Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel really lucked out this year with Valentine’s Day falling on a Saturday, the night they traditionally premiere their new movies. And now right in the middle of ‘Loveuary’, what better night to premiere Because of Cupid, a fun romance movie that questions if people need a magical love potion to unleash their deepest feelings or if simply the power of suggestion can do the trick.
Because of Cupid stars Amy Groening and Evan Roderick as friends and co-workers Naomi and Marcus, employees at a local bar/restaurant who are trying to pitch new ideas to owner Lisa (Tennille Read) to help drum up business … and to keep her from selling the place to a conglomeration that is known for — parking structures. They don’t want this beloved institution in their town to become a parking garage, so they are pitching everything to persuade Lisa to reconsider. Approaching Marcus’ Uncle Richard for advice (he’s also a restaurant owner in town), he believes the two of them should make an offer but they need ideas, a solid business plan (at which Naomi is good, but Marcus is not), and money. Luckily there is an annual competition on the horizon, usually a cocktail competition but to appeal to a younger crowd and follow the trends, this year’s will be a mocktail competition, which is perfect for Naomi because she had just suggested adding mocktails to the menu at Agora, and the prize is $30,000. Chatting with a customer at the bar, Hal (Adam Tsekhman), Naomi finds a kindred spirit in him over their knowledge of teas, and wouldn’t you know it, Hal owns a tea shop in town so he invites Naomi and Marcus to visit and hopefully they can find something to make their mocktail special enough to convince the organizer, Steven (Jonathan Maxwell Silver), to let them enter the competition even though the deadline has passed (Uncle Richard already pulled some strings to even get Steven to consider giving them a chance). But while chatting with Marcus at the bar the night before, Hal could clearly see that he was in love with Naomi — and Marcus even blurted it out to Hal — and it was clear that there may have been some romantic feelings smoldering among some of the other patrons including Uncle Richard and his assistant and friend of fifty years, Luciana (Sandra Flores), Steven and Jane (Sarah Booth), a yoga instructor who seems to have a very love-hate relationship with Steven, and Lisa and E.J. Cortland (Darryl Hinds), who happens to be the author of Lisa’s favorite series of romantic fantasy novels.
At the tea shop, Hal and Naomi come up with a tea that will set their mocktail apart, and while she is distracted Hal also offers Marcus a green ‘love potion’ to help him finally open up to Naomi. Naomi is curious about the green liquid and snatches it from Marcus, putting it in her bag with the tea sample and they head back to the bar to make something that will knock Steven’s socks off. While prepping the mocktail, Naomi decides to use the green liquid — because Marcus told her it contained melon, knowing she is allergic to keep her from tasting it — and pours out samples for Marcus, Richard, Luciana, Lisa, E.J., Jane and Steven. Everyone gets a little tingle from the drink, and they all think it is outstanding, with Steven begrudgingly telling Naomi and Marcus they are in the competition. But … Steven and Jane suddenly seem to like each other, Lisa and E.J. get all giddy and dance together, and even curmudgeonly Richard lightens up and asks a giddy Luciana to dance. Out of the blue, Marcus grabs the mic from the band that’s playing and begins to sing a love song directed right at Naomi, completely making the situation awkward. He later admits to her that the green liquid Hal gave him was a magical love potion, but Naomi refuses to believe in magic, thinking instead there are some compounds in the liquid that causes people to lower their inhibitions. Naomi asks her friend at a local lab to run a test on the liquid but she can find nothing odd that would suggest any kind of psychotropic effect. She also finds it hard to believe that Marcus truly loves her because he’s never given the slightest hint in the past about his feelings, but that’s because he’s always been too afraid of destroying their friendship if she rejected him. Things become even more urgent when Lisa announces that she is selling the bar, E.J. is ditching the last book in his series and the two are running off together to see the world. Jane and Steven are behaving like teenagers in their first love and Jane has even started selling merch at her yoga studio, something she had previously been against. And even more shocking, Richard has proposed to Luciana, causing Marcus and Naomi to need an antidote to the potion quickly before any real damage can be done. Going back to Hal’s shop, they find it is a nail salon — which Marcus initially thought it was the first time they visited — and now he uses this to prove there is magic involved. As they try to find an antidote on their own, they find Hal snooping on them and demand he provide the antidote — which he does but all of the ingredients are weird objects from Greek myth, and the last one is smudged. Now they have to do some detective work to figure out what the ingredients correlate to in modern times — like Golden Fleece and Stygian water — to break the spell. Hal also reveals to them that he’s actually … Cupid, and that helps them in their investigation, able to use the legend of Cupid and Psyche to deduce the ingredients. Despite how everyone is behaving, Marcus keeps assuring Naomi that his feelings for her are real and the potion only helped him express himself, but what about the others? After a long process of finding the right ingredients, including the mysterious smudged one, the antidote is prepared but there is only enough for six people so Naomi tells Marcus not to drink any. Could she have feelings of her own that she’s been suppressing? And what will happen to the other three couples when they are given the antidote? Will they remain in love … or will they all see that they were in fact bewitched and almost made some decisions that would have greatly impacted their lives? And once the truths are revealed, will Naomi want Marcus to take the antidote, or does Cupid have another surprise up his sleeve?
