Harvest Moon (2015)

It's been done over and over : rich city girl, country boy, both come from different worlds so surely they can't get along?Well it's a hallmark movie so of course they do! Throw in the obligatory rich girl falling in a muddy puddle, and the country boy thinking she's too stuck up to get along with him or his family, and you have all the classics of a harmless family movie.Put it on in the background while you're doing something else and don't take it too seriously ! - nice gentle but predictable... no spoilers needed as you can already guess what is going to happen ... and you'd be correct !

The movie is an absolute trash heap from Halmark, even for their standards. The movie is based, which I can't put enough quotes around to show how little it has to do, on a video game of the same name. In the video game, you're given a farm to run, people to talk to and have relationships with, and supernatural phenomena such as goddesses. This movie has absolutely none of it. You could put any generic sounding farm movie name onto this, and nothing would be the different. Everybody in the movie is a walking caricature. Nobody is original, all the jokes have been done before, everything about this movie is a rehash of the genre. Golf would be a more entertaining watch, because at least in golf, something actually happens in it.

There is a one other review to this very watchable film, thus far, and that 'review 's just absurd. The reviewer titles his critique -- "How Greed Conquers All" -- sounding like some raving Marxist crank. He calls the protagonist ['Jenny', nicely played by Jessy Schram] "Scrooge-like".I don't know what movie 'goddancredmond' watched-- but his characterization of 'Jenny' is just peculiar. In fact, Jenny's Very Rich family goes bankrupt, and she comes out to sell the one remaining asset - a pumpkin farm. It is unsellable because it is mired in debt. So Jenny turns to learn the farm so its value can appreciate so that she can then sell it -- but has a contract written that guarantees all the farmworkers are guaranteed employment in perpetuity. And is even good-humored about tricks that one of the hands plays on her, to discourage her from staying."Scrooge?" Ridiculous.This City Girl gets up at 5 am to learn how to farm ... takes it upon herself to fix a porch swing and a fence ... does 'makeover's for all the women on farms in the area before a big barn dance."Scrooge?" Ludicrous.Then Jenny starts to become attached to the farm and its 'family', and sees ways to improve their lot, such as marketing a specially bred violet ... a pumpkin-based cream that is good for the skin ... taught a young farm boy to dance, so he could get over painful shyness about a particular pretty girl."Scrooge"? What in the H--l is this guy talking about?!?!In fact the principal problem with the movie is there is too little serious conflict, because Jenny is so sweetly likable and willing to learn, and help, and innovate.And a final major hurdle is flattened by a Deus-ex-Machina -- the last-second intervention of an old friend.Nonetheless, it's a sweet film - warming to watch .'goddancredmond' is simply out of whatever mind he may still possess.And I regret my angry tone, but I like this film -- especially the character 'Jenny' -- and I am feeling somewhat as a guy who hears a girl he likes being badmouthed by a Neanderthal.Joe McCain - January 17th, 2016

This is perhaps one of Hallmark's poorest attempts at a holiday movie.Though Hallmark is not known for high quality work, there have been notable exceptions, such as Betty White in The Lost Valentine.In general, their movies are more than a bit trite but with decent morals to them. They are often along the lines of The Christmas Carol format, with the bad characters realizing that they have hearts of gold. That makes them quite suitable family fare.This movie does not meet even that standard. The female lead starts off as the Scrooge-type. Which would have been fine if the male lead wasn't as black-hearted as she was. In fact, most all of the characters in this movie were along that line.Both characters do change, but are parted. How they are reunited is a love story told for Wall Street.