Frozen in Love (2018) Reviews

• Amazing storyline!

  MIssM192018-01-15

  Hallmark has made clear two things: that Niall Matter can indeed skate on ice and that Rachel Leigh Cook remains as a strong leading lady. While I was excited to watch this movie, I finished it a little disappointed. I thought the storyline was great -kudos to Rachel who was part of the creation of the story- I mean, there was a bookstore involved! Mary was an extremely relatable character and Adam was different to all the sweet/charming guys Niall Matter plays. However, I read in social media that the chemistry was crazy good. I'm sorry to say I didn't see it that way. They obviously got along great but it was not the same chemistry Rachel has with Brendan Penny of Niall with Erin Krakow. Yet, their job portraying their characters was good. My favorite part about the movie was definitely the storyline/plot, which was pretty original compared to others, and Rachel's performance. You do want to watch this.

• Enjoyable

  jonathanrspalding2018-01-29

  I think this movie is the best of the 2018 Winter Movies by Hallmark. Not exactly a high achievement, but an achievement none the less. However, one criticism I would have is that it really ended king of flat and had a contrived (even by Hallmark standards) dramatic choice that in reality could have been resolved by one phone call. The thing that set this movie apart is that it was actually funny, especially in the first hour. Even though Hallmark movies are billed as romantic comedies they usual focus on romance and not the comedy. Also, this movie had a very good supporting cast of characters which is not always a given in this kind of movie giving the film some depth and some of its funny lines. The other criticism I would have is despite being depicted as a "bad boy" the hero did not really seem as a guy who would keep getting tossed from games and dumped by teams. I mean he had a favorite book. However, that was understandable because Halmark does not want the heorine to fall for a loser. All in all enjoyable, but not quite great.

• Easily one of the best Hallmark Winterfest themed movies I have seen

  wwaigl2018-03-20

  I can see reading other reviews that some love the movie, and others where kinda "mehh" about it. I am a single dad and usually watch these movies with my teen daughter. I have also reviewed several other Hallmark Christmas movies since I started getting hooked on them in 2016. Others in their reviews have outlined the plot so I shall not touch on that in my comments and instead focus on our impressions of the movie. Speaking for both of us, we really enjoyed this movie. We found it more realistic and relatable then many of the other hallmark holiday season themed movies and we thought the chemistry between the leads was great. I have never been a Rachel Cook fan, and even in this movie it took a bit of time to warm up to her, although at the end of the movie I thought she looked very pretty. On the other hand I have always really liked Niall Matter in these types of movies - he fits into the characters they have him portray very well and we thought he hit a home run in this movie. My daughter is reminding me we saw him as the lead in another Hallmark holiday movie last year which we also enjoyed. There were many occasions during the movie where we laughed, and otherwise we always had a smile on our faces. It was an enjoyable movie. I think most Hallmark fans would be charmed by this movie. We felt this movie deserved a very good rating. Please note we rate relative to the genre. For a Hallmark movie this was a home run, and so it gets a 9 in that context.

• War of tw different worlds

  Jackbv1232018-01-15

  Mary Cartwright is a dinosaur trying to run a brick and mortar book store. This movie is another of the overused my-store-is-in-trouble stories. And Mary refuses to consider doing anything to compete in the modern world of book selling. Meanwhile Adam Clayborn is a bad boy hockey player who needs to repair his image. The brilliant idea in this movie is to put the two together to help each other. Problem is they are totally oil and water. The first half of the movie focuses on the two themes - Mary vs Adam, and Mary as inflexible. At times the acting is exaggerated to emphasize these themes. I didn't care for it, but many people would enjoy the humor of the situations. About half way through, the two enemies start to learn things about each other which obviously is intended to change their points of view. They continue to rub each other the wrong way for a while, but it starts to look a little like flirting. I would have liked to see more of Adam and Mary and less whining about the store. The relationship doesn't sell on screen as much as it could. Seems to me that PR lady should have dropped a little hint to the hockey team management that someone might post on social media about Adam bailing on his commitment to the store especially after the giveaway at the game by the bookstore. Actually, it is totally unrealistic that Erica would have done that and that no one on the store's side would have objected. You don't have a PR event where the key advertised celebrity doesn't show up. That's not good press for the team either. True, some device was needed to cause the conflict, but this one was a poor excuse.

• Not a great Hallmark romance

  jensenholmesPA2018-01-22

  I was looking forward to all of the 2018 Winterfest movies. So for the only one I've liked is Love on the Slopes. (Though I have high hopes for Winter's Dream with Dean Cain). In Frozen in Love, I found the female lead, Rachel Leigh Cook, really annoying. I love books and bookstores and libraries, but she was just ridiculous with her adament clinging to the past and refusal to do anything to help her bookstore modernize and survive. Her immediate antagonism for a guy who just wants a freaking cup of coffee comes off as extremely bitchy and rude. For the first half of the movie, she was just so over-the-top snotty. Yes, I know romances need to show character growth, but in this case, it was too extremely and unrealistic. and it made me dislike her character so much, I didn't want the guy to fall for her. I never felt the chemistry between these characters. Nor did it make sense to me a big time jock would fall for this small-minded, snobby woman. Why? The male lead (Niall Matter) was good despite this. I would definitely watch another movie with him as the co-star. The plot is also problematic. A famous bad-boy athlete is paired with a little indie bookshop as a PR stunt to help his rep? Why? This makes no sense to me. And then the way he dumps the store at the end -- a typical romance "angst point" ruse -- just didn't work. It didn't make sense that his team manager would put him on this PR stunt in the first place, and then pull him out of it at the last moment. Wouldn't that further hurt his rep? Overall, this not one of the better Hallmarks. There are plenty of others to watch. Take a pass on this one.