Backyard Wedding ~ TV Romance Girl

Tagline: A med-school graduate returns to her childhood home to plan her backyard wedding. Her ex-husband and former neighbor is also in town, and his presence forces her to reevaluate how strong her current relationship truly is just days before the wedding.

Do you ever watch a movie over and over not necessarily because it’s good or totally enjoyable, but because it gives you a good feeling? It’s a movie you can get lost in and enjoy the setting and world that’s created in the movie?

That basically describes my thoughts on Backyard Wedding. The movie itself is a bit of a mess with the leading guy, Evan Slauson, practically stalking our heroine, Kim Tyler, to the point he finally makes a move when she is vulnerable on the night of her rehearsal wedding to her workaholic fiance, Jeffrey Blake. There’s a whole heck of a lot of drinking and a few curse words here and there which surprises me for a Hallmark entry but this was in the days when they took a bit more risk with their movies instead of the current cookie cutter formula.

Some of the characters and actions are inconsistent. Evan gives a rather nice toast to everyone’s surprise at the rehearsal dinner but everyone acts as if he ran through the joint naked with only red paint covering his body. Kim’s aunt Addie says in response “Maybe the busboy would like to make a toast next” while her almost future mother-in-law whispers to her husband “that was one of the worst displays I’ve ever seen”. Umm, yeah. That doesn’t make much sense.

Kim’s friends also seem like they are close and supportive until one wants to date her ex and then later talks behind her with her main best friend when Kim and Evan dance at a night out with everyone. “You know, she didn’t even want to come here?” says her best friend. “Tease,” the other one interested in Evan says.

There are some cute moments here like when Kim goes with her aunt Addie and mom for her dress fitting (which ends in Evan circling her car while she frantically searches for her keys to escape him...wow that just sounded like a horror movie in my description). And their outing while Kim is looking for groomsmen gifts while her always absent fiance is still out of town working on some big project at his job.

It’s the usual formula. Girl returns to small-town home to get married. Girl gets close to ex while current guy is kept out of town because of work. Girl and ex get closer until the moment when the current guy returns and everyone collides. Everyone tells Kim and Evan how great they were together but sadly, I can’t see it. There’s not much chemistry between each other. Kim acts like she hates Evan and Evan acts like he’s obsessed with Kim. All the while Jeffrey is in love with his job.

So why the heck do I keep watching this movie like it’s sweet, sweet candy injected right into my veins? Because that’s just it. I love the setting in this movie. I love the music featured in the opening credits scene and during the ice cream outing. The house and town are both gorgeous as is the low key comfortable feeling between the family. Their dinner scenes were quite cute and the excitement at everyone seeing each other for the first time in ages is quite charming.

Judging by my ratings legend, this would be a tough one to rate between the actual rating and my rewatchability factor. It’s the movie that re-introduced me to Alicia Witt after a long hiatus since I last saw her as a kid actor but not one of my faves in her roster. I also enjoyed seeing a few familiar faces from other Hallmark and Pixl movies. I’m going to say that this one is good if you want some background noise or something to relax with just to have the tv on but not if you’re looking for a great movie romance fave to add to your watch list.