Romance with a Twist (2024 TV Movie) User Reviews

Aerial silks on a Hallmark romantic film that breathe new life into a dancer who has hung up her shoes.

[cgvsluis · 6/10 · 6 February 2024]

This film had some issues, but it was fun to explore a different topic for a Hallmark romantic film and smart to use an actress with former ballet training.

Premise:Luna gave up her dreaming dance to help her family out in their construction business. Her best friend is responsible for putting together an arts festival that is pairing professionals with local talent...including her brother who is a famous Olympic gymnast and now does silk Aerials for a Cirque du Soleil-like show. He gets paired with Luna, agreeing with his sister to give her one week.

The two main actors were cute and the premise was did enough it was worth watching. While not my favorite Hallmark offering, I appreciate that they are trying new things.

Jocelyn Hudon is fun to watch in a somewhat unique movie starring 2 actors well suited for their roles as aerial gymnasts

[MichaelByTheSea · 7/10 · 17 March 2024]

Jocelyn Hudon is a very beguiling, bright and beautiful actress who shines as Luna, a former dancer trying to replace an aerial gymnast who dropped out of The Small Town Festival just 6 weeks away. The role of a former dancer wasn't a stretch for her given that she actually trained and performed at the National Ballet School of Canada starting when she was eleven.

Luna is paired with Bennett, an Olympic gymnast and professional aerialist who has been performing around the world with Cirque du Reve (a fictional Cirque du Soleil). Bennett is played by Oliver Renaud who actually did perform with the real Cirque du Soleil. He's lost his partner and the script would have us believe that a former dancer, who's spent the last few years working in her family's construction business, could learn to be a world class aerial gymnast in just 6 weeks. Maybe. The real Cirque du Soleil has an intensive training program that lasts at least 3-4 months.

As is often the case with these kinds of movies, the Big Festival is presented as having some sort of monumental significance when, in fact, it's just a small town festival. When it finally happened, it didn't look like more than a few dozen people showed up to watch. But Luna and Bennett's festival performance was actually pretty good.

Along the way, a small town reporter for a small town paper (Hazleton Weekly) inexplicably turns a puff piece about the up coming local festival into a bitter critique based on a preview she should never have seen. That would never happen and it bothered me. It was the kind of unrealistic plot development just added to create conflict and tension.

I had to look up the actress who played Luna's mom (Tonya Clarke) because she seemed too young and pretty to be Luna's mom. But she's 52 and has some nice scenes being very supportive of her daughter's dreams. I liked her even though I was a bit confused by the family's construction business. It seemed to consist of no one other than Luna, her brother and her mother and father. They're very excited and very busy about getting the contract for the festival but I never saw anything that they did in connection with that contract. And what would the festival need constructed? The Big Performance took place inside an existing theater.

This movie had one of my least favorite Hallmark tropes (the interrupted kiss) but Luna and Bennett's actual first kiss was pretty memorable.

Overall, the movie was just OK. I would probably rate this a 5 or 6 in most cases but I bumped it to 7 stars because I like Jocelyn Hudon.

Dance Romance

[allmoviesfan · 6/10 · 22 March 2024]

Jocelyn Hudon is gorgeous. There, got that out of the way. Truth be told, her presence in this film that is basically about dancing is the only reason I watched it. And I'm actually glad that I did, because Hudon, as Luna, lights up the screen whenever she is on it.

Non-spoiler alert - the plot is Hallmark standard: two people who don't meet and start off by butting heads as they come together to achieve something - in this case it's an artistic dance routine at an arts festival - and end up falling in love with each other. Familiar trope, new setting.

Hudon and Oliver Renaud as Bennett have pretty good chemistry, once the initial scripted standoffishness is a thing of the past.

Sooooo Good!!! A Work Vs Love romance

[lymullen · 7/10 · 16 February 2024]

So good I'm giving this 7 stars, which I'm not sure I've ever done for a Hallmark romance.

