The Engagement Plot

source: The Engagement Plot

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So, I expected to really like this. I usually like Trevor Donovan and have been enjoying Rachel Boston movies for the past couple years once she began playing mature characters and acting her age, letting go of the cringe cutesy character she started as. She apparently decided to return to the cringe role in her 40s and it does not suit her. First off, she looks at least 44, even with all the makeup, so she absolutely doesn't pass anywhere near 30 and cannot compete with young 20 year olds...let's be realistic here. Her clothes in the 20 yr old bohemian style was just embarrassing. Her trying to play the personality that worked when she was 20...no, just no. Please grow up finally. It did not work and made this film so unbelievable immediately. Trevor Donovan looked so old and dried out...get the man some moisturizer please. He looked closer to 50 which was shocking to see his age progression from his more recent Hallmark movies. His acting was just not good in this either, and I usually enjoy his acting well enough. The premise for this show was hard to believe. I wanted to see these moments that led to them falling in love, but we didn't get real focus on it, so it was hard to believe that she fell for him and had her heart broken. Even more so that he seemed to really like her, and it felt like it was purely because she was the only older and not entirely infantile social media obsessed woman there. So whatever, he loves her but he doesn't even ask her about her comment about him being better off with someone else? Just went for the awful chick with no thought whatsoever. Honestly it says a lot that she was his runner up to begin with. She was the worst. So then to save HIS BUSINESS from the fall out of his stupid decision that he didn't think through at all...he decides he needs her back??? And she's supposed to just go back with him and forget and help him and make herself look like a doormat and idiot? Literally setting a bad example to all the women supporting her everywhere in her social media fake world. Such an awful script and story. I mean who wrote this and thought, "Yes, this is such a great idea to reintroduce him and bring them back together! She'll win him...in the end!" Nevermind the fact that she claims he broke her heart. So dumb.

This was an okay movie that had the potential to be better than it was. But I still enjoyed it somewhat. The 2 leads are some of my favorites, so even though I didn't see any really chemistry between them, they're still good actors and carried the story pretty well. Sadly, I'm so turned off by the Bachelor franchise in general that the first bit of the movie was cringy for me - but pretty well done, superficiality and all. Good performance by Hannah's Dad as well, liked his down to earth task with Hannah. The editing was choppy at times, just not as smooth and professional as it should have been making it hard to follow the plot. And now to the biggest issue for me - Rachel Boston is an excellent actress and is always chic and stylish, no matter what type of character she's playing. This time she was consistently dressed in frumpy clothing and over-sized sloppy coats that leads me to believe that she was probably pregnant during filming. Come on, these movies take 2 weeks to film - was it not possible to carve out that much time when she had her normal figure? It was almost as distracting as the overdone hats.

It was a great premise. It was a fresh take on the over done Bachelor-esque reality tv trope. It wasn't surprising. It wasn't meant to be a twist surprise. It was still predictable. But it was still different enough. But one little thing ruined it all. The lack of comeuppance for the producer. The worst he gets is a weak reprimand from the interviewer. The bad guys were cartoonish which was bad enough but this guy went evil to an extreme. Why have him push back at all against his boss during the show if he was going to go to this level of awful anyway at the end? They should've just had him be that bad from the get go. And then he gets chewed out in a way that he obviously could care less about and that's suppose to appease the audience? Yes in real life he'd likely get away with it. But this isn't real life. So they had all the room to satisfy the audience. They chose not to. And yes, I'm focusing on that more than anything because again, it's a small point that ruined the whole thing. Left me utterly disappointed. One final point, evil producer catches Will off guard in an ally (like I said, cartoonish) and Will honestly thinks there are no further strings to the interview? Kelsie showing up was seen a mile away but we're to believe he and his lawyers wouldn't attempt to head off more bad press by smelling a skunk in the upcoming interview itself? And no one involved in the script caught the stupidity of that? Are they that dumb or do they think we are? When you treat your audience like idiots they tend to not come back for more.

