Taking the Reins

I love Nikki DeLoach and Scott Porter together. They are such superb actors who are even better together. Scott Porter is giving Andrew Walker a run for his money and I hope to see him in many more Hallmark movies.

We love every Hallmark movie we've ever seen with Nikki Deloach and this one didn't disappoint. She seems really well paired with Scott Porter. It's a good storyline with beautiful horses and lovely fall scenery. Janine Turner and Corbin Bernson were good supporting roles as Nikki's parents. Typical of Hallmark movies the ending is predictable but we loved it all the same.

Nikki DeLoach and Scott Porter have AMAZING on-screen chemistry! Even the scenes where they "don't get along" at the beginning are good! Their chemistry is one of my favourite things about this movie! The other is the horses! I have LITERALLY watched this movie a dozen times now and will be buying it on dvd! I hope they have a sequel or star in another movie together! And the supporting cast also did a fantastic job! The only thing that bothered me a bit was that the mother looked a bit too young. IRL they are just 17 years apart.

For me the big question in this film is: Why would Samantha take back her ex-husband Luke? If she loves this inconsiderate slob so much that she takes him back even though he makes no changes, why did she divorce him in the first place? She would have done so much better in finding a new love with some attractive features like not being a bully.

I like the movie but that bad riding is kind of a turn off!! Get actors that can rides Especially in a movie called taking the reins!! Story line is good just can't handle fake riding shots!

I really like Nikki DeLoach (she was great in Two Turtle Doves and The Perfect Catch). And I get that Hallmark sells relationship fantasies. I'm a happy consumer of those fantasies. But it's one thing to reunite old sweethearts from high school or college who went their different ways; it's quite another to reunite divorced couples. It's hard enough for divorced couples just to be civil to each other, let alone fall back in love. Heck, I thought Crashing Through The Snow (which featured a divorced mom spending Christmas with her ex's fiancé's family) was wildly unrealistic. These 2 spent six (6!) years together, couldn't make it work, got divorced (the reasons were fuzzy), and it was apparently so bad, her family was afraid to tell her that her ex would be at the ranch (that was weird by the way). But then Poof! They're hanging out, riding horses and falling back in love. Sorry. I didn't buy it. Divorce is more than just a break up. A lot more. I also thought the focus on the big horse riding event was a bit off. I loved taking my daughter to her horse riding lessons. She loved horses, and I loved seeing her happy. But, as others have noted (in impressive detail), Hallmark really screwed up in making that event and the riders seem believable. And it came at the expense of an unrealistic love story that needed more time to seem plausible. If Hallmark wants to target some demographic clamoring for stories about divorced couples getting back together, those stories should be told, if at all, over time in a series like Chesapeake Shores. And as someone who applauds Hallmark's efforts to make their movies more diverse and inclusive (the intolerant pearl clutching "PC alert" crowd should be ashamed of themselves), I thought the same sex couple was thrown in to win quota credits in lieu of treating them as fleshed out characters. In contrast, I loved the realistic and interesting lesbian sisters in Unexpected Christmas and Every Time a Bell Rings. Still, I suppose even a token effort should be acknowledged as progress that, just 5 years ago, seemed unlikely.

I mostly wanted to watch this movie because of the equestrian angle. But I should have known that it was going to be not well done on that point. Anytime any of the stores are supposedly on a horse and jumping their head isn't in-frame because it's someone else doing it. A horse show of this magnitude would have jumps twice as high. And since jumping shows are timed events, these horses would be Galloping and not a nice little Canter. Oh and last but not least, there is no play-by-play commentary while you're in the ring jumping. It's silent just like golf.