Movie Review: Flower Shop Mystery - Dearly Depotted

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun mystery and characters

Cons: Usual Hallmark production values

The Bottom Line:

Wedding crasher dies

Abby must sniff out killer

Latest fun movie

Crashing this Wedding is Murder

Hallmark is a movie making machine.  In the first half of 2016, they released three movies in their Flower Shop Mysteries franchise.  Dearly Depotted is the latest one, and it’s plenty of fun.

It’s promising to be a busy weekend for flower shop owner Abby Knight (Brooke Shields).  Her cousin Jillian (Dani Kind) is getting married, and not only is Abby the matron of honor, but she’s also providing the flowers for the event.  She’s even had to wrangle neighboring bar owner Marco Salvare (Brennon Elliot) to escort her down the aisle since one of the groomsmen dropped out.

However, the one person no one expected to show up is Jack Sutcliff (Mark Gibson).  He is currently separated from another one of Abby’s cousins, and he is definitely crashing the wedding.  Still, it’s a shock when Abby and Marco find Jack dead on the floor in a room off the main reception hall.  Naturally, Abby begins to investigate, if only to clear her family and friends of the crime.  Can she figure out who killed Jack?

While they skipped over the second book in the series, this is the third book and the third movie.  Additionally, this is as far as I’ve gotten in reading the series.  It’s been so long that I had forgotten all but the broadest of premises (murder at the wedding - I’d even forgotten who died until it happened), so I was able to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

And for cozy mystery fans, this is a fun ride.  There are the usual complications and dead ends before Abby figures out who done it and why.  I did put things together a little bit before she did because of a couple of obvious clues, but it wasn’t long enough before the climax to be an issue for me.  I don’t remember the identity of the killer in the book, so I can’t compare the plotting between the two.

Of course, the standard disclaimers apply to this movie for fans of the books.  They have made some major changes here, including making Abby older and a widow with a college age daughter.  I’m not a big enough fan of the books that this bothers me (but if I’d read more of the books I’m sure I would be), but if you are, you will definitely want to forget everything you know and just enjoy the ride presented here.

Because the movie is fun.  The characters are great, and the chemistry between all of them leaves a smile on my face.  This is especially true of Brooke Shields and Brennon Elliot.  It is a true pleasure to watch their characters flirt their way through the movie without actually flirting.  If you’ve watched the films, you’ll know what I mean.  Honestly, the entire cast is fun and charming.

Of course, I do still have to issue my standard cheese warning.  This is a Hallmark movie after all, and some of the speed they use to put together the film shows.  But just keep that in mind when you sit down to watch and you’ll be fine.

Because, ultimately, this is another fun mystery movie.  Flower Shop Mystery: Dearly Depotted isn’t anything serious, but it never tries to be.  If you are looking for something light, this will keep you entertained for an hour and a half.

Looking for the film on DVD?  It's part of the Flower Shop Mysteries 3 Film Collection.

And if you want to see my take on the book, here's my review.