In the movie "Autumn Dreams", a newly engaged woman finds out that she's not divorced from her ex like she thought. Is this the second chance she didn't know she wanted?
Plot summary and other info
"With big plans to leave their small Iowa town, teenage loves Annie (Wagner) and Ben (Egglesfield) elope. Their big city plans are halted, though, when Annie’s parents have the marriage annulled, and Annie stays behind in Iowa to help her family. Fifteen years later, when Annie is engaged in Iowa and Ben is engaged in New York, they discover that their annulment was never finalized. Annie and Ben reunite to make their divorce legal, but find themselves reminiscing about what could have been if they had stayed together. As romantic feelings resurface, Annie and Ben must decide if their past love could also be their destined future."
"Autumn Dreams" was released in 2015 as a part of Hallmark Channel's Fall Harvest programming.
The film stars Jill Wagner and Colin Egglesfield and was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
My thoughts
Jill Wagner is one of my favorite Hallmark Channel actresses, and she doesn't disappoint in "Autumn Dreams", where she plays a down to earth, hardworking farmer who is also working on her PhD.
Colin Egglesfield, who reminds me of a young Tom Cruise, plays Ben, a farmhand on Annie's family farm. He wants more from life and after he and Annie elope, he moves to New York City to make it big and thinks that Annie will join him there soon. Well, she never does.
Annie and Ben are reunited after realizing their teenage marriage was never annulled like they thought. They're both currently engaged to other people which also complicates matters.
So, Annie rushes off to New York City to finalize the paperwork and is pleasantly surprised to find that Ben seems to have accomplished his dreams of "making it big". He's currently a successful business executive whose office is the size of a small home.
The movie moves slowly and we get lots of starry-eyed looks between the two main characters as they get to know each other again.
The film certainly had its issues, but overall I enjoyed the pace of the plot.
From the get-go it seems like Annie's fiance is a likeable, hardworking man who loves her quite a bit. Unfortunately it seems pretty clear that she's not as smitten with him.
A lot more time is spent with Ben's fiancé Giovanna, who is shallow, overbearing and not right for Ben.
As the movie nears the end we come to realize that they never stopped loving each other and it was a case of neither one receiving the others letters. Not sure why Ben wouldn't just call Annie once he was settled in New York.
Other than that plot hole, and a couple of other small ones, I felt like the movie is one of Hallmark's better ones.
Aside from being absolutely stunning, Jill Wagner plays the role authentically and even thought Colin Egglesfield is a bit stiff, Jill does a good job of carrying the brunt of the film.
While I wish there had been a bit more time to develop the relationship between Annie and Ben, I still found it believable.
I thought the supporting cast was excellent and I especially liked Ben's friend/lawyer who added some lightheartedness to the story.
Final thoughts
The story was a bit slow paced, which I didn't mind at all! Our two main characters are gorgeous to look at and you can never go wrong with Jill Wagner's acting. While we all know how the movie will end, I enjoyed the journey getting there and would gladly watch this again!
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4
What did you think of "Autumn Dreams"? Let me know in the comments below.
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