For Love & Honey

Thought the story was different enough to warrant an A for effort. I liked both leads and don't understand some of the negative reviews for the female lead. She's so much better than a lot of the cookie cutter actresses in these movies. I also thought the chemistry was really good. She doesn't play the lead the way they are typically played, and I found that refreshing. She has some bite in her character and while some found that off-putting, I found it engaging. I wasn't crazy about the whole bee side story and wish it had more of the adventure slant it teased at. The locations are also wonderful to look at.

This is one of my favorite Hallmark romances. Not only does it feature a good love story, but it shows off the beauty of Malta. And I learned some things about Maltese history and apiology (or mellitology).

Austin (Andrew W. Walker) is an American archaeology professor who visits Malta. There he meets local Eva (Margaret Clunie) who is an apiologist. Circumstances bring them together, then they mutually discover a hidden fresco which might be a map. Thus begins their adventure and their relationship.

For the most part, the relationship develops smoothly, without too much drama. But they both know Austin will be returning to the U. S., so neither foresees anything serious developing, despite their attraction.

Forgive the pun, but this is a sweet story, with an appealing tone. For my money, Margaret Clunie seems like an actress who could handle almost any role. Here, she gives off a pleasant energy that binds the story together.

I suppose , two virtues define this film - the landscapes and the stories first. Second - the younger sister , more careful- inspired crafted.

The sins - the fresco who seems fake from first sight and the few forced scenes and dialogues.

A good, generous idea and, like many other films from same source, essencial remains the publicity for Malta. Sure, familiar romance recipe, so, no expectations and Andrew W. Walker as the familiar- comfortable presence represents one of good points of film. The eulogy of honey is an useful nuance for a story seductive for the effort to save it from supporting cast.

This movie was so difficult to watch. It felt like it could have been a good story/concept but it was so poorly executed. Here's everything that went wrong:

• NO chemistry whatsoever. I think it was supposed to be a grumpy/sunshine sort of trope, but just came across as him being a weak/beta male while she was very entitled and basically hated him the entire time for no reason. She seemed to enjoy pushing him around and making him mad. The grumpy/sunshine trope really only works when "grumpy" hates everyone but their love interest. This was the reverse, she was nice to everyone EXCEPT her love interest.

• SO MANY THINGS WRONG with the beekeeping part of the story. As a beekeeper myself I felt insulted that they did so little research. From things like their "wild" hive which was a foot long piece of honeycomb smashed on a wall, her removal of that comb where she just smashed it up even more and stuck it in a box, getting pissed at the MLI for swatting at a frickin drone bee, her going back to the removal site the next day to capture a SINGLE LEFTOVER DRONE to take back to the beehive, and finally talking about how bees "mate for life"????? No species of worker bee ever mates, only the queen. And when she does she takes like 25 partners in one day and never again in her life. So many things wrong it was literally making me cringe.

• Horrible dialogue. I won't even rant about this one. I'll just leave it with a quote "what kind of loyal drone would leave his queen in a time of need" ~ MIL weak attempt at flirting (also the sole purpose of a drone is to leave his queen to mate with another and consequently die)

This sadly is a disappointing review with a disappointing rating. Andrew Walker is one of the finest....maybe the finest actor ....on the Hallmark roster. He easily could make a PSA deserve a rating of 7 just on his own acting abilities. Virtually in every movie he has starred in....at some point....he makes you feel something. Especially in a Hallmark movie, somewhere you should feel something...be touched by something.......but not this time....not this movie. Throughout the entire movie, there was more time spent on bee stories with almost nothing spent on the human relationships. In this movie, there was nothing to be felt by the viewers. They never got us to feel...be touched....even care about their story. This movie was more like some primer or a PSA on bees and their place in the ecology....completely devoid of all human emotions. Unfortunately, even Andrew Walker couldn't bring a good rating to this PSA. Hallmark wasted his talents...and the location of Malta.