Royal Matchmaker (2018)

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Whenever I see the words "royal" or "prince" or anything related in the title of a Hallmark movie, I get a twinge of something, not quite disgust, but definitely negative. So I came into this expecting another cliché "royal" romance movie. Certainly if you go into this kind of movie expecting tripe, you are far more likely to find that. If that's the case, maybe you should watch something else. And yet somehow, it was fortunate that I didn't skip this one because I enjoyed this movie. Yes, I enjoyed it, but no, it won't rank in my top ten, or twenty, or ...In this kind of movie, the thing I look for more than anything else is chemistry between the leads. And do they get enough screen time together to enjoy the chemistry. This movie was predictable, although there were some little things that were a bit out of the usual. It was smaltzy. It had a ton of clichés. But there was undeniable chemistry. It was subtle, but it was deep. There were also a couple of nice touches toward the end.Bethany Joy Lenz was the right amount of optimist and insecure. Will Kemp was arrogant, but he also laughed a bit at himself, a kind of healthy contempt.Like I said, if, going into it, you are determined that this type of movie is nothing but junk, don't watch it just to throw contempt at it. But if you do watch it, give it a chance to find something to like.

Royal Matchmaker started out a promising, tried-but-true premise that brought in fresh faces and, as always, beautiful views, but failed to finish as strong as it started.As a fan of Bethany Joy Lenz, I was excited to see her work here in a Hallmark film. I found her delightful and engaging (although I did pity her for the horrendous heels she was forced to wear down cobblestone streets) as well as her costar Will Kemp, who was another newcomer to the Hallmark circuit but delivered his role as the bachelor prince well. Their relationship began tempestuously, as Prince Sabastian was unwilling to be matchmade by Kate, but quickly undergoes an unexplained change of heart and allows her to attempt to find him a partner; however, their frostiness to each other still takes a few scenes to dissolve. As a storytelling decision, this seems unwise, as it takes up precious time to rebuild their friendship that could be more valuably used (much preferred would have been the two characters experiencing an immediate spark upon meeting and finding it easy to connect), and by the time the half-point of the movie hits, a wild turning point arrives in which Kate's assistant gently accuses her of being in love with the Prince. Kate stutters and stumbles her way through the accusation, and soon comes to this realization herself--as an audience member, the suspension of disbelief had snapped, as these two had essentially no romantically charged moments up to this point. Their communication had remained strictly professional, and their chemistry had not blossomed as they went along--if anything, they had established a friendly rapport, but nothing else. Suddenly plagued by jealousy, Kate's behavior takes a very immediate turn.This was amped up even further for the ending of the movie, when Sabastian decides to propose to Kate upon seeing her arrive at the ball (she had just been fetched from the train station by the King, who up until now, had made his intentions and opinion of Kate completely unclear and whether or not he supported the relationship between her and his son!). They kiss (one of the only times they've ever touched in this movie) and the movie ends approximately thirty seconds later. I would have been perfectly content without the movie ending on a grand proposal, which quite frankly, seemed much too rushed.There were also a few other spots in the movie where I felt logic had abandoned the plot. For instance, the community center has a broken heater, and Kate brings the Prince in to potentially fix the situation. Over the course of a few days, he fixes the radiator, but admits that he's not sure for how long it'll hold, never mind that his family could easily pay the fee for a new heater and his father, the King, would most likely encourage this positive press. Or another instance: what on earth was the timeline of this movie? At the beginning, it's made clear that Kate has four weeks to find the Prince a match, but very quickly, the three matches she finds for him are dismissed and the King tells her there are only "mere days" left until the Jubilee Ball he wants his son to attend with a partner. Has she spent at least three weeks at the castle thus far? It had been grossly unclear.Overall, however, the movie was sweet and enjoyable, and its flaws did not detract too greatly from its positives. The castle the movie was shot at was gorgeous, and in general, these royalty romances are popular for a reason: they are the true "escapist" fairytale movies for any romance lovers out there.And on one last note: could Hallmark please find their leading ladies dresses that don't look like clearance items from the junior prom section when grand balls are involved?

Wonderful cast and story. Some will say its been done - so what. Everything's been done. We need new fresh faces and movies like this for each generation. Many folks for whatever reason will never see the older films. We are all so busy and there are so many choices these days. If you love romance you'll love this one. Very well acted and yes its sappy but so what. I personally love sappy. Remember Shirley Temple. Who wants to see doom and gloom not me. We go to the movies to experience something, feel something, see something, escape reality for an hour or two. This movie delivers.

The settings are very nice ... Peles Castle, Sinaia/Romania and the train station and... lovely The end you know it is just a nice journey quite a surprise.