This Matter of Marriage (1998)

What makes it different from others?

An action-packed slog

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Harlequin romance movies can be a fun escape, and "This Matter of Marriage" is no exception. From 1998, it stars Leslie Hope, Sherry Miller, Michael Nouri, and Rick Peters. Made in Canada.Hope plays Hallie Mitchell, a 32-year-old with her own architectural design business which she runs with a partner, Donnalee (Sherry Miller, who looks like a blond Mary Tyler Moore). Donnalee wants to get married and have a family and goes the cyberdating route, probably pretty new in 1998, if I recall, and she encourages the independent, strong Hallie to try it.For someone whom we hear so much about not having any action, Hallie has a lot of men around her. There's her neighbor (Rick Peters), unhappily separated from his wife, who is trying to solve a water pressure problem in the building and cope with an unhappy young daughter. There's her cyberdate. There's her old classmate from high school. In her professional life, she's trying to keep the business afloat while she pulls out all the stops to get a big contract.This is a nice film, and young women will relate to the problems of a career, meeting crazies, being afraid of hurt, and a little bit of defensiveness.There's not too much else to say about it. The acting is fine. Pleasant watching.

The acting was excellent but sabotaged by a poorly-written story. Too bad because the basic idea was good but the details stunk.For example: They went to the well way too many times with the plumbing problem as an excuse to have them drop in on one another. How lame.And the initial building proposal was absurd. There was nothing original there - just some towers. How did a proposal for an office building suddenly become a proposal for a community? But by far the worst was when the hero showed no interest whatsoever in her career ("So you're an architect. So how's the weather?") until later in the movie, he's basically drooling over her community design. It wasn't bad acting; it was bad writing.It was apparent these two had nothing in common other than living next door. She had no experience with relationships. He had one experience - and didn't understand why it failed. And there wasn't even a glimmer of sexual passion between them. Prediction: One year max before they get divorced.What a sad waste of good acting in a terrible movie.

Above-average chick flick.Please note: the facts in the previous summary had the main female characters mixed up.Hallie (Leslie Hope) is the main female lead, with Donnalee (Sherry Miller) being the first one who tries video dating, which then spurs Hallie on to give it a try, but with less success.Also, Hallie is the one who lives next door to the guy with the daughter, who is going through his own personal crisis.The acting was pretty good, with the two ladies being the strongest. And, for the most part, there was a good deal of character development -- this was not the standard piece of fluff.

Leslie Hope shines in this watchable if predictable TV movie. She is very convincing in her role as an architect who cannot find love until it turns up at her door, well next-door. There are many strands to the story, some are left unexplored while others take center stage; yet what holds it together is Hope's charming performance. She rises above the predictable material and never overacts. We can sympathize with her character. The story itself is obvious from the beginning but the tone is typically Canadian - low-key and unsentimental. This low-key tone is quite unusual for a Harlequin film, but it's part of its charm even though it feels like a soap opera most of the time.