The Professional Bridesmaid

I liked the main characters and the basic bones of the script.

Unfortunately, it was more of the same old, same old.

Main female lead, X, has to hide her true identity.

Main male lead, Y, falls in love with X but doesn't know she isn't who she says she is.

Y overhears a private conversation that reveals the identity of X.

Y gets offended and confronts X, then walks away without hearing the whole story.

Two other women tell Y that it's obvious he's in love with X.

Y returns and forgives X.

X is sorry.

They kiss.

Other side issue is resolved.

The end.

In between all these things is a lot of wedding planning mishaps and X has to jump through hoops to make everyone happy, including finding the hoops.

Just tiring to watch. I was glad when it was over.

7.9 stars.

Say what you will, but this is a refreshing novelty film for Hallmark. Maggie is a professional bridesmaid which is totally unheard of, but what the heck, let's go with it. She is unable to secure a business loan to take her concierge bridesmaid business to the next level, but is offered a very involved and demanding opportunity to provide her services to the mayor's daughter. This could be exactly what she needs.

Next, we have an investigative reporter named Henry who wants to pick the mayor's brain about his plans to allow developers to erect several condominiums in the city park. Instead of getting the story he wants, Henry gets stuck covering the mayor's daughter's wedding. Little does Henry know that Maggie is placed undercover as a regular bridesmaid in order to keep him on a tight leash. She is instructed to make sure he doesn't stray from covering the wedding by diverting his attention from the mayor and his political views about the condo project. Maggie's other duties are to insure the wedding is a success, secretly applying her skills as the "The Professional Bridesmaid". Maggie's true identity as a professional bridesmaid must remain a secret and in the midst of this balancing act Maggie and Henry fall for each other.

We all know how this story ends. Eventually he will discover who Maggie is and she will have no choice but to win back his affections. It's run-of-the-mill Hallmark fare, but I enjoyed it because King and Massey provide us with a twenty-somethings version of love rather than the usual thirty and forty somethings.

Professional bridesmaid Maggie Bailey (Hunter King) is trying to expand her business. Her friend tells her about the mayor's daughter Alexis having her wedding in two weeks. She has to move into the mayoral mansion, be a secret, and be on call 24/7. The mayor has an election in two months and needs a problem-free event for the press. Serious reporter Henry Whittington (Chandler Massey) is new at a lighter magazine assigned to have an all-access pass to the wedding planning although he is desperate for harder news.

I expected Hunter King to be a professional bridesmaid by accident. I didn't know that this job is a thing. I don't see this working unless the bride is a loner trying to have fake friends. I doubt that any bride would like a stranger in all her wedding photos. The premise is so fake that it takes a minute to adjust to it. The secrecy thing is a problem without reason. Maggie could simply be the new wedding planner without all the unnecessary lies.

Once the audience ignores the story, it becomes a silly Hallmark movie. Henry uncovering the secret is also a little silly. There has to be some results for Maisie Ryder. Google returns half a million results. It is a little fun for Henry to do some mystery solving, but the mystery shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Ugh. Worst lead actor and actress. I love Hallmark movies but some are really great and some are really bad. This one was cringe-worthy although I did watch it until the end but that's just my personality. The two leads were incredibly awkward together. I feel like the characters were supposed to be a little awkward with one another but this just felt like extreme awkwardness and bad acting. There were so many pauses in the dialogue that I think I spent 75% of the movie rolling my eyes. A couple of the other actresses could use some acting lessons as well I think. Not every actor is meant to be a lead.

The first thing that occurred to me on this is how much Hunter King looks like Rachael Leigh Cook.

As the story progressed, of course it was pretty formula for Hallmark, but I thought it was pretty well put together. There were the right amount of mishaps. There was just enough tears to go with the laughter. And I think it was just enough short of sappy to be a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Peter Benson has managed to successfully navigate the course from bit part, to old boyfriend, to leading man, and now does an admirable job as director.

It isn't Oscar worthy, but only because it wasn't striving for greatness. It's what is expected from a Hallmark movie of the week, which is wholesome entertainment which leaves you with a smile on your face while not forgetting to show a bit of real heart. 9/10.