The Birthday Wish

#bloodoverintent #bloodoverwill #angelofdeath

Fun & entertaining evenings entertainment! Love Luke MacFarlane, especially in this film! The relationship had the usual twists but without the typical goofy snags along the way! Cute scene with the puppies and the scene in the mini van with the kids! Luke is super appealing! Even hubby found the story to his liking! Cast them together more often!

The Birthday Wish comes true in a cute film with perfectly casting and chemistry with Jessy Schram and Luke MacFarlane. The story is refreshingly different with the element of a hilarious but genuinely sweet look into the future. The script was well done from beginning to end. All of these factors add up to high marks and a delightful Hallmark film that I highly recommend!

This is not a new concept for me. I have seen movies with this kind of "magical realism" before and I love it. I like that Hallmark used it, but the only thing I ask is that they don't try to use this concept again, otherwise this original movie will be ruined. Jessy Schram is a pleasure to watch, she is fun, energetic, and I adore her characters. Luke MacFarlane is a a refreshing face to see. (I know, I'm watching this two years later). And the chemistry was wonderful. The plot was, indeed, stupid, but fun and enjoyable. I like these movies because you get away from the real world for an hour and half. I only had two problems with this: the fact that the character was desesperate to get married and I get it, it was part of the plot but I couldn't help but to roll my eyes in more than one ocassion. And the other thing was the classic cliche that must be in a Hallmark movie: characters assuming thing they shouldn't and just running away. The less cliches there are, the better. What I did like, and a lot, was the humor in the movie. They don't tend to include a lot, but this did. And the characters, being a contrast to each other was beautiful: Dave encouraging Gwen to just live and don't let herself carry away with her life plan. And both of them motivating each other to face their fears, it made it look like a real relationship. And I always like when they know each other beforehand. It makes the romance more realistic.

Supernatural storyline being rehashed where Jessy Schram has her life all planned out with career , boyfriend etc but following her 30th Birthday, magically sees her life in 10 years time & it's not with Alex , her one-dimensional self-absorbed boyfriend. Pretty hokum stuff lifted from other Hallmark movies , just given a twist or two. I would have given a 4 or 5 marks for the film were it not for a smashing performance from Jessy , who's comedic and elements of genuine surprise, elevated the film hugely.

Hallmark did four Winterfest films in 2017, of which 'The Birthday Wish' is the last. The previous three being 'A Rose for Christmas' (wasn't crazy about it), 'Love on Ice' (decent though a bit mixed on it) and 'A Royal Winter' (quite good). While Hallmark films tend to be very uexceptional story wise, quite a lot of them have at one thing that draws me into seeing it. In the case of 'The Birthday Wish', it is due to liking Jessy Schram and Luke Macfarlane in other things. 'The Birthday Wish' is a great representation of both and was really surprised at how very enjoyable the film was. The premise was one of those it could have gone either way sort of ones, but it is executed very well on the whole. Of the four 2017 Winterfest films, 'The Birthday Wish' for me was easily the best and of the 2017 Hallmark films overall it's one of the best on top of that. Not a masterpiece, but did find myself really impressed on the whole. Of course there was not much that was surprising in terms of the basic plot, with the slightly too pat ending for example being typical Hallmark. Much of it planning out as expected. Really liked everything else though. Schram is both funny and adorable and manages to make what sounded on paper like a neurotic character instead likeable and easy to relate to. Macfarlane is easy going and charismatic, and he also has nimble comic timing that always comes over naturally. He and Schram are magnetic together, when it comes to lead chemistry for all the 2017's Hallmark films that of Schram and Macfarlane's is towards the top. The supporting cast also do a very nice job. It also scores highly on the humour, as said there is a lot more of this aspect than most Hallmark films before and since and 'The Birthday Wish' is one of the funniest. The humour doesn't get too cheesy and corny and was both very amusing and cute. The story manages to be fresh enough generally and has a gentle but never over deliberate pace, the charm and heart warming factors are extremely high without falling into over-cutesiness or schmaltz. Visually, 'The Birthday Wish' pleases (espeically the scenery), the characters were all interesting and felt real and rootable (something you don't always find with Hallmark) and the music isn't constant or over the top (which can be a failing). The direction is also assured and the script is light hearted and balances the humour and drama expertly. Concluding, very well done. Of the Hallmark films seen recently, it's one of the better ones. 8/10.

The forumula of girl with the guy who isn't right for her and later finds the ture love is right there all along has been done before. But here it is delievered in a less cliched and more natural feeling way. An advertising commericial producer director falls is engaged to a guy who won't propose. She starts to get closer and closer to her colleague instead. The 2 leads are good together. Jessy Schram isn't annoyingly perky and LUke Macfarlane isn't too much of a martyr saint. The wrong guy isn't too obviously wrong either. Worth one watch.

"I'm in control of my own destiny." No, sweetie, you're so not. Gwen (Jessy Schram) is a 30-year-old woman who can't dress herself, who's so marriage-starved she's blind to who her boyfriend is. Three years in, she's afraid to ask for what she wants in her relationship, in things big or small. So Gwen obsesses. And complains. Generally conducts herself like a hyper teenager. It's embarrassing to watch. With comedy, Hallmark needs to realize you have to walk before you can run. Physical comedy is hard. Two out of three leads, Schram and Marcus Rosen, are wincing over-actors without comedic skills. (Imagine what a funnier actress could've done with the chocolate cake or dog park moments...) Only Luke Mcfarlane as Dave had some funny. This thin story, written like a middle school view of adulting, was a bust except for Mcfarlane. Dave was the funny, thoughtful, interesting guy Gwen couldn't be less mature about liking. I kept waiting to believe she deserved him. Finally, how many sappy s'more scenes do we have to endure before HMC realizes no one, not even helpless female leads, eats their (completely unmelted) s'mores wearing leather dress gloves?! I guess it takes the guy with a sock monkey hat to get s'mores.

The part of this movie I loved, was her ability to see into her future. I feel like this movie took something from my very own thoughts as I also see into my future, who I'm with and what I'm doing (with what I've accomplished). It's never been about the typical American Dream with an awesome immediate family, happiness, nice home, nice car(s), plenty of abundance (money, food, joy), exemplary kids, which most women and some men dream of today, just like back then. Most of us want a similar dream. But it's not about our dreams coming true, rather than our own selves accomplishing the spectacular things we desire from the ability to see into the future of our desire. As one who focuses on my desires and maintains my vision, staying in control of it moment by moment, I will be right there with this film actresses' vision of the future, not what she wants, but what I want based on my priorities. She was not sure of what she was initially seeing as her accomplishment, the husband and the children, until it hit her that what she was seeing was actually unfolding right in front of her. So that's what I'm still waiting upon, for what I see in my current vision through my focused control may not have enough detail to hit me about how and when I see myself being able to pull it off. But with my guides, I can make anything happen. Without them, my vision is not even possible to achieve. The movie was great because of her ability to see into her future and maintain that vision for as long as it was necessary to understand the details and put it all together. Although this is not my favorite Hallmark movie of all time, I ranked it higher due to the concept of visions. We need to have them.

I really liked the chemistry between the main characters and the funny moments too. It was a great movie to watch. I hope Hallmark can continue with this kind of quality movies.