A Whitewater Romance - Hallmark

So, the big question! Was A Whitewater Romance better than last week’s Hallmark movie premiere? Let’s face it, last week’s movie fell completely flat. At least this time I wasn’t falling asleep and I watched it through in one sitting! But was the story any good? Now, personally, I loved Cindy Busby and Benjamin Hollingsworth in A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love. So, I was really hoping they’d be able to pull off that kind of magic a second time. Did they do it? Well, as usual, I have a lot to say about this week’s movie so let’s dive right in and talk about it!  

Hi, I’m Stephanie and welcome to the Magical Movie Club where, like you, I love to watch and chat about Hallmark movies. On March 11th we watched A Whitewater Romance, starring Benjamin Hollingsworth and Cindy Busby.

The two of them have already made a movie together which I absolutely loved. I felt there was so much chemistry in their Godwink Christmas movie together, and I seriously got choked up at the end of that one. As for A Whitewater Romance, something was just off for me. I don’t know, somehow it just didn’t flow right. And I’m still trying to figure out if it’s the acting or the directing, or even the teleplay. Let me give you some examples.

A Whitewater Romance shows us some gorgeous scenery of the Colorado Rockies that reminded me of the ride at Disney’s California Adventure called Soarin’ Over California. It’s now Soarin’ over the World, but in the CA version there’s a whitewater river rafting scene just like this one. I swear I could almost smell the pine trees here! 

Now, the story opens with Maya, played by Cindy Busby. It’s dark outside. People are saying, “Goodnight,” so I’m presuming she’s working late at the office. That’s when she gets a phone call from the company’s CEO inviting her to a retreat at the Whitewater Lodge in Colorado. The only explanation provided was that she was inviting one employee to represent each of the company’s four office locations to this retreat. Maya happens to work in the Manhattan location in New York. Oh, and did I mention she’s supposed to go tomorrow? That’s right, she has probably 12 to 18 hours notice to get ready to go somewhere she has absolutely no experience or equipment or proper attire for, and no time to go shopping. Who does that?!

Not to mention, in my life I’ve worked for a couple of large companies that had offices nationwide, and I can’t picture any CEO I’ve known going over their local managers’ heads to do something like that. That seemed odd to me. But then again, the more we got to see who the CEO and the manager of that New York office were, the less I understood or even liked them. Personally, I found both characters to be awful! I can’t sugar-coat that.

I mean despite all of her objections, Maya got herself there, albeit late. She said the car service had a hard time finding the place in the mountains.  And the CEO practically snubbed her nose at her at first site because clearly, she’s not the “outdoorsy” type. There was no, “I’m sorry you had a hard time finding the lodge but I’m so glad you made it. The others have already started so let me catch you up.” I mean, that’s how I would have welcomed her. So just to recap, the CEO invited her to an event that was completely outside her comfort level, with absolutely no notice or planning, and then insulted her because she was running late and outside of her element. Oh, and then, after the CEO insulted her yet again with a crack about first impressions, all I could think of was wow, she, meaning the CEO, makes a horrible first impression!

Speaking of being completely out of her element, did anyone else notice the similarities to Legally Blonde? I mean all of her outfits were pink, her phone was pink, her suitcase was pink, and she was in a completely foreign environment for which she was ridiculed. And what did you think of her substituting a can opener for a Swiss army knife? Or how about a bottle of perfume for bear spray? Yeah, I don’t think she pulled this off as well as Reese Witherspoon did, either. 

I also wanted to mention one of the main differences between those two movies is I never really understood what was in this for Maya. I mean I know her boss said this would prove to her whether or not she deserved an executive position that she’s been after. Really?!  How does conquering one’s fear of whitewater rafting qualify for a promotion at a tech company? I mean, I  know in the end she did accomplish something technical that was worthwhile, but that’s not how this all started!

And just one more comparison, in Legally Blonde Elle Woods wanted to go to law school. Now one forced her. Actually, her parents and friends tried to talk her out of it. Now I know her reasons for going there in the first place were to win back her boyfriend, but once she got there she found her purpose in life. She also found a really good friend there who helped her through the rough transition. 

In this movie, Maya never wanted to go on this retreat in the first place. Her company forced her to go - both the CEO and her boss had selfish reasons for doing so. And other than Ben Hollingsworth’s character, Matt, who would become her love interest, she never found a friend to bond with, no one there that she could confide in or who could help her through these challenges without having an ulterior motive. And I know her character was kind of annoying and not very likable, but I still felt for her a little bit because she never wanted to be there in the first place and yet she was ridiculed for being there. That was just wrong. 

Okay, back to the story. The retreat kicked off with a game pitting everyone against each other. I thought for a moment this might be where the movie would start being fun with some friendly competition. But when Maya freaked out and pulled out her bottle of perfume to protect herself in the forest, I’m sorry that was an eye-roll moment. I mean seriously, do the execs at Hallmark honestly think that was quality filmmaking right there?

