Why would I expect anything less from Kimberley Sustad and Brooks Darnell?

I’m a bit behind in my Hallmark movie watching, but thank goodness I didn’t miss The Game of Love! Extra-cheesy title aside (I could write about Hallmark’s titles for pages, but I digress), The Game of Love, which premiered mid-March, was one of my favorite Hallmark movies I’ve seen so far this year.

The plot centers around Audrey, a board game designer, and her love interest, Matthew, astral-photographer-turned-marketing-consultant for the new project she’s roped into —creating a board game all about love.

I usually watch Hallmark movies with my mom — we DVR every new movie and watch them over weekends or when we need a cozy night in — and we both had a feeling we’d like this one. Kimberly Sustad is one of our favorite Hallmark leads — she has a way of bringing characters to life that is both realistic and likable. Add to the equation that she’s tall (like me and my mom both happen to be), and we find ourselves pulled into the story because we relate to her character on many levels.

All that being said, Audrey starts out as a wholly unlikeable person.

She’s selfish and unwilling to work as a team with her coworkers, nose glued to an online game she plays on her phone. In the first few minutes of the movie, she shows up late to a blind date (after almost ghosting the poor guy) in her sweatshirt and Converse — at a fancy restaurant with a dress code! Needless to say, that date didn’t go anywhere.

Then, in steps Matthew, an extremely likable, outgoing guy who is everything that Audrey isn’t. He’s open and willing to collaborate on their new board game project and is stuck trying to convince Audrey that working together can actually make the process more fun and the outcome more rewarding (spoiler alert: he’s right.)

Game of Love relies on a tried and true romance trope: grumpy/sunshine

The trope is slightly different, however, in the fact that the main female protagonist is the grouchy curmudgeon, and the male protagonist is the sunshine. In the words of Taylor Swift, “he was sunshine, I was midnight rain,” and rain on everyone’s parade Audrey did — at least until Mr. Sunshine, Matthew, started to rub off on her.

We see her character change throughout the movie in a variety of ways — from accepting help from her eager-to-collaborate co-workers, to working up the courage to attend a dinner party with Matthew’s brother and sister-in-law, to choosing increasingly positive words in her Scrabble-style online game that she plays throughout the entire movie with a mysterious opponent.

Soon, Audrey and Matthew seem as natural together as if they’d been friends for years, but of course, they both soon start to want more than that.

Endings are always the cheesiest of all, and Game of Love is no exception

But that’s what brings us back over and over again, right? Because if there wasn’t a cheesy ending set in a board game café where the hero walks in and reveals his love for the heroine after she realizes the error of her ways, the movie was all for nothing.

I often think that Hallmark could do better with their endings, but then again, how does the saying go? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Audrey and Matthew end up together and ride off into the sunset where they’ll play board games together that Audrey designed under the stars that Matthew photographs beautifully — so what’s not to love?

Game of Love is another Hallmark movie that lives up to expectations

I love romance novels and movies because, despite the turbulence in the middle of the story and the misunderstanding that leads to a separation of the male and female protagonists, I know the divide will be short-lived and the turbulence won’t last for long.

Game of Love was an example of Hallmark at its finest — quirky characters, unique, if familiar, plots, and a happily ever after. I, for one, am glad that there are still sources I can turn to for a pick-me-up I can count on after a hectic week.

So go find Game of Love and DVR it for yourself, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Previously published in Romance Lovers Anonymous