Rating: ⭐⭐1/2
Movie: The Perfect Pairing
Release Year: 2022
Network: Hallmark
Starring: Nazneen Contractor, Brennan Elliott
Synopsis: Influential and anonymous food and wine critic Christina slips on ice and falls while visiting a winery — and no one knows who she is. Single father Michael and his family take her in to help her jog her memory.
⚠🛑 Disclaimer: This review may contain movie spoilers
Review:
So I'm not going to mince words here. I didn't like this movie. I know I may be in the minority here as I did see alot of commentary about how people thought this was great, but for me...no it wasn't. It was boring, the leads had zero chemistry and I just plain didn't like the story. Just to make sure I didn't miss the boat on this I actually watched it twice. Verdict was the same the second time around. Still didn't like it.
Nazneen Contractor (Cristina/Joy) is relatively new to the Hallmark world. She's been in 2 movies before this one, The Christmas Ring and A Winter Getaway, and I quite enjoyed both of those movies. In "A Christmas Pairing" I thought she was just ok. She didn't wow me and then again she didn't make me want to turn the TV off. She had a couple of scenes that were pretty good like the one when they were in the vineyard and it snowed, but other than that the performance, and movie, was pretty forgettable for me.
Brennan Elliott is a far more familiar face in the Hallmark world. He has played in quite a number of movies and I quite like him. He was solid in this movie and believable as the widower wine estate owner with a young daughter. Again his performance didn't stand out as spectacular but it was good.
Chemistry? Zero. None. I had no chemistry vibes throughout the whole movie...even at the end. They were friendly enough to each other but I didn't buy into their "connection" and honestly didn't care if they ended up falling in love or not.
There are a number of moments in this movie where I found myself talking to the screen in disbelief. I mean what woman would forget her purse on a train? And a purse that big? You always take a last minute glance before departing a vehicle to see if you lost something. I mean she knew she had to disembark the train. Why in the world did she choose that moment to call her boyfriend which then "distracted" her so much she forgot her purse and then also takes the wrong car. Come on.
And honestly what is the deal with not taking the girl to the ER when she hit her head? She hit her head AND she has lost her memory. You don't just have some doctor come to the house. Shouldn't she be getting a CAT scan or something?
Oh and I find it hard to believe that she would have changed that much in a few days just because she hit her head. I mean the girl was downright nasty and negative before she hit her head. Then after the fall she is this sweet accommodating woman who stays that way even when she gets her memory back? Don't buy it.
The scenery was beautiful and I liked all of the exterior scene shots. Would have loved to see more of the inner workings of the wine process and perhaps a tour around the interior workings of the cellar would have been nice.
The plot was passable however the amnesia trope is getting a bit tired. I would have preferred to eliminate the amnesia part of the movie and just focus more on the ice wine and bad wine review. I'm not an ice wine fan but I find the process of making the wine quite interesting and I would have liked to see more of this in the movie.
In summary this movie was boring and forgettable. It lacked chemistry and I just didn't enjoy it.