A truly refreshingly well written movie that doesn't rely on the usual Hallmark formula. The characters are believable and the acting well done. It was nice that there were family members in this movie (James Denton and his real son as well as real life married couple Peter Benson and his wife). I specifically look for any Peter Benson movies now because he always seems to produce quality stories. Would love to see more movies like these in the future, Hallmark: well written adult storylines where the characters have life history that presents challenges to being open to new relationships however through the storytelling they learn to grow and be open to learning new ways to interact.

While there are echoes of plotlines from many other movies, somehow this feels totally different. We've seen plenty of movies where a best man and maid of honor have some bad history but have to work together. We've seen stories about washed up rock stars. But a rock star and a poetry professor. Hmm.

I never thought of James Denton as a singer, but he's not bad. Not great, but there was no cringing. Sherri Saum has a nice voice. I wouldn't say she could make a career of just singing, but she sounded good here and the two together worked well.

I would have liked more of what was bad about their history. It seems it was only one bad meeting even though Naomi and Simon confronted them at first made it seem like the rift was deeper. As the movie goes on, it appears it was just what happened 10 years ago.

The story flows nicely. I liked the way the handled several incidents including the inevitable conflict. The ending was predictable but still worked.

I never realized that Julia and Peter Benson were a real life couple.

Not sure I like scruffy James Denton. I found it distracting for most of the movie.

Sherri Saum (who played Barrett) and James Denton (who played Jack) do a really nice job of portraying two people who begin to see each other in a new light after being forced together in a common Hallmark set up (a Best Man and Maid of Honor who don't get along but need to work together). I liked the way in which their relationship grew as they spent more time together, had some meaningful conversations, and learned a lot about each other.

This movie kept surprising me. I would come to a scene where I would become skeptical and ask questions like: "why don't they say this?" or "why don't they do that?" and then a few minutes later the movie would answer my question.

The "enemies to lovers" trope is probably the most popular rom-com formula, but sometimes the initial antagonism seems forced. That wasn't the case here. We are given very satisfying explanations for Jack and Barrett's initial behavior towards each other. And the writer, Alicia Lomas-Gross, and the director, Stefan Scaini, added 2 effective Rashomon-like scenes that depicted 2 very different recollections of how they first me (yes, I did just throw in a reference to a classic Akira Kurosawa movie in my review of a Hallmark movie).

Crappy music can sometimes sink movies like this, especially when one or both of the characters are presented as Big Stars. The music here wasn't hit worthy, but it wasn't horrible either, and it worked within the story.

I was annoyed at first by Jack's son (played by Denton's real life son) who seemed inexplicably sullen. And I wasn't clear on why a college student was living at home with his father rather than in a dorm or in a house with other students. But there was a scene where he overheard part of a conversation with Barrett which I assumed would be played out like that trope is usually handled in a Hallmark movie. I assumed he would tell his father what he heard, and then his father would be upset, reject Barrett, and then they would reunite once the misunderstanding was cleared up. And yet this partially overheard conversation was handled in a completely different and very satisfying way. It even softened my view of the son.

I loved all the hand touching and hand holding as the attraction between Jack and Barrett grew.

And I liked this exchange:

Barrett: "It seems like every week I read some article about some woman who lived to be 105 years old and when the reporter asks her what's her secret, you know what she always says? 'Stay away from men'" Jack: "What are you doing with me?" Barrett: "I'm trying to calculate how many years you're going to take off my life."

But...

Why did it take their best friends 10 years to get married?

Why did they suddenly need to move the wedding up to "next month"?

Playing a music video with the volume on in a restaurant is NOT cool.

Taking someone's private notebook without their permission is NOT cool.

The notion that two people can come together and perform a song for the first time together, without any rehearsal or preparation (either together or individually) without, at least, a teleprompter is, well, ridiculous (but those performances were still lovely).