UPDATED with REVIEW: THE REAL WEST PREMIERES SEPT 28 8/7c ON HALLMARK CHANNEL

UPDATED REVIEW:

The setting was beautiful and just absolutely amazing. According to iMDB it was filmed in Canada. Well you could’ve fooled me. It could have easily been Wyoming, Montana, Colorado or any other picturesque place in “The Real West”. It was stunning and gorgeous and completely appropriate for the movie.

This movie has a meet cute and a somewhat forbidden/love triangle-ish trope. It was a familiar and warm movie as is expected by Hallmark with a slight twist on the theme. The plot was fairly fleshed out but there were some places that could have used a bit more oomph. For example, the movie could have started with the Mom’s(Sustad) back story with some scenes early on of her at the university to round it out or even scenes from childhood showing her early interest in “The Real West”. Alas, it began after that with the vacation prep and of course there is so much you can put in a set period of time for a movie. It still worked well but some extra backstory could have made it more full circle.

Kimberly Sustad is an amazing actress. I always anticipate a good movie when she’s involved. Luke Bryant is perfect fit for the strong silent type. The gravity between Rebecca and Jake was powerful and that considerably enhanced the overall story. All the characters were authentic and appropriate.

The conflict itself was also appropriate with the original meet cute in the general store and the forbidden love between Rebecca and her sister’s new beau. There could have been a little more drama around it but overall still well done. The resolution by contrast was thin and perhaps if the conflict had more drama it might not have been or if the old friend had a more prominent appearance.

Overall a really good movie that I will likely watch again in the future.