Accept for one small thing, this movie was perfect. It was mission driven "gotta learn this aerial routine in six weeks because the annual small town festival DEPENDS on it." And then there was a beautiful performance at the end. I rewound the final performance no less than five or six times and put the song Catch Me by Thomas Bergersen on my YouTube playlist.

The hero and heroine looked beautiful together. The banter was funny. Nobody was annoying. The small town didn't have any of those "cute" quirks, which I usually can do without. ( I grew up in a small town and it was *nothing* like they show in these Hallmark movies.) This movie showcased a realistic small town atmosphere.

There was some tension and drama with the question of whether Luna could transition from dance to aerial silks. Whether she would stay in the construction business, whether the hero would leave town and continue to tour, etc. So I guess this was also a Work vs Love romance

There was a stepfather in this movie, which was a refreshing change from the widowed parent, which is the norm for a Hallmark romance.

I mean there was *nothing* annoying and everything to like about this movie.

There was just one little tiny thing, the sound was off during the performance of Give My Regards to Broadway so it looked like a bad lip sync performance. But otherwise I really enjoyed this romance.

TALENTED DUO

[moirahewitt · 7/10 · 16 February 2024]

From the start Bennett was somewhat cold. Luna knew how to deal with him though. I thought the car scene was sweet and realistic when he said he had a surprise for her. Loved when the prospective partners auditioned. So funny. Felt there was a lot of Luna with her family. The couple definitely needed a hug together when they danced at the festival, to warm things up before the lovely ending! Olivier Renauds facial expressions made me smile and the finale was super, especially as the music escalated and the couple climbed higher. It was a little slow in places but came together well at the end.

Hallmark romance misses the mark

[herrcarter-92161 · 6/10 · 6 May 2024]

This was a pretty standard Hallmark romance. About what you'd expect from a Hallmark romance and not much more. Somehow, it just missed the mark for me. The two stars were decent. Definitely eye candy. Jocelyn Hudson was actually quite good, Cute, but very down-to-earth and relatable. I wasn't feeling a lot of chemistry between the two of them, though. When the chemistry is lacking, I think that's usually code for bad screenwriting.

Not that the writing in this movie was awful. It was just okay. Clearly, they were going for enemies-to-lovers, but somehow, it didn't quite work. He was way too much of a jerk at the beginning. Sure, he mellowed out and was much nicer later, but your initial dislike of him was hard to shake. And she was way too meek, submissive and unconfident around him and in general. If you're going for enemies-to-lovers, she has to be a lot more spunky and able to give it right back to him. And, above all, you need witty banter between the two of them. Their interactions, especially after they started to like each other, seemed really awkward. Awkward does not make for a satisfying rom-com. It just reminds you of bad experiences that you might have had in your own past dating life, and it makes you cringe.

The rest of the story, with the arts festival and the training to do the silks performance, was only mildly engaging. I never really felt the sense of urgency. You had little doubt that the two silks performers would pull it out in the end and deliver a stellar performance. You knew the festival would be a raging success. And nothing really bad would have happened if it hadn't been, other than a few bruised egos and the sister of the male lead losing her gig as festival planner. To be fair, the silks performance was good, and it seemed that all or most of it was done by the stars themselves. The impromptu dancing from Jocelyn Hudson was also good.

All in all, a nice movie, a passable romance, but hardly an engaging or memorable movie. Basically just another throw-away Hallmark romance.

Really Good Hallmark Movie! Jocelyn Hudon steals the movie!

[robby77777 · 10/10 · 28 January 2024]

I didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be a really good movie. Jocelyn Hudon absolutely steals the movie as she does all her own dancing and stunts. Hallmark should sign her to a long time contract as she is different than the other Hallmark actresses. Instead of a formula where everyone is happy and always polite, they went in a different direction with this movie. Hallmark did a wonderful job showing Jocelyn Hudon's dancing abilities as she was trained in classical dance and they allow her to really show off her gorgeous moves. I am not sure there are any other actresses on the planet who could have pulled this movie off. I really liked it.

