Strawberry Summer

Watch Out for those Strawberries
A Hallmark romantic comedy with some tried and true TV star favorites.

This Gaiam release gives us Julie Mond starring as a music teacher promoting the local strawberry festival by bringing in a famous country singer, played by handsome Trevor Donovan, whose star is not so polished as it should be. There's romantic conflict brewing between the leads and lots of folksy humor and characters.

The real stars of the movie are all the TV personalities of past: Shelley Long(Cheers) playing the mom; Dick Van Dyke's son and co-star, the rugged looking, Barry Van Dyke; Cindy Williams(Laverne and Shirley, can you believe it?).

It's all easy going fun and mild comedy. We know where this is going. The editing is somewhat choppy; there are inconsistencies and holes in the story; the music, with the singing near the end, a touch corny, and the whole thing, in general, a bit weak, but... the leads are cute together, and it's harmless and means well. Hallmark...

I liked the movie but loved the singing
This is a nice family movie. The real enjoyment comes at the end of the movie in the form of a duet.

a small-town school teacher tries to tame a country singer with a New York state of mind
In the quaint town of Fairland, somewhere in California, Beth Landon (Julie Mond) has gone out on a limb. An aspiring singer once, and a high school English teacher today and director of her school's glee club, Beth has lobbied for country singer Jason Keith (Trevor Donovan) to perform at her town's annual Strawberry Festival. Beth's already been selected as this year's Strawberry Queen and so has to appear in several festival events. Mr. Keith, besides performing, is also tapped as the Grand Marshal. It's setting out to be a fine Strawberry Festival.

Except that Jason Keith turns out to be a first class tool, unfailingly inconsiderate. He's rude and dismissive and tardy. Beth, who's a big fan and tends to sing along to the guy's crossover hit "Easy Heart," is chagrined. But she's got spunk. She's a real spitfire. From jump she doesn't hesitate to call him out on his difficult behavior. And because this is a Hallmark joint and the network prefers to keep things conventional...

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