Hallmark Review: 'From Friend to Fiancé'

Jessica Parks (Jocelyn Hudon) loves weddings. She also loves planning them and making sure every last detail is perfect. But as skilled as she is at planning other people's romantic milestones, her own dating life hasn't been too good. In fact, it's at her latest wedding that her boyfriend abruptly dumps her! Dismayed, Jessica goes to the one man she knows she can always count on: Ted Cooper (Ryan Paevey), her childhood best friend. However, Ted has some more shocking news for Jessica: he's getting married to Kimberly Kentwood (Kelly Kruger), a former high school classmate who frequently bullied Jessica and Ted.

After assuring Jessica that Kimberly has changed for the better, Ted asks Jessica to be his best woman and help with planning the wedding. Jessica agrees, but as she spends more time with Ted and his bride-to-be, another issue crops up: Jessica might be in love with Ted herself. Now this lovesick wedding planner has only a few days to sort everything out before her best friend walks down the aisle with someone else.

From Friend to Fiancé can best be described as what you'd get if you put My Best Friend's Wedding and You Again into a blender. It even takes after the former by naming the heroine's love rival Kimberly. But if you're looking for something as subversive as P.J. Hogan's deconstructive romcom, you won't find it here. Despite having the opportunity to deviate from the regular Hallmark formula, From Friend to Fiancé keeps a relatively firm foot on the set path. This is especially disappointing when you consider the hints the film drops that it might go in a different direction when it comes to Jessica's newfound feelings for Ted. None of them come to fruition, and in light of the movie's biggest fumble, it would've been better if they had.

The fumble in question is in regards to how Jessica and Ted's relationship is established. While it becomes clear pretty early on that Jessica is secretly in love with Ted, you don't get the same vibe from Ted. Up until Jessica's roommate Blair says she always thought Ted had a crush on her, Ted never gives off the idea that he sees Jessica as anything other than a best friend or has any doubts about marrying Kimberly. Instead of developing Ted's character with gradual consistency, the script makes it happen all at once without any real buildup. For most of the movie, Ted is basically ignored while Jessica mulls over her feelings and squabbles with Kimberly, only getting a few nuggets of depth when it's too late to do anything with them. Ted having been body-shamed in high school, with one of his past tormentors being his current fiancée, could've opened the door for a lot of emotional character development. This is especially true given how it's implied Ted's high school experiences are tied to his success as a gym owner. Sadly, such possibilities are left to languish like discarded grapes.

But despite his thin-on-substance character, Ryan Paevey gives an effortlessly lovable performance as the always sweet, occasionally dorky Ted Cooper. Joining Paevey in the dorky department is Jocelyn Hudon, who gets plenty of moments to flex her funny bone when Jessica's awkwardness flares up. Hudon is just as capable of dialing it back for Jessica's serious moments, such as whenever she's struggling with her conflicting emotions or when things between her, Ted, and Kimberly come to a head. And in spite of their characters' poorly constructed relationship development, Hudon and Paevey play well enough together to easily sell Jessica and Ted as lifelong best friends.

The last of the core trio is Kelly Kruger as Kimberly Kentwood. With the script avoiding the temptation to make Kimberly a stuck-up romantic rival for Jessica to defeat, Kruger makes it easy to feel for Kim. It's clear from her first scene that Kimberly has turned a new leaf since high school, even when she starts lashing out at Jessica. Between the upcoming wedding, unspecified issues with her ex, and the fact that Jessica is making goo-goo eyes at her fiancé, you can understand why Kimberly is so stressed out. As for the supporting cast, the only memorable character is Patrick Mulligan, a resident of the retirement home Jessica works at. Derek McGrath is charming as Jessica's fatherly confidante and Patrick gives Jessica some good pearls of wisdom as she navigates her most turbulent wedding yet. Too bad some of those pearls don't get the shine they deserve. Outside of Patrick, it's an array of forgettable side characters, from Jessica's barely-there roommate to her and Ted's one-note mothers to Kim's snobby friends Megan and Lauren. The supporting players' flat performances only make matters worse.

On top of the characterization flubs and wasted story potential, From Friend to Fiancé's uneven pacing only magnifies its underdeveloped plot. The actors may breathe life into the script, but that's not enough to fully make up for all the missed opportunities, dry storytelling spells, or the finale that ends up contradicting one of the film's messages about love. For a lazy afternoon watch, you could do worse than give From Friend to Fiancé a chance. But don't expect anything as grand as the more emotionally packed romcoms that this movie takes inspiration from.

Score: 6 out of 10 chicken fingers.