“Of All the Digs in All the World, You Had to Show Up at Mine.”
Since I’ve started watching Hallmark’s movies set in various National Parks, I’ve been keeping an eye opened for new ones. Fortunately, I spotted Love in the Great Smoky Mountains: A National Parks Romance on the channel recently so I could keep the streak of watching them all alive. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been.
As this movie opens, Haley (Arielle Kebbel) has just gotten her doctorate in archeology and is thrilled to be heading to a dig in the Great Smoky Mountains for a few weeks. It will be a great step in her career. However, she is less than thrilled when she discovers that her ex, Rob (Zach Roerig), is already at the dig. They haven’t spoken since they broke up three years ago. Will their both being on the dig cause tension? Or will old sparks fly again?
I had seen a few previews before I watched the movie, and I was actually rather excited to see how the story unfolded. I thought the archeology aspect would provide an interesting backdrop to the romance. At times, it did. It did drive a few plot points and Haley gets obsessed with an item she thinks might be in the park.
However, it also slowed things down. I felt like we got lots of exposition at times, more so than the movie called for. We also got some lectures about how wonderful life was for the Cherokee tribe before they were forced to leave and how awful the Trail of Tears was. Now, please do not misunderstand me. What happened to the tribe in the 1800’s was horrible. It is indeed a part of American history we should be ashamed of. However, it felt awkward here. Part of that is how the movie was written. And part of it is because I wasn’t sitting down to watch something on the topic. I was sitting down for a light romance.
I mentioned the writing in the previous paragraph. It left something to be desired. There were some rough transitions between scenes and topics. Plus, dialog sounded stiff. The script needed a polish.
The acting wasn’t the best either. Yes, I know some of it was the writing, but the actors seemed to be overly enthusiastic at times in an effort to make up for it. This had a high dose of Hallmark cheese.
On the other hand, the scenery was beautiful. I believe it was actually filmed in Great Smoky, and this made me want to go visit the park. And so many waterfalls! (At least if this movie is to be believed.)
I was pulled into the romance. That’s part of the reason I found some of the other stuff annoying. I wanted to see more with Haley and Rob. There’s a second relationship that I was also rooting for, although they got more of the awkwardness of the script that Haley and Rob did.
While these movies aren’t that great, I’m still finding
myself drawn to them just because of the settings. If that’s you, you’ll want to watch Love
in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Otherwise, you can skip it.
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