An Easter Bloom

Part-time coffee barista Amanda Raymond (Aimee Teegarden) has eager new customer Derrick (Benjamin Hollingsworth). Her family's flower farm has been struggling ever since her father's death. She just doesn't have her father's green thumb. Retired florist Lori Matthews tells her about the Easter floral arrangement competition with $20k prize. It's her last ditch chance to save the farm. Derrick turns out to be the new pastor.

I do like the flowers although the vast vistas of flowers look fake. It is obviously special effects. Quite frankly, they should find a greenhouse to film. As for Teegarden, her character is so sad and she's playing sad girl very hard. Derrick is a bit of a dud and he's a pastor. He can't exactly be flashy. I also don't buy his big tip in retrospect. It's not like he has one of those mega-churches. This is a bit flat and the sad tone is not Hallmark's calling card.

Aimee Teagarden is one of my favorite actors committed to Hallmark. She has done several movies for them that go beyond the simple rom/com and I think they have been something special. This movie, also, goes beyond the simple rom/com. It is more focused on Amanda's relationship with Lori, but the romance with Derrick is at least a close second if not equal in significance to the story.

I always cringe at two things especially when they are linked. The premise is to save the family farm by winning a contest. Amanda is a complete novice at floral arranging, which seems a little odd given that her farm is the source of flowers for arrangements. The movie takes a shot at explaining this and is mostly successful in that regard. But for the novice to even hope to complete with contestants with years of experience, especially Constance who has won several, is the prime example of why I cringe at this premise. However, that hail-Mary hopefulness is not that unusual with this premise.

But, viewer, don't lose hope. Instead of the usual plot line where the romantic interest helps prepare for the contest (or competes against her, or both), Derrick has nothing to do with teaching her the craft. Instead, his mom, Lori, is the sensei and Amanda is, not the grasshopper, but the ladybug. There is some definite creativity in the writing despite the overly common premise.

There seem to be a few subtextual themes. The most dominant themes are love and forgiveness. I think I will need to watch this again to explore the interplay of those different themes and see if there really are more than just the two.

Teagarden and Benjamin Hollingsworth have some romantic chemistry despite their relationship not getting the majority of the screen time. Actually, Teagarden and Frances Flanagan have good chemistry in a mentoring relationship. In short, the acting is good. The dialogue is good but not quite sparkling. The issue of the farm's financial future is the central tension, but it is not overplayed as is sometimes the case. This movie is more about relationships than financial problem solving.

Two secondary criticisms. One is the ending. All I can say is that it is overdone, but so are most Hallmark movies. The other is a question. Is that view looking out at the farm in bloom live or a mural, or perhaps a green screen? The appearance was idyllic and had a fake feel to it. It looked like a painted wall about 10 feet past where the actors were standing.

Amada and her mom are about to lose their flower farm after a rough winter, so it occurs to her that she can get into a flower arrangement contest and win usd 20 000 to save said farm. So she meets Lori, flower expert and also mom to Derrick, the brand new pastor in town.

This story is about grief and finding hope again. And while it can be heartwarming for some it may be sad for others. Personally, I liked the story but going through grief myself it reached me in some way that I prefer a Hallmark movie doesn't since these movies tend to be a happy place to me. I like them funnier and happier, and preferably, religion as a side theme.

I am so happy that Dayspring has teamed up with Hallmark! I loved the message behind this movie. It was perfectly spring filled while also having a deeper message of love and forgiveness and renewal. I loved that each of the characters had to grow and change-it wasn't just the main character struggling while everyone else had the perfect life. I loved the pastor's story and how he even opened up about making mistakes and growing from them.

The only complaint I would have is the pastor sometimes had a southern accent and sometimes didn't. Other than that it was the perfect Easter movie, just beautiful.

I enjoyed this movie but could not give it a high rating. Same old same old plot of misunderstanding The two leads are very good , nice chemistry and believable. It was a little slow to develop and the ending was a little predictable but overall a cute movie. I do feel here again Hallmark writers could have done do much more. Excellent cast beautiful scenery and not enough substance. There was very little development of the CB cast and could have done more with the two leads. I hope Hallmark can get out of theses predictable plots because they are wasting good acting and not developing their cast parts. There are no spoilers but than again it's the same old story.