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Hallmark Movie Reviews: Meddling Mom and The Sweeter Life

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Disclosure: I was provided a DVD of two Hallmark Channel movies at no cost to me in exchange for blog review.  All opinions stated are my own. 

I miss being single. My guilty pleasure those days, was staying in bed weekend days watching Chick Flicks while eating popcorn with real butter.   Rarely happens these days, however when offered the opportunity to review 2 Hallmark Channel Movies from the Entertainment New Media Network, I jumped at the chance to relive those glorious days.

Hallmark Channel is the self proclaimed “quintessential 24-hour television destination for family-friendly programming and a leader in the production of original movies.”  I was sent a DVD with 2 original Hallmark Chanel movies and due to my schedule, watched them over 2 days.

I watched “Meddling Mom” first.

Meddling Mom is the story of widow Carmen Vega, played by Sonia Braga and her relationship with her adult daughters. The younger daughter, a newlywed, must endure her mom barging in her home and leaving baby books around – to the point where her husband has issues with his Mother-In-Law. The older daughter endures mom’s quest to find her a husband.  As a funny twist, there is Luis who has a crush on Carmen and soon the daughters begin to meddle too, to get her mom off their backs.

This was a very sweet movie!   The characters were believable and likable to me from the start – though yes, a tad exaggerated, but to me that added to the fun.  Family scenes in the kitchen were my favorite.  Loved the dialogue between friends and family coming together for a meal and even watching soaps with Abuela on the Ipad.  It was fun to see the men in these women’s lives commiserate too.  As someone whose worst blind date was one fixed up by MY mother, totally could relate! While this movie was around a Latino family I think MANY women deal with questions about career versus husband and the immediate needling at the wedding for grandchildren.   There was a nice balance in bringing together younger and older generations and the silliness that can be family.    This would be a great movie to watch with your older daughter, mom or grandma. 

 The second movie was The Sweeter Side of Life.

This movie is about Desiree, played Kathryn Morris, a Manhattan socialite wife who loses it all when her husband of 15 years asks for a divorce to run off with a 20 year old acupuncturist.  He decides to invoke the prenuptial agreement she signed leaving her literally only with the clothes on her back.  Rejected by all socialite friends she ends up back living with her  widower Dad in New Jersey helping him run his struggling bakery.  She rediscovers her Mom’s recipes and remembers  her love of baking while using her Business Degree to get her dad’s business back on its feet.  Her times with her dad and his friends and trying to make the bakery a success help Desiree see there is a sweeter side of life outside the Big Apple.

This romantic comedy about finding yourself in the midst of terrible circumstances is actually a nice lesson for us all.  While I loved the scenes with Desiree and her dad – so like my own in suspenders and plaid shirts, I found myself disinterested at times.  When the movie started, seeing Desiree in all her shopping glory and shallow existence, I thought out loud who cares about her – I didn’t. The gags about being back at her childhood home with her old clothes were kind of funny,  but the movie warmed up to me as I saw her with her Dad and his buddies.  It started out slow for me and I do think some of the story line was a stretch.  Like most Romantic Comedies, things ended up a little too neatly – but there is the guilty pleasure I love in these types of movies. Its light and fun, and well a little formulaic, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  You can catch The Sweeter Side of Life Saturday September 7th on the Hallmark Channel – its also available on iTunes.  I will be honest here, I wouldn’t watch it again.

I did prefer Meddling Moms of the 2 movies – I would watch that one again, but both are clean family entertainment.

So do you like chick flicks?  You ever stay in bed all day to just watch movies?  How do these sound to you?

Julie @RunWalkRepeat
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About Julie @RunWalkRepeat

Wife, Mom, Southerner, Former Cubicle Dweller, Sting Fanatic and Reluctant Runner. I got started on family a little later in life than most and run for my health. A fan of Food, Entertainment, Travel, Galloway Running and Disney, I like to find the fun in all things in life.

Comments

  3. Suzanne says

    I used to be the same way on weekends, hang out at home watch chick flicks and nap. No popcorn, but usually something sweet. Now most of my movies are either Marvel or Pixar or Disney animated.