Tonight's Movie: Love at Sea (2018) - A Hallmark DVD Review

Having just returned from a cruise, it seems fitting that my first screener review is a movie about...a cruise!

The Hallmark Channel film LOVE AT SEA (2018) was just released on DVD at the end of August.

It's the story of Olivia (Alexa PenaVega), an event planner who constantly feels the need to prove herself, both because she comes from money and because her ex-boyfriend (Peyton Lee) fired her from her job at her family's hotel after it was sold to a corporation.

Olivia takes a job helping a lifestyle guru friend Alexandra (Melissa Carcache) who's running a special event on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Detail-oriented Olivia initially clashes with the looser cruise director Tony (Carlos PenaVega), but Tony also has the need to prove himself on this particular cruise. As the couple begin to cooperate in working together more closely to achieve their goals, they also start to feel a personal attraction.

Also along on the cruise is Olivia's wealthy widowed mother Maeve (Audrey Landers of DALLAS), along with her new boyfriend Wes (William R. Moses), a widower. Besides worrying about her job and her budding relationship with Tony, Olivia is concerned about whether Wes is the "real deal" or is after her mother for her money.

LOVE AT SEA was written by Nina Weinman Swift based on a novel by Barbara Oliverio. Script and storywise, this film is only so-so; there are some nicely insightful bits of dialogue mixed with scenes which are pure awkwardness, including the film's opening.

While I class the film as a "mid-range" Hallmark, it's redeemed by the charming PenaVegas, who have been married for a decade. I first reviewed them together in the film SPARE PARTS (2015). They have long worked in Hallmark films, both separately and in joint projects such as ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS (2017), the PICTURE PERFECT MYSTERIES (2019-2020), and LOVE IN THE LIMELIGHT (2022).

I find the PenaVegas very likeable and genuine in their characters' interactions with one another. Olivia and Tony are fully rounded characters, good people with a few flaws; the development of their relationship as they learn and grow plays out nicely before arriving at the expected ending. (And incidentally, that's the PenaVegas' son playing Alexandra's baby Tyler.)

One of the pleasures of Hallmark films is how many longtime TV stars "of a certain age" appear in supporting roles, such as Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors in EAT, PLAY, LOVE (2017), to name one prior example. It was great fun to see Landers and Moses, a pair of familiar faces from '80s primetime soap operas, as Olivia's mother and her beau. Landers in particular looked great and was completely believable as a wealthy socialite widow.

In the end, while this film isn't a top-drawer Hallmark offering, I enjoyed it and believe fans of Hallmark movies and/or the PenaVegas will find it a pleasant 84 minutes.

LOVE AT SEA was directed by Mel Damski and filmed by Jonathan West. The movie was shot on the Royal Caribbean ship Harmony of the Seas, along with Florida, the Bahamas, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Hallmark's nice-looking DVD does not have any extras, but it does provide an English-language closed captioning option.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Hallmark for providing a review copy of this DVD. LOVE AT SEA may be purchased from Amazon and other online retailers.

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