Quand l'amour s'en mêle

Morgan Kohan stars as Lily Summers in this Hallmark romance about a big-city interior decorator who rushes home to Harbor Island when her aunt takes a fall. While attending to Aunt Maggie (Brenda Matthews), Lily is reminded of the island's charms.

She also meets a pilot named Marcus (Marcus Rosner) who initially rubs her the wrong way, but whose quiet way eventually gains her trust. His hobby is rescuing homeless dogs.

The camera loves Ms. Kohan and her presence makes the film, which has a traditional Hallmark storyline. Rosner's silent strength may not exactly match up with his costar's screen persona, but it will probably appeal to many women viewers.

Interior designer who is looking for inspiration heads home to harbor island where her injured aunt is trying to fix up her family inn to sell. Lily gets nicknamed city girl by the pilot who flies her in. The pilot, Marcus runs a dog rescue called pilots for pups and is well known on her island. These two strike up an odd friendship of mutual help as Marcus is a bit of a Luddite.

The longer Lily is home the more she slows down from her big city life. The thing is she grew up there, you would think she would remember how special her home town is.

"The enchanting thing about a small town, although it can feel good to leave, it's a thousand times better to come home."-Lily

Of course romance is bound to blossom between the pilot with a soft spot for dogs and the interior designer who needs to get her spark back.

Note to writers...she had to "drive all night" and then took a plane to harbor island, her boyfriend took a ferry to the island and back same evening...and all of this happened from my hometown Seattle. Ok so if you drive all night from Seattle you will either be in Canada or California...and she takes a plane? Let me give you a tip, from someone who grew up in the San Juan islands...an hour and 45 minute drive north of Seattle, when the ferry isn't running unless you are very wealthy you take a boat to the island!!!! While I love seeing stock footage of my home town it would be nice if they would actually film it there instead of always faking it in another town...it is so very obvious.

The story is co-written by Lucie Guest and she also directed it. There is some good dialogue which sometimes comes from simple familiar lines which means the placement and directing are important. The early scene on the dock by the plane has some excellent lines and it's just the right length.

The story is a familiar one. In fact I can remember two movies I have watched in the last week that could easily be switched with this one. The ending is mostly predictable.

When the story is familiar, it is up to the actors to draw us in and I always look for good relationship building. Morgan Kohan and Marcus Rosner carried this off well and had good chemistry.

And you can't miss with dogs.

OMG ! This was my first time seeing Marcus Rosner in the male romantic lead , and it was worth the wait . What a beautiful story and wonderful setting . I loved this film . Maybe a good start for a new series ? I'm hooked.

Have always watched Hallmark films with an open mind but also always without expecting too much. Some films have come off much better than expected, managing to make something appealing from unappealing or basic premises. Some are more or less what was expected in both good and bad ways. Then there are some that really don't live up to expectations and do so many things wrong. Expectations were mixed for 'Love on Harbor Island'.

The execution for 'Love on Harbor Island' was also very mixed. The second Summer Nights 2020 Hallmark film (and a big improvement over the dire previous one 'Romance in the Air') is another one of the 2020 Hallmark films that is watchable but with nothing special. Did like it to begin with, but it lost its way quite badly too early and never recovered. As far as the 2020 Hallmark films go, 'Love on Harbor Island' is one of the middling ones.

Am going to start with the good. The production values are nicely done, regardless of the authenticity of the location the scenery really is beautiful. The music has some pleasant moments, though too far and between. The acting is better than average, with appealing lead performances from Morgan Kohan and Marcus Rosner. The chemistry between them is sweet and genuine, though the relationship itself could have been handled better in the story.

Supporting cast are solid, no hamminess or phoning in. The film starts off quite well, amusing and charming.

On the other hand, the second half feels tired from doing so little new with over-familiar territory, drags and is excessively silly. Realism is not a strong suit and some serious suspension of disbelief needs to be had for the contrived and tension-free final act. The film also completely peters out at the end, it was very clear that the writers didn't know how to end it so tacked on a weird and senseless one on.

Most of the writing is awkward and the cheese factor is overdone too. The music mostly is drab and doesn't fit all that well. While the chemistry is there, this is another Hallmark film to have a relationship that is not well utilised. It doesn't go anywhere too much of the time then abruptly rushes to make up for lost time and it could have been more prominent.

Concluding, watchable but pretty average. 5/10.