Back to You and Me Once More
It was the 80s and Grace and Michael were young and in love, inseparable high school sweethearts who thought that they would be together forever. Well forever ended when college arrived as they went their separate ways. Now, 20 years later and Grace (Rena Sofer - Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story), having returned to her home town, runs her own design firm whilst Michael (Dean McDermott - Mind Over Murder) is a project manager for a construction company who happens to be back in town to deal with a new hotel building just as their high school reunion is going on. What neither realise is that it is Grace's company who is doing the design work on the new hotel building. Needing to work together Grace and Michael try to deny they still have feelings for each other especially as Grace is dating someone, someone who her mother thinks is perfect but her son doesn't like.
Sometimes I question why I review Hallmark movies; at times it seems like the definition in futility because anyone who would choose to watch a Hallmark movie is likely to know how it is going to play out even before they start to watch. And "Always and Forever" is no different as we are in that "Back to You and Me" territory where high school sweethearts end up in their home town at the same time and of course those "first love" feelings are still there. But of course there are a few obligatory bumps in the road from a boyfriend to careers as well as interfering family members, such as a mum, who likes the current boyfriend whilst the son isn't keen on him. Everything in "Always and Forever" is typical and I can't find one thing to tell you which strikes me as being out of the ordinary.
What this means is that "Always and Forever" is another movie whichrelies heavily on the appeal factor of the cast and the good news is that both Rena Sofer and Dean McDermott, as Grace and Michael, have a certain appeal. The thing is that whilst each of them bring that certain appeal to the movie they don't have the sort of on-screen chemistry to make the characters really pop and get us involved in them falling in love again.
What this all boils down to is that "Always and Forever" is simply a routine Hallmark romantic comedy, a pleasant distraction for fans of this style of movie but with nothing in the way of a surprise to make it memorable.
