Love is definitely a challenge. It’s not something that is very easy, it’s something that takes constant work and constant growth. It will experience a lot of challenges, but no challenge as big as ones self.
It Love’s Greek To Me, we may be faced with a meddling mother-in-law, who if we’re being honest I am not sure has a sincere bone in her body. Everything feels like she’s gaslighting others and as if she’s making things a lot more complicated than what they need to be.
But that goes back to tradition. What is something that we would consider acceptable for the United States, in other countries may be considered a very American thing to do in other countries may be the normal thing here. And what is normal there, may be a very foreign in the United States. But it is about accepting other cultures.
And accepting that others can see things in us, well, that’s part of the beauty of growing. It may not be easy and it may not be something that you want to hear, but that doesn’t always matter.
What matters is that you are opening yourself up to possibilities – with the biggest possibility of all, being love.
It’s About This: Ilana (Torrey DeVitto) and her Greek boyfriend Mike (Yannis Tsimitselis) travel to Santorini for his sister Alex’s (Katerina Konstas) wedding, where all his relatives immediately welcome her with open arms. When Mike surprises Ilana by asking her to marry him at the same lighthouse where his father proposed many years prior, his well-meaning – and overly enthusiastic – mother Athena (Sirtis) shifts into overdrive, excited to be gaining another daughter. Ilana gets caught in the vortex of Athena’s attempts to “help,” including purchasing a wedding gown for her future daughter-in-law and booking the church…even though Ilana and Mike aren’t rushing to set a date or plan on having a big fat Greek wedding. As Alex’s big day nears and the preparations ramp up, Ilana becomes more uneasy about what the future may hold for her and Mike, leading her to wonder if they’re truly meant to be together or if love is all Greek to her.
It’s Giving: It’s giving self discovery and overcoming the past. It’s giving the feeling of falling in love with not only someone else, but the possibility of everything when you find love in yourself.
It’s giving the want to travel and the want to experience a million different things, past and present. It’s giving the want to find a hotel developer that can treat us to great experiences and love us unconditionally.
Standout Performance: MARINA SIRTIS! She played the quintessential stereotypical mother in law that we should all run from. But she was hilarious, made me laugh, but also made me feel for her. She was everything and made me feel for what she was going through. Loved her.
Who To Watch It With (Or Not Watch): This is the type of romance that you can watch with anyone and at anytime. It’s equal parts romance, equal parts family, equal parts ambition and equal parts finding yourself. Loving every single minutes of it.
Loved watching it with my friends and us all talking about the reasons we’re skeptical about love and relationships, but also why we need to be less that way. We also talked about where we needed to travel.
Overall Emotional Response: We say emotional, because that’s the thing – Hallmark movies or any movie about love and romance – elicit an emotional response from us.
This writer doesn’t believe in love. If we’re being honest, like the main character in this movie, I am so closed off from it and so for me, watching this movie, seeing characters that are like me, was a good thing. Things like that are always nice to see – when you relate to a character.
Ilana and Mike were two completely different people, but it didn’t mean that they couldn’t see the love and admiration that was there. Mike’s family was overbearing, but the also were believers in love and the possibilities of relationships and where they would take you.
Yannis Tsimitselis was a pleasant surprise. Never having seen anything that he’s in, we didn’t know what to expect. However, that being said, we fell for him. His character was the type of man that we would want – one that loves deep and unconditionally; one that sees the goodness in waiting and being there for what you believe in; one that is committed to love, even in the moments where love seems to be the most overwhelming thing that one can experience. Loved his character of Mark.
We have yet to really see a movie that we’re not loving Torrey DeVitto in. She’s long been a favorite of ours and we definitely appreciate that about her. She’s got this strength as an actress – that being of telling amazing stories and bringing a character that feels like they are truly real. The characters that she plays feel as though they are your best friend or you.
Tsimitselis and DeVitto had such a great chemistry online that made watching enjoyable. You believed that they were finding their way. You believed that they could be in love in real life. You believed in their characters, because of the way that they portrayed them.
DeVitto is a Hallmark star. We all are lucky that we get to see her on so many things. We’ve loved her on One Tree Hill and on Chicago Med. We know that seeing her in some of our favorite movies is a real treasure.
Some may say that the real star of the show was it shooting in Greece, and they wouldn’t be so wrong. It’s definitely giving main character energy. We’re obsessed and planning our own trip there.
Maybe that’s part of the beauty of this movie – the way that it inspires you to travel, to love, and just live in the moment. But then again, that’s always been the beauty of Hallmark.
