade, and that people have actually heard it before and it's popular music? I hope the future movies get better but if you use the same writers with boring/lame plots, the same wardrobe personnel and whomever sets the scenes with the same excessive decorations, etc, I'm going back to watch Hallmark movies besides Lacey Chabert is my other favorite actors so at least she is still with Hallmark and I'd say about 80% of the movies I've seen witb Lacey and Danica on Hallmark are A movies. The majority of Hallmark movies have really great plots, great wardrobes, decorations are not excessive, music from this decade and recognizable, etc! Overall, I give this movie a C- though if Danica wasn't in the movie, I would give it an F!

Danica Mckellar sure looks great and not just for her age. I have to hand it to her even though I'm not usually a huge fan of her perpetually worried expression. David Hayden Jones, even though younger than her, looked a little creaky in comparison, but that could have been his role.

The story was a little creaky as well. Former professional circuit dancer Danica returns home for a visit on her way to a great job in Seattle. She learns that her parents' general store is in trouble due to an upcoming increase in the rent. She is determined to "save" the store even though the store doesn't really look like it wants to be saved. Very sparse in the merchandise department which is carefully arranged and covered with fallish decor to disguise the lack of products on the shelves. Her parents don't seem all that desperate to keep the store open either. They were probably looking forward to retirement. But Danica cannot be stopped. She is going to enter a dance contest to win the prize money which will save the store. Single Widower David H-J ends up being her partner and love ensues. Can rejection of her great city career and embrace of small town life be far behind?

The infinity long garlands of leaves used in last week's movie have made their way over to this one. And what with being moved from farm to store to dance studio to bank to two homes to the auditorium of the contest, they are looking a little tired. I love stories with continuing characters and am looking forward to meeting them again in next week's "Fall into Autumn" offering.

I have watched some Christmas movies with Danica, but I didn't know she can dance so well, really! I read more about her and my jaw dropped when I realized that she wrote 10 books in educational math and the first one was a New York Times bestseller!!

I love dance/ballet movies/series, so I liked this more than other regular, simplistic romance/Christmas movies. I liked the male lead in Dear Santa and I expected a lot from this movie, especially after the first dance sequences from the past where Danica danced herself in the contests, and did not use a double. It is a nice movie, with some very good dance scenes that actually enhance a lot its quality. It's kind of an usual story, so don't expect too much from here, but I recommend it for the dances.

This movie was heartwarming and relaxing even though it was a "swing" movie! Contains multi-generational family member issues and the internal struggles while moving through life's journey to resolve. Acting was top notch for all cast. "Taylor" added to the heartwarming aspect of this movie as she is an adorable girl that is all warmth, cuteness and fun wrapped into one character, I am inspired to get my dancing shoes on and work through the physical demands of "swing" after watching this movie. Once again, well picked choice for Bill Abbott and his team. So grateful for something decent and worthwhile once again from the hard working, clean and respectable writing and directing teams who create inspiring and educational movies.

6.3 stars.

I like both lead actors, but this film is primarily about an adept female dancer (McKellar) as she attempts to teach a deconditioned man to swing dance for a contest. Her family needs her to win the contest to save the family store. She used to be a professional dancer and won many competitions years ago, but had a falling out with her previous Russian dance partner, and subsequently gave up dancing. She eventually went into finance. The lead male was a decent dancer when he was a young boy, but apparently hasn't danced in decades. He is an accountant.

Whereas she was a professional, he was barely an amateur. As the two of them are practicing, it's quite obvious that he has two left feet and there is no way a man of his low caliber could win a contest at this level. He is also overweight and fairly clumsy. It's somewhat of a farce and inconceivable to imagine them winning. This would be like Bradley Cooper's character winning in 'Silver Linings Playbook'. We all know he has no chance, but Cooper was somewhat lithe, and at least they made it interesting with the side bet on the NFL game. 'Swing Into Romance' has no such excitement.

Unfortunately, where the romance lacks, the dancing doesn't make up the difference. Something is missing and I can only guess that it's a lack of chemistry. This movie fell flat and it's an outlier in that respect, because almost every GAF, UP, Hallmark movie between 6.7 and 6.9 stars is amazing. If I want to watch a movie only for dance I'll watch 'Step Up' or 'Dirty Dancing'. I'm looking for an original family movie with dance AND romance and 'Swing Into Romance' should be called 'Swing into'.