Love at First Bark

This is your basic Hallmark love story. A designer adopts a dog and finds out caring for a dog is not as easy as she thought. This concept was a cute PSA for would be dog adopters. The work is worth it for the love of your dog. She hires the incredibly handsome dog trainer from the shelter to help. I never found the dog to be really difficult just stubborn. That's all. There were no horrible disasters that could have been hilarious. Of course, the humans fall in love with each other as the woman and dog bond with each other. My only question was the dog breed. The movie description said the dog was a German Shepherd. I wasn't buying that at all. As another reviewer said, they went overboard with this woman's eyelashes. I have watched this movie more than once anyway/

Who doesn't love Jana Kramer? Her country music is awesome! And she did the best-ever (in my own opinion) sexy water dance on Dancing With The Stars last season (2016). She's hot and she's good. I love those eyes of hers. I could get lost in them. But the movie is different for Hallmark! Unique plot! And Owen is a nice package for her in this movie. I hope she does more romantic comedies on Hallmark or the big screen. She's definitely got it going on in her career. I look forward to more of Jana Kramer this year. She just seems so like herself on screen and I'd give anything to meet her. I dream of holding her in my arms forever some day or someone that has a very major resemblance to her. I like everything about her. She seems so genuine and real true to her nature. Go Jana Kramer! Bring it some more for me! I love her! She's perfect for Hallmark and even better for the big screen. She could replace Bo Derek in the remake of the movie 10!

I love dogs and really wanted to like this movie. Jana Kramer is so boring in the leading role that I could barely get through it. She adopts a dog. Why? She's obviously not comfortable loving him. She's mechanical and has absolutely no passion. This was really hard to watch. Where's Alicia Witt or Lacey Chabert in these Winterfest movies?

'Love at First Bark' is the first 2017 Spring Fever film, a quite brief seasonal blocking that year. Any film that has at least one dog in it already appeals. As does the always watchable Kevin McGarry, he has been in a fair share of misfires and had roles well beneath him but he is nearly always one of the redeeming merits. Am more mixed on Jana Kramer, whose performances always depend on how her character is written. The concept didn't excite me massively either.

There is not much that is special about the execution for 'Love at First Bark'. It does have its good things, not many Hallmark films are completely irredeemable, but on the whole it did feel pretty lacklustre and not a particularly good or promising start to the 2017 Spring Fever block. Redeemed by a good male lead performance and the dog, but unbalanced badly by the female lead character being so unappealing and not being particularly interesting.

As said, 'Love at First Bark' has good things. The scenery is beautiful and complemented very nicely by the photography. Another thing that stands out in a good way is McGarry, who is quietly confident and easy going as the one likeable and interesting character.

Furthermore, the dog is truly adorable and impossible to resist. The best chemistry was also with any interaction with the dog too. There generally wasn't enough charm or heart, but there were moments.

However, a lot doesn't work in 'Love at First Bark'. Kramer's character is incredibly unappealing, too snarky and pushy and that McGarry's character saw any appeal in her later on, considering how she treats him, is a mystery. Kramer does try and has moments of charm, but to me she did over-compensate. She and McGarry have little chemistry together, the relationship is not developed enough and they are not a good match together due to such a big clash in personality and acting styles. Not to mention what was said above about not finding the appeal of her later on believable and actually a bit of a stretch. The supporting cast are competent and try their best, but are not particularly memorable and are a bit too subdued. The music likewise.

When it comes to the characters, only McGarry's (and the dog's if we are including animals) is interesting or likeable. The others are not developed enough and come over as Hallmark cliche ciphers, while Kramer's suffers from character flaws being exaggerated. The chemistry didn't connect enough. The story never really came to life for me, it is too slight (especially early on), is dully paced and does nothing new with a familiar scenario. The contrived and too easy final act, culminating in a pat ending, is particularly true to this. The charm and heart are really lacking and the film takes itself too seriously generally. The script is banal throughout, forced later on and has too many stilted moments.

In summary, lacklustre but not a complete miss. 4/10.

This is a nice enough Hallmark film, with the two leads giving good performances. I disagree with other reviewers, I liked the sarky nature of Jenna Kramer's character.

The story is a bit all over the place though, it doesn't seem to know what it wants to focus on, so instead shoves a lot of standard Hallmark film plot elements together in the hope they all gel. Which, thankfully they all just about do.

Not the best Hallmark film, but I'd take this over a Marvel green screen 'masterpiece' any day.