An Easter Bloom

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it is a very interesting movie

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Part-time coffee barista Amanda Raymond (Aimee Teegarden) has eager new customer Derrick (Benjamin Hollingsworth). Her family's flower farm has been struggling ever since her father's death. She just doesn't have her father's green thumb. Retired florist Lori Matthews tells her about the Easter floral arrangement competition with $20k prize. It's her last ditch chance to save the farm. Derrick turns out to be the new pastor. I do like the flowers although the vast vistas of flowers look fake. It is obviously special effects. Quite frankly, they should find a greenhouse to film. As for Teegarden, her character is so sad and she's playing sad girl very hard. Derrick is a bit of a dud and he's a pastor. He can't exactly be flashy. I also don't buy his big tip in retrospect. It's not like he has one of those mega-churches. This is a bit flat and the sad tone is not Hallmark's calling card.

I enjoyed this movie but could not give it a high rating. Same old same old plot of misunderstanding The two leads are very good , nice chemistry and believable. It was a little slow to develop and the ending was a little predictable but overall a cute movie. I do feel here again Hallmark writers could have done do much more. Excellent cast beautiful scenery and not enough substance. There was very little development of the CB cast and could have done more with the two leads. I hope Hallmark can get out of theses predictable plots because they are wasting good acting and not developing their cast parts. There are no spoilers but than again it's the same old story.

Amada and her mom are about to lose their flower farm after a rough winter, so it occurs to her that she can get into a flower arrangement contest and win usd 20 000 to save said farm. So she meets Lori, flower expert and also mom to Derrick, the brand new pastor in town. This story is about grief and finding hope again. And while it can be heartwarming for some it may be sad for others. Personally, I liked the story but going through grief myself it reached me in some way that I prefer a Hallmark movie doesn't since these movies tend to be a happy place to me. I like them funnier and happier, and preferably, religion as a side theme.

Aimee Teagarden is lovely as Amanda, a daughter and flower farmer who is missing her father. Benjamin Hollingsworth is a handsome new minister at Amanda's church. The conflict comes as a few years of colder weather have reduced the u-pick flower farm's production and Amanda and her mom are going to loose the farm. Amanda conveniently helps Lori after a car accident and to repay the favor Lori teaches Amanda floral arranging with it's five principles, in order for Amanda to win an Easter flower arranging competition...win $20,000 and save the farm. In another coincidence, Lori is Derrick's (the new minister) mother. I appreciated the lessons in floral arrangements about harmony, etc and I really appreciated that they built the love story slowly. I also kind of like the results of the floral arrangement competition. What I didn't care for was suddenly at the end turning the farm into a wedding venue when that was never brought up in the entirety of the film!!! That seems like a huge continuity error that was thrown in at the end. Also, I found Derrick southern accent to come and go a bit...but I did like it when it was there.

This movie sounded like something I'd enjoy watching, especially because it's Hallmark romance so by design, I'm at least guaranteed some kind of happy ending. The movie started out well with a clear story. Then, it all struggled to flow and click together. Let's start with the good. I like the emotional touch to the story, it's more meaningful than the classic colleagues vying for a promotion or Christmas reindeer games we've already seen so much of in this genre. I also like the actors a lot individually. None of the main actors seem fake nor does their performance feel forced so in terms of acting talent, this one is of the better quality amongst soft romance tv movies. Additionally, I love the flower farm theme. We usually see the flower thing in wedding movies so I like that this is a little more rugged. Now, the bad. Although I never struggled to understand the story as a whole, it does seem to be a bit bare throughout the middle. It's a story that starts out at the right pace and then just gets rushed a bit. Along with what I assume to be mediocre directing, this all waters down the connection and relationship development aspect of the couple. By the end of the movie, it sort of felt like they'd hardly talked. In reality, they have about as much interaction as in any other movie of the kind but in reality, it felt rushed. I think this is probably on the director and perhaps the writer. Lastly, I must admit that I found the heavy religious focus quite uncomfortable. If you are a devoted Christian, you'll probably like this aspect but as an agnostic person, the whole thing was quite preachy. I can normally handle mildly Christian movies just fine but in this one, it almost seems as though the only thing the couple talked about to each other was the preachy part, which ruins the romance a bit for me. It is an Easter movie so I'm okay with a little Christian touch but I don't like it when it feels like I'm being preached to.

It took a herculean effort for me to get to the 55 minute mark. I've always found Aimee Teegarden's performances to be a hit or miss. In being enjoyable. Right off the bat her younger self at about 12 years old (by another child actress) is shown. Then it flashes forward 15 years to the present day. Aimee looks closer to 40 years old,than the 27 year- old her character was supposed to be. The love story was blah. I have to say I think the last two months of new Hallmark movies have been sub-par! I wonder if this has anything to do with a bunch of Hallmark actors and actresses jumping ship for GAF?

Church, God and prayers all the time. It was almost offensive to non-Christians. I understand, Easter is a Christian holiday, but it is also a spring holiday. Too bad we didn't see anything except the Church. So a big disappointment on my end. The story line about the pastor, who likes adrenaline and is ashamed of it, was downright ridiculous. Unfortunately, there aren't many good Hallmark movies this season. I'm waiting for a new episode of Curious Caterer and hope it gets better. Maybe the Church, God and prayers will help. I am sorry, but I felt really akward to watch tis movie and almost could not finish.