Movie Review: A New Year’s Resolution

Rating:
3.5/5

Well, right off the bat, I LOVED that this movie took place in Milwaukee!! It had all my favorite Wisconsin things…discussing Packers (GO PACK GO!), polar plunges, and discussions about favorite brat toppings (I’m a ketchup girl). But should you say YES to watching this movie?? Let’s talk about it!

Kelly is a producer who works for “‘Wake Up Milwaukee.” As a new year’s resolution, she decides she won’t say No to any social requests, because she felt she’s said no too often in the past year and isn’t happy about it.

Tom works for the marketing department of a popular bank. He is at the same restaurant as Kelly, when he makes a bet that he can pick anyone’s resolutions. He picks Kelly’s table and guesses everyone’s resolution except Kelly’s.

This is the start to a series of godwinks (without the annoying winking noise – THANKFULLY), Kelly and Tom wind up at many of the same activities over the next few weeks while Kelly is saying yes to social requests.

Then, Kelly is brought a story about accounts being opened for customers without their permission at Tom’s bank. Kelly decides to bring the story to Tom and the rest you’ll need to see 🙂

This movie is cute and sweet and everything you want to watch in a Hallmark movie. There was good chemistry between the two leads and lots of wonderful quotes. My favorite – “You’re worth making time for,” from Tom to Kelly. Awww!!! Swoon. Tom was adorable!

Plus there was an extra kiss! Yay Hallmark! I was super happy for this, because it was in line with these two characters. Tom seemed like a hugging, happy-go-lucky guy, which naturally extends to wanting to kiss a woman he’s falling in love with. And even though Kelly is closed off in the beginning, she was receptive by that point, so it was perfect.

With all this good, why did I only rate it a 3.5? Well, for me, the biggest issue was that it lacked the IT factor that I talk about. It was a solid movie and if it’s on, it makes good background movie watching, but it’s not a movie I’ll seek to watch again and again. In fact, it’s been 20 minutes since it finished and I’m already forgetting it.

Also, there were a lot of little things that irritated me. Someone said “Go Pack!” I hardly ever hear anyone say that. Real Wisconsinites yell with passion “GO PACK GO!” I’ll give them a little credit for not saying “Go Packers,” because I really never hear that.

Speaking of the Packers…have you heard about Wisconsin’s Frozen Tundra? Doesn’t that just sound cold?! Wisconsin in January/February could very easily be near 0 degrees. Unless I missed some serious clues, it didn’t look like anyone was actually cold at the polar plunge or in some of the other events. Sure, they were all fake shivering/trying to warm up, but in Wisconsin people actually shiver! And people “turtle” their heads into their coats to stay warm.

Beyond the shivering, I didn’t hear any midwestern accents. No one ended their sentences with “Hey?” or “…or no?” This would be like watching Steel Magnolias without Southern accents, but it’s easy to be nit-picky when a movie takes place somewhere you’ve lived.

Despite these issues, this was still a solid movie. You’ll have lots of opportunities to laugh or say “Awwwww…” So, don’t take the 3.5 as a negative. Sometimes these types of movies surprise me and over time they become movies you unexpectedly look forward to watching. Country Wedding (which was on after this movie) is one of those.

Give this a try and let me know what you think! Did you enjoy it? What was your favorite part? The game playing evenings? The chili cook off? Curling? I hope you enjoy it! Happy movie watching y’all!

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