Coup de foudre sur la piste du trésor

7.4 stars.

'For Love & Honey' cannot measure up to the usual standards without the addition of a treasure hunt. The story is about a professor of archaeology from Michigan who is teaching courses in Malta. He needs to make a discovery to find something historically relevant and notable or he won't receive tenure as s professor in a Michigan university. He meets a beekeeper on the island and she is a "character" to say the least. They "run" into each other when she almost runs him over with her motorcycle on the narrow streets. As they get acquainted, there is no love between them, although there is definite attraction.

The two of them happen to discover a fresco in an old Roman structure that he soon learns may contain historical significance. The rest of the story is about them attempting to decipher the painting. She is helping him to navigate around the island while she tags along in the journey. Or is he tagging along? It seems he's the one doing the following as she leads. She wears the pants in this symbiotic partnership, but for what? It's really his discovery to be made. They have some fairly childish arguments that I could have done without, to be honest. It's as if he has to act like a kid to get his point across to her. Somehow that makes her character much less sympathetic, so we are alienated from her for half the film.

In the end it's mainly about honey and a little about archaeology. I wish it was more balanced. I really enjoyed the mystery of the painting, although it's a bit strange and feels less organic and more of a concoction of nonsense. The romance is palpable and the chemistry between the leads is alive at times. I didn't really get very acquainted with the lead female at first, she seemed distant to the audience. I'm not sure about her acting style, it's a bit different in some way not completely understood.

The story was exciting for the treasure hunt, but something is missing and I can't put a finger on it. Maybe it's the portrayal of her personality, how she is open and willing one moment, then closed off the next, and his character can only be confused by her difficult mannerisms, which doesn't lend itself to making this a truly entertaining watch. However, I still liked it for the good parts. There are some very nice moments, the kisses were passionate and enjoyable.

What I liked: 1. Hallmark and Malta must have worked out some financial deal, given the number of films set here. And that's fine by me because it is a great location.

2. Andrew Walker does his best to make an otherwise dud of a script watchable. He seems to be their current go to for bad scripts in exotic locations. And he does a nice job here as an archeologist.

What I didn't like: 1. Boring script with a lot of lazy unforced errors. Which is how I'd sum up many recent Hallmark releases. An example of this laziness is the ridiculous "ancient artwork" they discover. They could have put in minimal effort to make it look somewhat believable. But that's Hallmark for you.

2. The acting was pretty rough other than Andrew. The female lead could be good in other roles, but struggled to find chemistry with Andrew. Also, her character (either by design or in her approach to the role) was hard to like.

I suppose , two virtues define this film - the landscapes and the stories first. Second - the younger sister , more careful- inspired crafted.

The sins - the fresco who seems fake from first sight and the few forced scenes and dialogues.

A good, generous idea and, like many other films from same source, essencial remains the publicity for Malta. Sure, familiar romance recipe, so, no expectations and Andrew W. Walker as the familiar- comfortable presence represents one of good points of film. The eulogy of honey is an useful nuance for a story seductive for the effort to save it from supporting cast.

This movie was so difficult to watch. It felt like it could have been a good story/concept but it was so poorly executed. Here's everything that went wrong:

• NO chemistry whatsoever. I think it was supposed to be a grumpy/sunshine sort of trope, but just came across as him being a weak/beta male while she was very entitled and basically hated him the entire time for no reason. She seemed to enjoy pushing him around and making him mad. The grumpy/sunshine trope really only works when "grumpy" hates everyone but their love interest. This was the reverse, she was nice to everyone EXCEPT her love interest.

• SO MANY THINGS WRONG with the beekeeping part of the story. As a beekeeper myself I felt insulted that they did so little research. From things like their "wild" hive which was a foot long piece of honeycomb smashed on a wall, her removal of that comb where she just smashed it up even more and stuck it in a box, getting pissed at the MLI for swatting at a frickin drone bee, her going back to the removal site the next day to capture a SINGLE LEFTOVER DRONE to take back to the beehive, and finally talking about how bees "mate for life"????? No species of worker bee ever mates, only the queen. And when she does she takes like 25 partners in one day and never again in her life. So many things wrong it was literally making me cringe.

• Horrible dialogue. I won't even rant about this one. I'll just leave it with a quote "what kind of loyal drone would leave his queen in a time of need" ~ MIL weak attempt at flirting (also the sole purpose of a drone is to leave his queen to mate with another and consequently die)

An American Archeology professor meets a Maltan beekeeper...and they run smack into each other, for a slightly contentious first meeting. This is followed by a second meeting when she discovers he is afraid of bees and he discovers she doesn't revere ancient texts the way he does...but once they discover an ancient fresco, the two work together to solve it's mysteries. The fresco acts as a sort of map that leads them around Malta to some ancient ruins and with gold in the title could it be that they are actually looking for treasure? Lots of interesting facts about honey and bees, which makes them the true star of this Hallmark romance.

I really liked having a more mature female lead and I always enjoy Andrew Walker...I think having him take his shirt off was unnecessary, but I did like that he was mechanically inclined and learned from his father such a practical skill as to be able to fix her vehicle (especially since he was afraid of bees). Overall, this was a cute coming together of two working professionals who had loved and lost in the past. They were well suited for each other and I think romantics will enjoy this film.

" I love finding a piece of history that gives you a window to the past."