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.

I used to be a SUPER ADDICTED romance novel reader back when I was 12 years old. (I'm 26 now) Naturally, I've became cynical through the years so I don't really read romance novels anymore. HOWEVER, a week ago I found out that about this Harlequin romance novels turned into TV movies. I was like WHAAAATT???? Where there hell was I and why didn't I find out about this sooner?! Of course I just had to watch ^_^ I guess I still love my memories of Harlequin romance novels! So what's my review (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) The pacing of the movie was good. There were no boring parts. As I was watching it, I was trying to imagine if I was actually reading the book - you know when the main characters are saying their lines, etc. The female heroine, Hallie, is very pretty. The hero who Hallie ends up with, Steve I think is his name, is cute in an outdoorsy rugged kinda way. All the actors were very good and acted well. Now as for the story, I didn't really like the story. I thought the hero, Steve, was pretty ordinary. I don't understand why Hallie didn't end up with her college crush and I agree with the other reviewer. Too many divorces. Ack! In my opinion, how they are able to go from one relationship to the other with a recent divorce is sorta ?? But overall, I'm glad I watched this movie. I don't know how similar the book and the movie is but if it is similar then obviously I just don't like the story and I probably wouldn't have bought the book. Now I plan to watch other Harlequin Romance turned to TV. I'm pretty excited because I liked the plot of Diamond Girl (which I bought) and I'm getting soon hopefully. I also got So hard to forget. As soon as I watch those two, I'll write a review.

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.

Excellent romance story for those who fancy such genre. It doesn't hurt that Rick Peters is very handsome and the storyline of professional women, although not inventive, is believable. Good movie to watch.