La bataille des mariés

A pretty film for the fair image of contest atmosphere, purpoises , for Jonathan Bennett and Paula Shaw , for crumbs of realism and for the family spirit, inspired reflected.

Jonathan Bennett inspires a special form of freshness to his roles, this case not being and exception and this is one of beautiful virtues of film. Some humor, some pies , some dreams and a drop of fight are smart used for something to be little more than to o familiar Hallmark recipe.

The end - embroidery of cliches, off course but the location, the clouds and the gifts one to other are not so bad.

In short, nice and little more.

I am kind of annoyed with this Hallmark romantic comedy...you either love someone or you don't. Being with them is not about making your career aspirations come true.

This film starts in a very dark place with a couple making the decision to break up, but before they are able to tell their family they are ambushed with the surprise that they are one of four couple contestants on a popular national morning show to win a "wedding of a lifetime".

Initially their plan becomes have a good time meanwhile intentionally loosing the contest. Right from the beginning they let a competitive couple from Chicago get under their skin...and then it is game on!

Filled with ridiculous tv game show like trivialities...there is more "comedy" than romance in this film.

I will say I was glad they didn't end with them going through with the paid for wedding. The ending in fact was the best and most romantic part of the entire film.

To my romantics...I am sorry to say that I would probably give this movie a miss.

As to the story not being original, you don't have to look far in Brooke D'Orsay's resume to find another movie with a wedding contest story. The two have some big differences, but both are based on circumstances being out of control for the bride and groom.

I expected that and a story that was out of control as well. This story does push the envelope of silly situations, which are a negative for me, but it manages not to go so far as to lose me altogether. Just when things are going crazy, there are some sweet moments to pull it back.

Given that silliness is frequently intentional, the acting is good. The dialogue is good. I thought there was great chemistry between D'Orsay and Jonathan Bennett. The story follows one of the more obvious paths but then takes a turn that surprised me.

First, let me qualify: 9/10 on The Scale of Hallmark. Haha! Wedding of a Lifetime has a different & fun premise. It's a refreshing change. It takes place during an intentionally cheesy reality tv show competition where a broken-up couple end up trying to win an all-expense paid wedding. Brook and Jonathan were super cute together-I found their chemistry and acting believable and was pulling for them. The plot and the many other characters of tv production staff, family members and other competitors held together well enough to keep my attention. The ridiculous competitions were kind of funny. And the musical montage of trying on of dresses and tuxes & the tasting cakes, etc was cute. This is a light-hearted movie yet the characters still do some heartfelt self-reflection and figure out what they want. No surprises. A fresh premise with that inevitable and always welcome Hallmark happy ending.

This was a really fun film. Bennett is allowed to show his impressive physical comedic talents with a director who knows how to use it. It was fun to watch his great chemistry with co-star Brooke D'Orsay, who is wonderfully appealing and fun in her performance as well. They have both been allowed to bring comedy to their previous films separately, and are great here. I WISH Hallmark would do more comedic material. They have such a great company of regulars that are capable of it. But very few of their "rom-coms" have much "com" in them. Kudos to the writers as well. "Wedding of a lifetime" had both and I look forward to more from all of them!!