I had that same feeling again later on when Maya was looking for her tent and Luis helped her learn how to use a compass. I like Luis’s character, and it’s not that she needed help understanding how to use a compass that bothered me, it was the fact that she didn’t even seem to know what a compass was! In this scene she acts surprised when she says, “Oh look, there’s North, South, East and West!” That was just cringe-worthy writing right there.

I also noticed Maya screamed a lot. Even Matt commented on it once. Hallmark’s not going to win me over with that.

And while at her first attempt at fishing she reeled in a log, I didn’t understand why Jim, the owner, didn’t encourage her to keep on trying. Instead, he suggested they go foraging for wild mushrooms. Okay, so what does Maya collect? Pinecones and bark. Like so many other scenes in this movie that was maybe worthy of a 4-year-old?

As for the love story. In true Hallmark fashion, Maya and Matt bickered for most of the movie, especially when they first met, and they absolutely did NOT trust one another.  This was not helped by the fact that her boss back in New York told her to find out everything she knows about her competition so she can, basically, exploit their weaknesses. Early in the movie she started jotting down notes such as their background information and her first impressions of each one, including Matt. And as the movie progressed her boss had even suggested she sabotage her teammates to get ahead. 

Well, despite all that, she and Matt slowly began to trust one another. I think the turning point was when they were off looking for those mushrooms. But that’s also when I really noticed Cindy Busby’s acting had fallen quite flat, too. I was also disappointed with the dialogue, here. I’m guessing that’s just bad teleplay.  Although, in the next scenes, I actually did enjoy their cooking together. It was one of the few moments that felt natural and not forced. 

After that, the scene with the meteor showers should have been a nice one, but it was now an hour and a half into the movie and I hadn’t been able to warm up to Maya’s character so by now it was just too late for me. I confess this was the point when I was looking at the clock ready for it to end. I had even given up tweeting that night.

So even though near the end when Matt found her original notes about him and he got all upset with her, I thought that felt way too predictable but at the same time, quite forced. I mean for most of the movie the two of them didn’t like each other, didn’t trust each other and had nothing kind to say about one another. So how could Matt really be surprised and upset when he found her original notes about him? 

I’m sorry. If it’s not pretty obvious by now I just wasn’t feeling it this time. Maya’s character was all over the place. One moment she was a smart, hard-working businesswoman, the next she was an embarrassing fool who couldn’t find her way out of bed in the morning. Literally. She showed up for an early meeting in her pink pajamas. 

And while some of the team building exercises were fun, like walking a high ladder bridge blindfolded, or Matt’s acrobatics when Maya was swinging her tent poles around, these moments just weren’t enough to save it. I mean come on, do you see Maya’s tent here? It looks like a 2-year-old put it together with those logs.  

And most of the characters were just not likable. Except for maybe Luis and Jim, the owner of the lodge. Actually, I even questioned Jim’s character at one point when he was gushing all over that horrible CEO. And what was the point of her sister’s role in this movie? I didn’t understand her purpose at all. Not to mention, did anyone else find this casting choice to be odd? I generally like to see some hint of resemblance when you’re casting siblings. But these two aren’t believable to me. And I know I’m just being picky now. But all of these details just didn’t add up for me…at all!

And even at the very end when they saved the lodge, conquered whitewater rafting and were offered the wonderful promotion together, was there ever any chemistry between them? Not really. Not for me anyway. I’m very disappointed again in Hallmark.

You know it’s funny, often when I’m thinking about my reviews I’ve noticed I typically grow to like these movies a little better each time I watch them. I find little details that I learn to appreciate that I may have missed the first time around. That was so not the case this time. When I started writing this review I thought that the energy onscreen and the quality of the acting made this a better movie than last week’s. But no. Just no. I can’t get past the fact that I didn’t like the story and I didn’t like the characters. 

So for me, it’s a 1½ out of 5. I gave it 1½ for the beautiful scenery. But once this video is posted I don’t see myself watching it ever again.  And wow, did you see the IMDB reviews? Compared to those I’m being generous!

How about you?  What did you think of A Whitewater Romance?  Am I being too harsh in my critique here? If so, I will gladly keep an open mind and consider some other viewpoints.

Well, I think I’m ready to wrap up my review this week.  Coming up next week we’ll be watching the premiere of Everything Puppies. Fingers crossed Hallmark gets this one right!  And after that is a sequel to Big Sky River called The Bridal Path, starring When Calls the Heart’s Kavan Smith. I’m actually watching them both this week. The other reviews I’ve seen so far are pretty good, so I hope that’s a good sign for me as well! 

As always, thank you so much for being here and being a part of the Magical Movie Club. We'll be back next week to chat more about our favorite magical movies!  

Hallmark Channel's Original Preview:  A Whitewater Romance - Preview

Hallmark Channel Movie Site: A Whitewater Romance