Expecting Amish

It's an Amish romance set in 2014 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles, California. It follows a young Amish woman who participates in a rumspringa trip to Los Angeles and the consequences devolving from that trip.

Hannah Yoder (AJ Michalka) lives with her father (Brian Krause), younger sister, and brother. Her mother died three years earlier, so Hannah has been running the household. Everyone assumes after being baptized, Hannah will marry Samuel (Jean-Luc Bilodeau). However, her friends, Mary (Alyson Stoner), Sarah (Aurelia Scheppers), and Isaac (Cayden Boyd), convince Hannah to join them on their rumspringa trip to Los Angeles for a month or six weeks. She hesitantly joins them.

In LA, Hannah slowly begins to explore "English" life, and meets a college techie and disc jockey, Josh (Jesse McCartney). Ultimately, she must decide between Josh and Samuel.

"Expecting Amish" is a Lifetime movie with a woefully weak script and little linkage to reality. Samuel has a wooden manner and looks nothing like an Amish man. The community meets in a plain church (which doesn't happen) and shuns offenders whether or not they have been baptized. Rumspringa, where practiced, doesn't operate this way with the church's blessing. Elder/Bishop Miller (Ron Ely) baptizes by immersion in the lake. The ceremonies make no sense. Much of the dialogue is canned and predictable, along with the lack of research.

While the acting, the actors, and story are interesting and could be very true, I'm disappointed in many simple details that were overlooked. The Amish would not wear clothing bought at a retail store but every shirt worn by Samuel is just that. All clothing is made by hand and the shirts worn by Samuel are very obviously machine stitched, with buttoned down collars, no less. The double stitching is another clue. Another thing that bothered me throughout was the haircuts on the men. Their hair is PERFECTLY groomed, obviously trimmed with electric clippers. The Amish cut their own hair, with scissors, and would not look so GQ. However, I still enjoyed the movie despite being very disappointed that these details were overlooked; I couldn't rate it higher because of these real goofs! I found them VERY distracting.

This movie is cute but some things about the Amish in the movie are incorrect. First of all the Amish in the movie spoke with no Dutch accent . Also the Amish do ride in cars , they are just not allowed to own or drive them. The Amish do not have a church building they worship at one another's homes. The amsh do not marry in the summer , they marry in the fall. Amish are not shunned unless they have already been baptized and then leave, if they have not been baptized and leave they are not shunned with the hopes of them coming back to be baptized. The story was cute though. Just not accurate. Why wouldn't the actors have a Dutch accent? It was kind of silly listening to them speak English in Amish clothing.

The inaccuracies in this movie alone made me want to turn it off after the first 15 minutes. From Amish holding church in a dedicated building (they worship in their homes) to the girls having bangs cut in their hair, wearing white aprons (only on Sunday and special occasions), down to the wrong buggies and colors (they are gray in Lancaster County)and their perfect American speech (minus the "dutch" accent) ... the whole thing made me feel silly just watching it. Also a stretch that Amish kids would spend their Rumspringa time in Los Angeles ... really? I have been exposed to the Amish my entire life ... this movie is nothing but a "fairy tale" ...

The story opens with the river baptism of short-haired Amish teens wearing white pajamas and goes downhill from there.

It seems as though the writers grabbed bits and pieces from various religions - or bad movies about various religions - and smushed them together. There's a church with fixed pews, men and women sitting together and singing "Onward Christian Soldiers".

And shunning ... this may be imposed by the church against those who violate the promises made when they are baptized. No baptism, no shunning.

I'd love to know where the money came for this trip from Pennsyvania to LA - air fare, very nice accommodations with pool, apparently unlimited spending money.

All in all, a really bad film. To be avoided except as a giggle.