Love on the Danube: Love Song

6.4 stars.

The story could have been excellent, but it's lacking real drama. This is simply a feel good story about a gal and her mom traveling in Europe, and they meet a guy and his dad on a river cruise on the Danube. The foursome get along and there are intermittent sparks, but so much is missing.

In the category of romance it comes up very shy. The parents have almost zero chemistry and the leads have only a scant more. If the leads had more affinity for each other, it might be more entertaining. But if you take all the romance (lack thereof) and dialogue away from the film, what remains is a feeble storyline and a drab script. Seeing a movie that turns out like this only proves that real filmmaking requires heart. No heart was put into this one. They dotted the i's and crossed the t's with a nice setting, lighting and music, but there is no passion.

Because the acting and cinematography are stellar, I will rate it at 6.4, but not 6.5, because that would round up to 7.

This was not Hallmark's best. Dare I say, it was its top 10 worst. First, the makeup artist chose to give all the women dark smokey eyes, with a dreaded wing eyeliner. It managed to make the mother look older and tired. I mean her WHOLE eyelid was black. Come on! The makeup artist managed to give the daughter turned down eyes which in turn made her look sad all the time. I love Wes Brown and his comedic timing is superb, but how y'all managed to make him boring is a special kind of talent. They had no absolutely chemistry to me. I couldnt buy into their story. The storyline did not do it for me either. This was snoozefest.

So boring, weird peppy background music, atrocious costuming. Zero chemistry between the two leads, and while Wes Brown and Nazneed Contractor are the same age, 43, but the way she is dressed in this make her seem many years older. I'm not sure what it was, but she seems the same age as the actress playing her mother.

The costume department must have an overload of button down collared shirts and over sized jackets.

I probably would have stuck it out, if not for the annoying loud background music. The dialog was very unrealistic as well. I like Wes Brown, but even he can't save this stinker.

(The first of a trilogy of films set on European cruise boats to launch the Hallmark + streaming service)

To be honest, "Love on the Danube - Love Song" moved along at what could charitably be called a gentle pace and there really wasn't a whole lot of drama. It's a feel-good story with a spectacular European backdrop.

Wes Brown is a reliable Hallmark star. I could name a half-dozen of his appearances, and he's always very good. I'd not seen Nazneen Contractor before, but she does a good job in this movie. However, the scenery is arguably the real star of the show. Good to see Hallmark filming on location. It makes a huge difference and more often than not results in a much better movie, from an atmospheric standpoint.

"Love Song" benefits from an on-location shoot and two well-cast leads. Brown and Contractor have good chemistry, which is 80% of the battle won with these Hallmark movies.

The filming location and wonderful scenes across Europe are, quite literally, the only things going for this pitiful movie. I found myself wishing that Wes Brown and Catherine Disher could find a lifeboat and save themselves from this wretched river cruise. Seriously, nothing redeeming about the script, zero chemistry between supposed love interests and costuming and make-up that defies explanation.

This is definitely a Hallmark movie to skip. Or, if its just the scenery you're interested in, keep mute enabled, fast-forward to the outdoor scenes and enjoy the European beauty!

Raise yourself up just a little, Hallmark! If you're forking out the dough to film on location in Europe, pitch in a few extra bucks for a GOOD script and grab an actress who has chemistry with Wes! He can't save this one by himself.