'Love Ever After' movie review: 'Matching Hearts'
Stalwart Hallmark stars Taylor Cole and Ryan Paevey make the lovely romance "Matching Hearts" (premiering Feb. 8 as part of the Hallmark Channel's Love Ever After) a Valentine's charmer.
In short: Professional matchmaker Julia (Cole) tries to convince Daniel (Paevey), the handsome newcomer to town known as "Mr. Stay Single," to sign up for their matchmaking services.
"Matching" pushes Julia and Daniel to question their long-held stances on relationships. Daniel has crafted a reputation as the confirmed bachelor, publicly telling people that business success depends on staying single. Julia's entire career is matching other people - quite accidentally adhering to the "Stay Single" lifestyle to advance her workplace success - while relying on an algorithm to match singles instead of trusting romantic serendipity. It's fun to watch Julie and Daniel sound so confident about their views on dating, but see how internally conflicted they become.
Cole and Paevey are a great pair of co-leads who share great chemistry from the very moment they met. It's so obvious the two characters share an undeniable spark, even if they have very different views on dating and romance. Perhaps Daniel could be a little more fleshed out - the movie just establishes him as "Mr. Stay Single" and an entrepreneur who runs a dog shelter. Thankfully, "Matching" has Paevey's always reliable charm to lean on. Even though he's philosophically opposed to "shipping" people, Paevey keeps Daniel very likable. For her part, Cole radiates poise and assurance as the professional matchmaker trying to juggle her own career aspirations and her conflicted feelings for Daniel.
Finally, despite its fairly streamlined main plot, "Matching" has a lot of a moving parts - and manages its intertwined plot threads without getting them tangled or frayed. There's a lot of supporting characters and side plots, and they all serve the story of finding unexpected love while effortlessly bringing Julia and Daniel together. All the pieces fit together so nicely, allowing the story all click together so nicely.
If there's any area for improvement, it would have been to give Daniel just a little more dimension. Honestly, Daniel is presented as the prefect catch - and having him run a dog adoption business is sweet ... but it’s just a little too "on the nose." It's one of the few things clearly established about Daniel - and that time could have been used to cement why Daniel was so firmly devoted to being single. As it is, "Matching" explains Daniel's reasoning in just a few lines. Creating a wider gap between Julia and Daniel could only make their eventual relationship all the more satisfying.
Final verdict: "Matching" buzzes with the electricity of finding surprising love, making it the perfect movie for the Valentine's season!
Score: 4 chocolate hearts (out of 5)
"A Valentine's Match" is rated TV-G and has a running time of 90 minutes. The movie premieres on The Hallmark Channel on Feb. 1.