90 minutes of ups and downs and subplots, then we finally get to the end we all knew was coming. I almost hit the off button a few times, it got so boring. Trevor Donovan and Rachel Boston are pros in the rom-com format, but even they couldn't save a bad script. I've seen them both in much better productions and they can both play dramatic and comedic roles well. Everyone thinks they can write a rom-com, but it takes a skill, like writing murder mysteries is a skill. For the bachelor contest, they could have zeroed in on the final two contestants and spent more time with residents of Hannah's small Colorado town, it would have been more interesting. The locations were beautiful that I assume were in Colorado, but they might have filmed it in BC or Alta, Canada. The supporting cast was good.

Another great film with Trevor Donovan, who never disappointed his viewers. In fact, I would even go so far as to refer to Donovan as the King of this genre. I also enjoyed the rest of the cast as well. No one disappointed me this time. They all gave great performances. And you could see that they worked hard. And that's rare with all films nowadays. I'm not always this positive. The entire film seemed to flow so naturally that once again I didn't realize how quickly the time passed. There was also a certain spark with this film that's not always there with other films in the romance genre. It's a feel good movie that takes you away from life's issues. The perfect and safest kind of escapism that sometimes we all need and crave. I'd watch it again and I would recommend it to others without hesitation.

Six months ago, William stole Hanna's heart and shattered it in front of millions of people on a reality TV dating show. And now the big-wig CEO is back on Hanna's home turf in Minnesota and wants her to forgive him? Fat chance of that. But life is swirling around faster than snow in a blizzard, and despite her objections, teaming up with William seems like the only option to rescue her reputation. William has never regretted anything more than the day he gave that ill-fated interview for the reality show, The Price of Love. But while he can't change the past, he's determined to fix the future. He just needs to convince Hanna to forgive him-and pretend to be engaged with him. Trevor Donovan was a great choice for Will.

This is a movie which can be divided into two halves. A bad half and a pretty good one. Is it bad acting when it is deliberate? The acting and the story were deliberately exaggerated in the first half. There was a definite hit on the romantic reality show genre. The actors all seemed so unnatural in this part. While there were definite aspects of the story that were spot on, such as Kelcie, I find it hard to believe the scenario of what was happening to Wil's business could really happen. But that seemed necessary to set up the romantic story in the second half and the engagement plot. Rachel Boston has a very appealing personality and I have always enjoyed her in this kind of role. She has very nice chemistry with Trevor Donovan. I felt the attraction between them. Unfortunately, the setup took up so much screen time, basically the whole first half of the movie, and then there were a few other distractions in the second half so in total, their relationship screen time was diluted. The story in the second half was more natural even with the conflict and twist. Not a huge twist. I'm sure some people saw it coming. It was obvious the deception would come out, but I didn't see how that would happen. As to Rachel Boston's figure, it sure looked obvious how the director was trying to hide it. Boston welcomed a baby in early 2022 and I'm not sure when this was filmed. Either way, it should be irrelevant if reasonable efforts are made to minimize it. And it is done quite often. There is a religious aspect to the story. Hannah is called Holy Hannah for a reason. This movie treats her faith sympathetically but without a lot of preaching or Bible thumping. More than anything, it emphasizes that Hannah makes choices based on a certain moral code, especially with the ultimate aim of honesty. And she is also allowed to make mistakes because she ends up taking responsibility despite tremendous embarrassment. Overall, I have a positive take on this movie. The bad half is deliberately used to set up and emphasize the good half. Much of that is thanks to Boston.

I'll watch anything Trevor is in, and I enjoyed this movie very much. Keep the Trevor movies coming. The scenery and the acting was great, it is a real feel good movie. I read the book so i kind of new what was up. I was rooting for Will and Hanna even though I kew he wasn't going to pick her. Trevor was the perfect bachelor. This is now my favorite Trevor movie with Love Finds You In Charm a close number two. Rachel was pregnant but it wasn't that much of a distraction. The supporting cast was fun and the hotness of Trevor was especially present in this movie. I will for sure be watching this movie again. I highly recommend this movie for all Trevor Donovan fans and fans of rom coms. UP tv should do a series with Trevor. A family type show would be great. Look forward to another movie next week.