User reviews

A woman named Poppy who bounces around from one job to another becomes a nanny to the two children of a workaholic widower. She quickly wins the kids over, then the dad, but a burgeoning workplace romance for him and Poppy's commitment issues may spell the first ever sad ending for a Hallmark romantic comedy. Yeah, right! It's a Hallmark movie so, of course, it's predictable to a fault. But what saves the movie from the mediocrity that engulfs so many made-for-TV efforts is the winning personality of Ashley Williams. She's charming, bubbly, and downright lovable in this. That isn't to say the rest of the cast is bad. It's actually a very good cast for these types of things. Sam Jaeger does an admirable job making his workaholic father character likable. The two kids are terrific, especially the daughter. The cast plays well off one another and really come alive in scenes with the delightful Ashley Williams. It's a funny, sweet, and pleasant movie; a nice way to pass the time. It won't challenge you and it doesn't reinvent the TV romcom but, if you are a fan of such movies, I doubt that you will find anything to dislike here.

Three Fall Harvest films were made in 2015, have noticed that of all the seasonal blocks for all the years between 2015-2021 the Fall Harvest block has always been the briefest. 'October Kiss' is the last one, following on from 'Autumn Dreams' and 'Harvest Moon'. Both films to this reviewer were well done, with a few issues but many strengths as well, making the Fall Harvest block one of the better and most consistent seasonal blocks for Hallmark that year.

Of the three, for me 'October Kiss' was the best. It may be the slightest plot wise, but the concept was the most appealing and most mature one of the three and the execution was charming and heartfelt. As far as the 2015 Hallmark films go, 'October Kiss' to me was one of the best, and it was very up and down for Hallmark that year where the hits really soared and the misses missed big time. It is also a very good representation of Ashley Williams, who is not one of my favourite Hallmark regulars but not one of my least favourites either.

It is not perfect, it is very slight plot wise and at times it is too lightweight. Which does make the pace drag, especially in the slightly over-stretched first act.

So much is good about 'October Kiss' however. Williams' performance is full of perky charm and sincerity, love her radiant smile which is not overdone, and she has a mostly charismatic, sympathetic and very easy to like leading man in Sam Jaeger (though a bit too uptight to begin with). Their chemistry is very sweet and genuine, while moving at a realistically paced rate and not feeling aimless or too fast moving. The younger cast give nice performances too, especially Hannah Cheramy, doing well at bringing heart to the film without being too cute or bratty. The family relationships are done with honesty and heart.

Furthermore, the story, despite its predictability, is always engaging and is light-hearted and heart-warming. The film is nicely scripted, with some nice playfulness between the leads and the sentimentality is not overdone. It looks good visually. Especially the gorgeous scenery. The music doesn't distract and really liked how the film made the absolute most of the setting without shoving it in the viewer's face.

Concluding, liked it a good deal. 8/10.

I thought this was good fun, certainly one of the better Hallmark films, with it being nice to see a Halloween themed one too.

Nice chemistry between the leads, a good story being told - I liked this.

First off, the two leads, are very likeable and have good chemistry. The children are a bit mean to the new nanny at first, but they do grow on you.

Being over 50 and single I found it nice that Hallmark chose actors both over 35, makes them more relatable.

If I have any negs. It would have to be the stereotyped sister who is trying to marry off her sister because what else is there. That is terrible, dumb sis acts more like a marriage broker than a sister.

Can I just add that everything is a bit cookie cutter perfect but the emotions and certain situations are raw and that's what makes this!

Great autumn scenery and a good, enjoyable story.

A little silly in some areas, but overall nice seasonal movie. I would watch again next Autumn

Rating scaled for the genre and category.

Poppy Summerall (Ashley Williams) is a flighty free-spirit unable to commit to any job or love. It's Halloween. She gets a job from her sister as a nanny for workaholic app developer Ryan Larson (Sam Jaeger) and his two kids.

Ashley Williams dials up her wackiness up to eleven. If she's younger, she would be classified as a manic pixie dream girl. Her Cheshire cat smile fits the role very well. The leads are fine. The story is fine. The triangle is fine. The kids are fine. It's fine Hallmark and not much more.

I really love this movie. It's a nice movie to watch for a time of relaxing regardless of what it is. I happen to like watching them on a chilly, cloudy, and rainy day. Snuggled by my fireplace, there is no place I'd like to be. It's a nice pick me upper along with a feel good movie. I love this movie and the actor's they picked to play the parts. They all compliment one another along with helping the viewer feel like they can relate on some level with the movie. It was perfect for the amount chemistry and not over done. This is a nice movie that will help anyone be in a good mood. Great job Hallmark!

Does anyone know where they did they filming and where the house is located? I love the landscape and the design of the house. I am also curious of the location where Poppy's sisters house is located as well.

Ashley Williams plays Poppy Summerall who is nothing more than a big kid herself as after running through a bunch of jobs to find a career that she is suited for she ends up temporarily working as a nanny to a handsome widow's two challenging children.

Poppy is temporarily living with her sister Megan and her two kids and she is temporarily single...but after a rough start with her two charges she slowly wins them over. It helps that it is almost Halloween...and like I said Poppy is nothing but a big kid herself. (Of course I am wondering where Poppy got the money to buy all of those Halloween decorations.)

