Have seen Brooke D'Orsay and especially Wes Brown in other things and have liked enough of their work, it is easy to see why Brown is a Hallmark regular. Marilu Henner also has a real knack for scene stealing in supporting roles. Was a little unsure about the premise, which had some potential to be charming but it sounded more contrived and cheesy in alternative to that and have seen Hallmark do it badly before. Hallmark did do some above average and more films in the early 2010s, even making some unappealing premises a lot more tasteful and charming.
Something that is not really achieved with 'Love in January', which left me feeling rather lukewarm. It has good things and D'Orsay and Henner come over well, but Brown does not and the premise is as contrived and cheesy as it sounds reading the synopsis, doing nothing to change my mind over my general negative feelings about it and instead reinforcing why. Some of it also not tasteful. 'Love in January' is not one of the worst 2014 Hallmark films, but it is very, very average.
D'Orsay does bring a lot of charm and sincerity to her role and Henner enjoys herself immensely as the conniving mother in law. Their chemistry is a lot more believable than that between D'Orsay and Brown and did have some nice unforced tension.
It looks nice, especially the scenery. It starts off quite well and has some sweet moments.
Brown however is very, very bland in a role that is little more than an underwritten stereotype that plays too much second fiddle to the conflict. He has no chemistry with D'Orsay in a romance that is underused and dominated too much by the conflict. Which there is too much of and too much of it is very contrived to cartoonish effect. The story, when there is much of one, is excessively predictable and over the top ridiculous, with a very unrealistically over-convenient ending.
Everybody else also makes little impression with nothing to do. The script goes overboard on the cheesiness which at its worst is cringe-inducing and too reminiscent of bad 90s high school sitcom. Could connect with very few of the characters with them being so dull, and by the end of the film Henner's character felt too dominant. The music is very repetitive, inappropriately scored and some of the placement is odd. Also agree about the insulting lack of respect the film has for nurses, especially considering how much they have gone through in the past four years with the high number of COVID cases and constant negativity from the media and from the people that believe what is written about them.
Concluding, very average though not unwatchable. 5/10.
