Une ombre sur le mariage

I really enjoyed the Deborah Donnelly wedding planner books and I'm sorry she stopped writing them. Seattle was one of the best characters, which was why I started reading them. But once Hallmark takes over - it's filmed in nondescript somewhere in Canada, any possible edge is sanded away, the stable of Hallmark performers is pretty but bland, and any sort of intelligence by a female is diminished.

Hallmark has very up positive movies and you almost always walk away with a smile. The main character in Wedding Planner Mysteries was good but the parts of script was so unbelievably contrary to the characters personality and intelligence. She kept making decisions that were so common sense and yet she went the other way. There were many comments that should have been made to the police, that she kept secret for no real reason, other than to make her look guilty. She was obviously hostile towards the Detective for no real reason. It was like the whole story line was being placed on her part rather than setting the interaction across the cast.

This mystery was clean and fun. Of course you figure out early on who is going to fall in love, but there are enough complications in the plot to keep you guessing how long it will take for that to happen. In the meantime, you can stay occupied with wondering if the wedding will ever happen and which characters are good and which are evil, and who the murderer is. No, it's not Mary Higgins Clark. It's Hallmark, and it's fun. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/2/2021

This movie had a great cast. I liked most of the actors in their respective roles but the script was terrible. The situations were contrived. Most of the conclusion that the main character drew were based on faulty reasoning. The decisions they made to solve problems or get out of dangerous situations were always based on bad decision making. I found myself constantly saying aloud: "No one would do that." More than once, someone was accused of a crime based on ridiculous logic. This was a Murder Mystery; a formula that calls for a certain amount of logic and deduction. I found both sorely missing. I really liked Erica Durance in the lead. I really hated the lines they obviously forced her to say. As Hallmark Movies go this was the most disappointing one I have ever watch. Disappointing because it had all the elements to be enjoyable. If, when you suspend belief while watching this, you also suspend logic and reasoning, you may still be able to enjoy this movie.

A bridesmaid dies in a suspicious car accident after leaving a wedding party in a fit. The wedding planner (Erica Durance) is apparently in danger of being blamed for supplying alcohol at the party. Legally, I might add, so I don't see what the crime was but okay that's what gets this off the ground. Anyway, Erica investigates the case to find out if the girl was murdered and gets herself in deeper and deeper trouble.

This is from a series of books I'm unfamiliar with so I can't make any comparisons between the two. One of the things the movie does that I really didn't like was an irritating book-style narration. I assume this was to tie in with the books somehow but I found it annoying. I watched this for Erica Durance and she's great in it. She's lovely as ever and has the most charisma of anybody in this. In the movie's most adorable scene, she investigates wearing cat makeup. Chelan Simmons, of Final Destination 3 fame, is the bride-to-be whose wedding Erica is planning. The rest of the cast is made up of very forgettable and bland Canadians. The worst is Gabrielle Rose who hams it up with glee, no doubt influenced by the ridiculous wig they had her wear. The reporter love interest for Erica is underwhelming. The two have a friendly banter but I didn't see any sparks. It also appears all of the actors were responsible for their own makeup.

About the time Erica's brakes went out in her van I realized this wasn't going to be breaking any new ground. It was very easy to spot who the bad guys are. They're the ones acting shady and suspicious, doing everything but twirling their mustaches and saying "Muah-ha-ha!" One of the bigger selling points for this is also one of its drawbacks. I'm speaking of the comedy. The movie has a lighthearted tone, despite being a murder mystery. The problem with that is that due to the comedy, which shows up at inappropriate times, it's hard to build any suspense or ever feel our heroine or her friends are in real danger. Someone locks her in a room by gunpoint and there's some kind of Laurel & Hardy music playing. It's too silly to be taken seriously. It's not terribly fresh or suspenseful but it's very watchable. Honestly, it felt less like a movie and more like a TV pilot. Perhaps that's because they intended this to be the first in a series of TV movies based on this character. Fans of Erica Durance will enjoy it just for seeing her. If nothing else, she proves here she could knock it out of the park with better material.