Our widowed father, Ryan, soon realizes how well Poppy fits into their family, his life, and his heart.

"Wait till she's a teenager!"-Poppy.

"She" is a 30-something lady, very cheerful, but endures getting fixed up with loser blind dates. One even says "I hope you are a size 2, my mother's old wedding dress would fit you." Then she finds out about a man who needs a nanny for his two kids, a girl about 10 and a boy about 8. So she decides to try it out.

"He" is a very nice 30-something whose wife died a bout 4 years earlier. His problem is he is a workaholic, he is developing a new "app" and is on rack to sell the idea to a Japanese company. He seems to put work ahead of his two kids always, and they notice it, and they aren't happy about it.

This is a Hallmark movie so we pretty well know, early into it, how things will turn out. But it is fun and entertaining to see how they get there.

All and all pretty entertaining, my wife and I watched it on Amazon streaming movies.

But I have a question about the "homemade cookies"...those are some seriously professionally decorated cookies; Poppy can't commit to anything, too flighty to stick around long enough at a pizza shop job to flip pizza dough more than twice before quitting, yet we're supposed to believe she whipped up those perfect cookies without quitting when she messed up the 1st hundred she tried? I know this is Hallmark, but puh-leeze. Let the kids decorate like I do, a glob smeared with a knife because a straight line with decorative frosting isn't a kid's strong suit.

See how lightweight this cute little movie is? I was able to share my obsession with the cookies and not miss an important piece of dialogue!

Avoid the naysayers on the reviews. Enjoy it for what it is. Fun, realistic and an easy to watch interaction of a widower, a nanny and two kids who missed their deceased mom.

6/10 - the male lead wasn't very likable, but other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this Fall Harvest flick

Director Lynne Stopkewich turns up the perkiness of this Hallmark Halloween movie as far as it will go in this story about unable-to-commit Ashley Williams taking a job as a nanny for work-addled Sam Jaeger's adorable children for two whole weeks.

Ms. Williams starts out as a free spirit, so free, in fact that it soon becomes obvious that this is her problem; she cannot commit to any job, date or relationship beyond her two fatherless nephews. When her sister gets her a job as a nanny for Mr. Jaeger's motherless son and daughter, the only thing keeping her there is that this is, after all, a Hallmark romantic comedy.

Like many of them, this is slight to the verge of being invisible. However, Ms. Williams' perpetual quizzical smile makes it eminently painless.

This tale follows the life of a woman struggling with mental illness who becomes a nanny for emotionally repressed children of a widowed tech mogul. At times this story was uplifting and I particularly enjoyed when the children gave their father a performance review on his ability to be their father. Thankfully he passed but barely. I wasn't happy with the lack of diversity in this hallmarker but it was made in 2015 which is well before hallmark recognized the issues with diversity in their films. In the end everyone gets what they want and that's why I enjoyed the film.

Jerry Bergdorf, another review.

When Poppy drops the kids off to school, she is wearing blue jeans. She gets back into the car to find she is sitting on a pb&j sandwich. In the following scene when she picks the kids up from school, she is wearing gray jeans. In the next scene when they go to the Halloween store, she is wearing dark blue jeans again.

This was a nice movie and the female lead was charming. The male lead on the other hand was boring and kind of selfish with no personality. I think the movie has an odd message, in that a single woman needs to get married or be in a relationship so she therefore hooks up with this character even though he makes no effort with anything and is kind of a waste of space.

I've watched this every October/Autumn/Fall more or less since it was first released and I absolutely love it.

I'm a big fan of made for TV romances anyway (there's something so relaxed and sweet about most of them) but this one is wonderful. It really makes you feel festive in a 'Halloween' kind of way. The actors are all very endearing and the story is sweet.

If you know you like made for TV romances, or if you really like this time of year, definitely watch!

This movie is simple, but it is short in length and enjoyable to watch.

Would have been actually good if they had written in a personality for the dad. No reason for either woman to be attracted to him. Plus he was way over board clueless. Not criticizing acting so much as script.

I enjoyed this movie immensely. The actors, the writing- all of it was very real, charming and heartwarming. It's my favorite Halloween movie. Sam Jaeger is awesome as a kind gentle father. Ashley Williams so cheery .The actors playing the children are too. Bravo!

The lead virtue is the reference to Sound of music. The lead sin - Sam Jaeger as a too wooden Ryan. But it works. As each Hallmark movie. Reminding cookies with milk or hot tea. Pumpkins, a widower, a nanny , Halloween. And the wise choice with fairy tale flavor. All nice and seductive , predictable and comfortable.

It was hard to watch the character Poppy. So happy all the time, to big of a smile most of the time it looked so fake. Like who smiles like that. Tone it down. And what's with the same story line all the time. Kids don't usually fall for the "new" parent/partner that fast. Would be fun for a change if it was a little bit more realistic. Sometimes the kids are to smart for there own good trying to set their mom or dad up with someone new. A movie you can watch to the end but a little to much of that happy happy Poppy. And realisticly people usually don't like to hear the truth from someone else specially if they hardly know each other. But this dad is so quick to listen and make changes without hesitating.