I was not too charmed by Unleashing Mr. Darcy, as I felt it had butchered the Jane Austen storyline the characters were modeled after, but as I tend to be a sucker for characters and settings I'm already familiar with, I tuned in for the sequel. Hallmark has a bit of a problem making their sequels feel relevant and still consistent with their predecessors, and this movie unfortunately isn't any different. It fell very flat for me.
For starters, the acting---same with the original---was not superb. The female lead never fails to remind us that she is acting and speaking rehearsed lines rather than creating realistic dialogue. But even she is salvageable compared to the actress replacing Donovan's younger sister Zara, who does not utter a single line that sounds genuinely authentic. It was a cringe fest every time she was on screen.
A lot of these wedding movies revolve around the same premise of the bride being dragooned into changing aspects of her wedding. In this case, I had absolutely zero sympathy for Elizabeth, as she let herself be bossed around and rarely voiced her complaints or put her foot down on what she wanted. So many of these scenes were her pretending to enjoy things like cake flavors and wedding dress styles and then expecting that us, the audience, would pity her. Luckily, the solution found at the end of the movie solves these problems, as they decide to have two weddings. This is the sort of resolution that only works when you are obscenely rich. Whatever do the unluckier poor people do when they can't agree on a wedding venue? Good lord.
On another note, the ridiculous side story of there being a strain in Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship because he was too busy planning their honeymoon was laughable. He needed to work around the clock to put a vacation together? Apparently the man who has everything hasn't thought of using a travel agent? Even if this is an extensively elaborate trip, this shouldn't take longer than a few hours, TOPS. The script writers could've worked a bit harder to come up with a plausible reason that Darcy is too busy to spend time with his fiance.
Overall, this was a weak film with very little relatable or enjoyable plot. To top it all off, the chemistry between the two leads was not that great---the first movie provided some between them thanks to the tension of them at first not getting along, which sent some sparks about, but this movie struggled to show any genuine emotion between the two (even the proposal scene felt like it was greatly lacking emotion and proper reactions). Ultimately a disappointment.
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