Look, Hallmark is comfort food. You don't watch it because you want the blood and grit of the latest iteration of CSI or one of Dick Wolf's 42 Chicago spin-offs. You watch Hallmark because you want... for 2 sweet, cable-news-free hours... to settle into the couch and forget the horrors of our ceaselessly cruel, crumbling world. You watch Hallmark because somewhere deep inside you have to believe that love prevails over evil and romance lives even in the darkest of times.
Hallmark delivers. Over, and over, and over again.
Which is part of the problem. The big knock on Hallmark productions is that they are formulaic to the point of banal. After all, how many big city doctors who move to the to renovate a ramshackle inn, lawyers who stop big developers from destroying the historic waterfront, bakers who solve murders, struggling writers who fall in love with B&B owners, and dog walkers who fall in love with the town vet can one channel churn out?
A bottomless barrel full, it seems.
And let's just get this out in the open. As someone else said in a different review, somewhere around 2018 Hallmark seemed to run out of moderately creative ideas. For the past three years it's felt as if they've churned out 80% time-filling, utterly predictable sweetness that you forget 5 minutes after the movie is over, about 10% slightly inventive sweetness you might watch a second time, and about 10% that says there might still be a few creative bones living up in Vancouver. Or is it Missouri? I never can tell where Hallmark is based when almost every town looks like the main drag in Abbotsford.
But ever so often...
When you least expect it...
Hallmark gives you a good reason to keep the channel on your ever-shrinking "favorite" list.
"Love Strikes Twice" is that movie.
Yes, the "do-over," "time traveling" movie has been done before. Multiple times.
Yes, the "save the library" thing has been done before. Thousands of times.
What hasn't been done before is putting Katie Findlay in the lead, giving her a crisp, witty script to run with, giving her a director who knows how to get out of the way, and watch the magic happen.
The closest parallel I can come up with is Bethany Joy Lenz in some of her best Hallmark movies. She has that rare quality of swinging from screwball comedy with smart dialogue to heartfelt emotion that cries out for the Kleenex box. Katie Findlay has that quality. In spades.
Of course "Love Strikes Twice" is a borderline retread.
Of course you can predict the plot and twists of "Love Strikes Twice" before the first commercial break.
Of course the legal bits - uhm, how should I say this politely? - stretch credulity, no matter how accurate Findlay makes them sound with her spot-on delivery.
Where "Love Strikes Twice" wins is handing Findlay, Turner, (and most of the excellent, supporting cast) a script they can sink their teeth into and HAVE FUN with.
At the risk of dropping spoilers, it's in the little things where Findlay and team take what could have been an utterly forgettable Hallmark recycle and make it shine. Watching her go "carnivore" on opposing counsel was pure genius. Sure, the "Oceans 11" take-off was completely unbelievable. Then again, it's a time-travel movie, so why paint inside the lines, eh?
Will it be everybody's cup of tea?
If you expect the legal bits to be accurate, skip it.
If you can't get your head past the implausibility of time travel, skip it.
If you want non-stop schmaltz and emotion, skip it.
If, however, you want crackling dialogue, great chemistry, and plenty of sly laughs you're gonna love it.
C'mon, Hallmark, we want more Katie Findlay!
Hallmark delivers. Over, and over, and over again.
Which is part of the problem. The big knock on Hallmark productions is that they are formulaic to the point of banal. After all, how many big city doctors who move to the to renovate a ramshackle inn, lawyers who stop big developers from destroying the historic waterfront, bakers who solve murders, struggling writers who fall in love with B&B owners, and dog walkers who fall in love with the town vet can one channel churn out?
A bottomless barrel full, it seems.
And let's just get this out in the open. As someone else said in a different review, somewhere around 2018 Hallmark seemed to run out of moderately creative ideas. For the past three years it's felt as if they've churned out 80% time-filling, utterly predictable sweetness that you forget 5 minutes after the movie is over, about 10% slightly inventive sweetness you might watch a second time, and about 10% that says there might still be a few creative bones living up in Vancouver. Or is it Missouri? I never can tell where Hallmark is based when almost every town looks like the main drag in Abbotsford.
But ever so often...
When you least expect it...
Hallmark gives you a good reason to keep the channel on your ever-shrinking "favorite" list.
"Love Strikes Twice" is that movie.
Yes, the "do-over," "time traveling" movie has been done before. Multiple times.
Yes, the "save the library" thing has been done before. Thousands of times.
What hasn't been done before is putting Katie Findlay in the lead, giving her a crisp, witty script to run with, giving her a director who knows how to get out of the way, and watch the magic happen.
The closest parallel I can come up with is Bethany Joy Lenz in some of her best Hallmark movies. She has that rare quality of swinging from screwball comedy with smart dialogue to heartfelt emotion that cries out for the Kleenex box. Katie Findlay has that quality. In spades.
Of course "Love Strikes Twice" is a borderline retread.
Of course you can predict the plot and twists of "Love Strikes Twice" before the first commercial break.
Of course the legal bits - uhm, how should I say this politely? - stretch credulity, no matter how accurate Findlay makes them sound with her spot-on delivery.
Where "Love Strikes Twice" wins is handing Findlay, Turner, (and most of the excellent, supporting cast) a script they can sink their teeth into and HAVE FUN with.
At the risk of dropping spoilers, it's in the little things where Findlay and team take what could have been an utterly forgettable Hallmark recycle and make it shine. Watching her go "carnivore" on opposing counsel was pure genius. Sure, the "Oceans 11" take-off was completely unbelievable. Then again, it's a time-travel movie, so why paint inside the lines, eh?
Will it be everybody's cup of tea?
If you expect the legal bits to be accurate, skip it.
If you can't get your head past the implausibility of time travel, skip it.
If you want non-stop schmaltz and emotion, skip it.
If, however, you want crackling dialogue, great chemistry, and plenty of sly laughs you're gonna love it.
C'mon, Hallmark, we want more Katie Findlay!