Hallmark Channel’s Kentucky Roses Was Indeed a Run For The Roses – Review. Hallmark Channel kicked off May for Moms with the premiere of ‘Kentucky Roses’ starring Andrew Walker and Odette Annable.
The premise is that a greenhouse worker, Sadie, and the son of Churchill Downs’ CEO, Ash, form an unlikely pair, coming together to save the Kentucky Derby rose blanket and uncovering a generational love story along the way.
The movie opens with a scene from 1932 where Lefty and Gloria are stealing a moment amid flowers and moonlight. He gives her a Horseshoe necklace and says always point the horseshoe up so the luck doesn’t run out.
Sadie is working in the greenhouse with her mom at Churchill Downs. She has to leave to go to her job at a renowned florist. Sadie comes from a line of greenhouse workers from Churchill Downs. Her dream is to be a florist on her own. She’s friends with trainer Camila and her horse Angelface. Sadie is a little gunshy from a failed marriage.
A storm rolls in, and Churchill Downs needs repair work before the Derby, which is just a few weeks away. CEO Frank Reed calls in his son, Ash, to do the work, since Ash is a contractor. Ash is reluctant. He built his contractor business using his mom’s maiden name because he didn’t want the association with his father. Ash wants to be taken seriously on his own merit. His mother, Lillie, convinces him to do it.
From there, Ash and Sadie meet and watch fireworks together. It’s kind of a perfect meet -cute. The story continues with Ash rebuilding the spire of Churchill Downs, and Sadie ends up doing a floral job for Ash’s mom. She needs red roses for this. Of course, there are no roses this close to the Derby. Ash takes her to a grove of flowers on his parents’ land. The same place where Lefty and Gloria once stood.
An emergency crops up when the roses to make the famed Kentucky Derby Rose blanket are stuck in South America. Sadie works with her boss to create an online plea for red roses, and the response is fantastic. Roses show up by the truckload. Sadie saves the day.
The drama between Ash and Sadie, because every Hallmark movie needs a third-act conflict, is intertwined in the relationship between Lefty and Gloria. Gloria, it turns out, was Sadie’s grandmother, and Lefty was Ash’s great-uncle Charlie. We see them throughout the movie. They were forced apart because she was a greenhouse worker and he was prominent in society. His family broke them up.
The legends that Ash and Sadie are told are from different perspectives. His family states that Gloria was a gold digger. Sadie’s family states that she loved him and gave him up, giving back his necklace and engagement ring. And there is the conflict. Sadie is defensive of her grandmother and Ash of Uncle Charlie.
It turns out that Lefty took the necklace that she gave back and wrapped it in blueprints and hit it on a windowsill. Ash gives it to Sadie, and the two get together. A happy ending at the Derby with Angelface winning the roses.
This is a near-perfect Hallmark Channel movie. It’s got romance, heart, and feel-good vibes. It’s a little slower paced, and the multigenerational subplot was a nice touch. The locations were gorgeous. The movie was shot at Churchill Downs. You couldn’t pick a more picturesque location. Add in the roses, and it’s a beautiful movie. Ash and Sadie both have dreams outside Churchill Downs, yet end up happily there. Some things you think you don’t want are exactly where you need to be, and they found out that they were happy there and still going for those outside dreams together just not pushing the past and legacy away.
Andrew Walker and Odette Annable were chemistry magic. Hallmark, please cast her in more movies. She was a perfect Hallmark leading lady. Andrew is never the wrong choice. I just spent the week rewatching the Andrew Walker collection on Hallmark+, and he never misses. Some movies are not my favorite, but he is never the reason. He pulls off sweet, tender, and charming. Andrew Walker also served as Executive Producer on this film alongside Kelly Pendergraft.
The rest of the cast was just as fantastic. Peyton Meyer and Ally Ledford played Lefty and Gloria. I could see these actors being in the next class of Hallmark leads. Gregg Henry is PERFECTLY cast as Churchill Downs CEO, Frank Reed. I mean, these are the roles he was made for. Katherine Morgan plays Delilah, Sadie’s boss.
The writing was key to making this what it was. Jamie Pachino wrote a beautiful movie. Having written some of the more personal Hallmark Channel movies, such as ‘A Bramble House Christmas’, ‘Long Lost Christmas’, and several of the Godwink movies, she knows how to evoke a little emotion. This movie was a lot of heart. Clare Niederpruem directed it in a seamless way. We were taken on a journey surrounded by beautiful flowers and backdrops. The fireworks scene and any time Sadie was working with flowers were beautifully shot.
There was a huge marketing push behind the movie, and if you want a necklace like the one that goes from Lefty to Gloria, then to Ash and Sadie, you can get yours through Hallmark. They put out a whole line of Kentucky Roses jewelry and a Kentucky Roses wine.
The miss for me was that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to think of Delilah, Sadie’s boss. She was aloof and cold but encouraging. And the conflict surrounding the ancestors felt predictable, but all in all, this was a great rewatchable movie. I recommend it and will watch this again. It’s a 4.5 popcorn bucket movie for me!
You can watch ‘Kentucky Roses’ and any Andrew Walker movie on Hallmark+ now. Be sure to tune in next week for the all-new movie, ‘All’s Fair in Love & Mahjong.’ ‘Kentucky Roses’ marks week two in the Brenner Brother movie series. Last week we saw ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ starring Tyler Hynes, and next week ‘All’s Fair in Love & Mahjon’ stars Paul Campbell. Andrew, Tyler, and Paul starred as the Brenner Brothers in the ‘Three Wise Men’ trilogy.
Hallmark Channel’s Kentucky Roses Was Indeed a Run For The Roses – Review