No chemistry and boring boring boring

[momsipadonly · 3/10 · 30 January 2024]

No chemistry and boring boring boring.like watching lumps of clay. The arial stuff was lame and brought nothing to the show. There was about 30 seconds of dancing, and it was like watching somebody warm up in a ballet studio. It brought nothing to the show. All around garbage really. The actors had no chemistry together at all. Nothing made you care about these characters or their story. Very pedestrian. I would not recommend wasting your time watching this movie. If you happen to be laid up with a broken leg and there's nothing else to do feel free to waste two hours of your life otherwise I just finding anything else to watch. When I read some of those great reviews, I feel like Hallmark must pay them to write such stuff because it's so not reflective of what was in the show.

Beautiful

[Jackbv123 · 8/10 · 28 January 2024]

The story is a little rough at times. Rough outline, it sounds like another one of those where the leads get thrown together to do a project, and more specifically to do a performance. You could call this a dance performance in the air. But it starts out rough. Olivier Renaud does everything he can to make his character, Bennet, a spoiled, arrogant former Olympian with no tact whatsoever. What I found more disturbing was how much real hurt was inflicted on Luna. But she's no snowflake. She stood up to it and gave some back.

There are some ups and downs for just about all the major characters. Some of the actors handled that better than others, with Jocelyn Hudon being one of the better. Through all their practices and rehearsals, it didn't seem like this could become anything worth watching. But if you don't watch anything else in this movie, you have to watch their performance. I have no idea how much either of the stars did on the silks. Probably not a lot except the still shots, but the performance was beautiful. The stunt doubles should get first page credit in this movie. (Michel Bray, Emma Carrothers and Edio Silvio).

The ending was sweet too.

Highly Enjoyable

[Kenkeller-98-620553 · 9/10 · 28 January 2024]

This was a very well done movie and I am glad I watched it. The leading actors were solid in their performances. This was for me, somewhat of a departure from the usual Hallmark movies in that it was breaking new ground as two wounded souls worked together through turmoil and turbulence to prepare and then put on a performance. Being a team of just two pushed boundaries for both of them. It was interesting to watch the struggle each had. The support cast was strong but I think they could have been better introduced and strengthened. As an example, it took me more than a few minutes to figure out who was who, especially the individuals surrounding the lead female actor. There could have been more visible warmth between them not just words.

Hallmark quasi lust

[MickyG333 · 8/10 · 9 February 2024]

7.5 stars.

Two VERY nice appearing lead actors are going at the aerial dancing scheme. She is a performance or modern dancer, maybe a ballerina, but hasn't practiced in some years. He is an olympian who does aerial dancing for a living. He needs a partner to perform at a local festival, because his previous partner has accepted an opportunity elsewhere. In usual Hallmark fashion, there is a happy ending.

What is somewhat unusual (but not rare) about 'Love in the Air' a.k.a. 'Romance with a Twist' is that the male is super obnoxious with her at the beginning. But he's very convincing as a total jerk. She responds with a submissive attitude that might be appropriate in an orchestra acquiescing to the maestro situation, but not in real life interactions like this.

Already, we see a strange bond forming, she's being too docile, but subtly flirtatious and he's overbearing and domineering, pretending to ignore her advances. It's all much too high school for me (yet strangely satisfying).

This film has too few great qualities to give it a stellar rating. If not for the aerial feats that these two actors are actually performing, I'd be a bit disappointed. I don't see any stunt doubles, so thumbs up for that.

Of course the lead female is lust-worthy, what a body, probably one of the best in the business. They show it off a-plenty, and that's fine, but I don't watch Hallmark for that eye candy stuff as much as the old-fashioned romance. I want good family wholesome. He is probably as handsome as she is pretty, and he has a couple of bazookas for biceps. Anyways, it was a nice viewing of two hard bodies getting their aerial dance on, but it's cheap entertainment, sort of a cop-out, like Hallmark's version of Baywatch meets aerial (with less skin).