7.2 stars.

As stated in many previous reviews, this is the same story done with a different slant. Instead of city girl meets outdoors guy at a national park, it's a city and country fitness girl meets celebrity guy at a wellness/fitness resort in the woods with a lake. All Hallmark did here was pick one of the half dozen usual plots, and then tweak the background of the woman and the man just a little. There is literally nothing more to the recipe than that. What makes "Warming up to You" special is the pooch they wrapped on the man to make him look like he's got belly fat. It's the most obnoxious attempt I've seen in a while. He's thin, muscular, wiry, with a jutting pouch just above the waistline, it looks like a concealed fanny pack. Why waste our time with this ridiculousness? There are a million other ways to make a person seem out of shape.

The romance is very slow, and the title of the film is the perfect description of the theme which is about how it takes her several weeks to warm up to him. Most of this story has been done in a hundred different ways in other films and this one is not original by any means (except for the fake belly), but the acting is heartwarming and the chemistry is good.

I must admit that I wasn't really harboring much of any high hopes for the 2022 Hallmark romantic TV movie "Warming Up to You". Why? Well, it being a Hallmark movie sort of comes with that sappy assumption, you know.

But still, I opted to sit down and watch what writers Steven Kent, Pamela Rice and W. Stewart had to offer with "Warming Up to You", as Hallmark does also have good movies on their roster.

Sure, "Warming Up to You" is every bit as sappy, generic and predictable as you would assume it to be, given the fact of it being a Hallmark movie. And with that being said, then I will also say that it actually worked in favor of the movie, because "Warming Up to You" was actually an enjoyable movie. As the movie ended, I have to admit that I was left with a feel-good sensation, so director Christie Will Wolf managed to get something right here.

The storyline in "Warming Up to You" is pretty straight forward, and if you are familiar with Hallmark romance movies, then you know the formula that you are in for here. Yeah, it was essentially just a copy-paste of the traditional formula that Hallmark has perfects over the years.

"Warming Up to You" is starring Cindy Busby and Christopher Russell in the leads, and I will say that they were definitely nicely cast for the leading roles, and they had a great on-screen chemistry. The movie was also starring Latonya Williams, whom they should have given a larger role, because she could have spruced up the movie far more than she already did.

This 2022 romantic Hallmark movie is actually well-worth taking the time to sit down and watch. I was actually genuinely entertained by the storyline here and the good acting performances. Sure, it was a pretty generic romantic movie in terms of writing and storyline, but it just worked out so nicely.

My rating of "Warming Up to You" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Hopes were really not high for this. While credit is due for having a different setting and trying to do something different from the usual formula, the premise just didn't appeal to me. It just sounded so silly and more complicated than it needed to be. Watched it anyway, despite not liking the premise or being a fan of Cindy Busby, due to Hallmark film completest sake (wanting to extend my horizons beyond their Christmas films) and because Christopher Russell can be good in the right role.

'Warming Up to You' does absolutely nothing to change my mind about the premise, if anything it epitomised pretty much everything that was not appealing about it when executing it. It also to me, and quite a number of others it seems, is not a good film with not many redeeming features. It has a few but the flaws are so many and so major they can be forgotten easily. Hallmark did do some above average films and even some very good films in 2022, but despite trying to do something a little different, with putting Russell in a fat suit, 'Warming Up to You' managed to be one of the worst of the batch.

Am going to begin with mentioning the few good things. It is quite nice to look at, particularly the scenery. Hallmark doesn't always fare well when it comes to authenticity but the scenery more often than not is lovely to watch and the scenery here is no exception. There are moments of pleasantness in the music and it's not as intrusive as it tends to be with Hallmark.

Russell also fares well and gives the only halfway decent performance in the film, he is likeable and has an easy, non-stiff presence that never becomes too introverted. Was very worried about how the film would fare with everything with the fat suit but thankfully that was done a lot more tastefully than feared.

Busby however overdoes it and is too neurotic as a character that does come over as annoying, did have a hard time believing what Russell's character saw in hers. They have no chemistry together, or at least it looked rather awkward, this is their fourth film together and it honestly looks and feels like it was the first time they'd met. The supporting cast never stand out in cliched roles that are never fleshed out enough, only Russell's has a little development.

This is another Hallmark film seen recently where the story is truly weak. Not just paper thin and dull, with some very uneventful patches, but also too silly with a too convenient ending. The script has a few cute moments, but is mostly awkward, cheesy and never below surface level in depth. The direction is pretty pedestrian, the final act is contrived and mostly the music is unmemorable.

Concluding, very weak. 3/10.