Hallmark Channel
Hallmark couldn’t have chosen a more delightful Valentine’s Day movie than Because of Cupid, a lighthearted romantic romp with comedy and fantasy elements that blend as perfectly as the ingredients in the love potion, casting a spell on anyone who watches it. The script by Meyersosn Amy, Kevin Duda and Sarah Montana gives us a great relationship between Naomi and Marcus that does seem platonic on the surface, but once Hal gets Marcus to reveal his feelings, rather unexpectedly, it becomes clear that even without the potion Marcus is clearly pining for Naomi, fearful to reveal the truth. The story points of the three couples and their romances all play out very well, some comically, but it’s clear that there could be serious repercussions once the antidote is administered, and the writers have offered up three very different resolutions to each couple’s story. The twist with Marcus and Naomi is also a delightful one, and Naomi gathering up her own courage to admit her feelings to Marcus, without any ‘magic’, also feels very natural. The story also does allow Marcus to fight for the idea that there is magic in the world, and how can one believe in love without believing in magic (and as the couples come out from under the effects of the potion, even though there were no ingredients that influenced their behavior, the story does make it clear that there was real magic involved — Naomi does literally wish Hal’s tea shop back into existence — in their sudden romantic feelings, and each individual had to grapple with their feelings when coming back to their own reality). Director Liz Farrer does a great job of keeping the story and setting grounded in reality and allows the cast to build their characters and their reactions on a scale from grounded to over-the-top, making the entire movie a complete joy to watch. We may know from the start that Marcus and Naomi will end up together because they are the leads, but we are kept guessing as to how the others will end up, and that’s a nice little twist to the story. Hal’s revelation to Marcus about the potion is also a nice touch that I appreciated.
The cast is excellent all around. Amy Groening brings a perfect amount of enthusiasm and scepticism to the role of Naomi. She never shows any type of romantic feeling for Marcus, she is gung ho on saving the Agora from becoming a parking lot, she steadfastly refuses to believe in magic (until it’s unavoidable), and she has a very authentic moment of letting down her guard after Marcus confesses that his feelings are real, finally admitting to herself that maybe she does love him after all and she has been just as afraid as him to tell him how she feels. Evan Roderick is also a delight as Marcus, really doing some broad comedy that I haven’t really seen him do before, especially in the moment when he starts singing to Naomi. Roderick allows Marcus to wear his heart on his sleeve, and he is completely on board with everything Hal tells him, fully believing in the magic that has happened, but also knowing that they have no choice but to give the others the antidote, letting fate truly decide how their magic-induced relationships will play out. If you really think about it, if this were an episode of The X-Files (one of the more lighthearted ones), you can picture Naomi as the sceptic Scully and Marcus as the believer Mulder. Both Groening and Roderick have that same great chemistry, and just like that pair, you know at some point their feelings will grow from a professional to a personal relationship.
Hallmark Channel
Adam Tsekhman is great as Hal/Cupid, giving off a 1000-watt smile at all of his handiwork. He is having a ball playing this character, making him slightly mysterious in the way he seems to be able to manipulate others — particularly Marcus — into voicing their deepest feelings without thinking. The way he pops in and out of scenes comes with great humor, and he seems to just love teasing Naomi and Marcus with all of his mysteries, sometimes a bit frustrated that they need more of a nudge than he’d like to give them. He really does give another of the movie’s delightful performances. Tennille Read does a really nice job as Lisa, getting to play two sides of the character, the run down restaurant owner who just needs a break, and the lovesick woman ready to let it all go for her new romance. Darryl Hinds matches her very well as E.J., the more reserved author who totally lets loose after drinking the potion-laced mocktail.
Richard Waugh is the perfect curmudgeon as Uncle Richard, seeming to have a chip on his shoulder against Marcus for not joining his business, much more cordial with Naomi, and having a complicated relationship with Luciana, good friends who often argue about things but never enough to damage the friendship. It’s fun to see him lighten up and woo Luciana, and it’s interesting that he’s one of the group of six who perhaps doesn’t feel the need to take the antidote but is forced into it by his nephew and Naomi more out of concern for his well-being (and Luciana’s). His reaction to the antidote may be the most surprising. Sandra Flores also brings a nice touch to Luciana, clearly showing that Richard is someone she has known forever, never showing anything more than a friendship but perhaps their bickering is more telling than they care to admit. When it comes down to it, it seems that perhaps Richard and Marcus are cut from the same cloth, hiding their feelings for fear of rocking the status quo. Sarah Booth and Jonathan Maxwell Silver are the most comical of the three couples, having a wonderfully snarky banter pre-potion and completely changing their feelings toward each other after. They both play the romance completely over-the-top, adding a lot of real laugh-out-loud moments to the story.
Miguel Rivas is terrific as the co-host of the mocktail competition, trying to keep things running while Steven is behaving like a lovesick teenager. Khalid Karim appears as Naomi’s ex who works at the botanical garden, pressed into service to help them come up with the ‘golden fleece’ ingredient, having to endure some snark from Marcus, but also accepting his apology later, telling Marcus that it’s clear he has feelings for Naomi and that’s okay. Chantelle Han plays Naomi’s scientist friend with a matter-of-fact attitude, delivering the news that there’s nothing weird in the potion with authority.
Overall, Because of Cupid is a joyful Valentine of a movie with a delightful story and a collection of characters you can’t help but become invested in. Whether you believe in magic or not, the movie will cast a spell on viewers, making it a totally enjoyable experience that requires no antidote.
Because of Cupid has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, is rated TV-G, and is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview | Because of Cupid
Hallmark Channel
Listen to Stupid Cupid by Connie Francis featured in Because of Cupid