Hailey Duff stars in The Wedding Pact 2: The Baby Pact a sweet (sugary) sequel to the 2014 rom-com, The Wedding Pact. The Wedding Pact 2 has a TV movie look and feel, and some of the acting (especially in lesser roles) ranks down there with C movie quality, but the story stands alone and is entertaining nonetheless. I am not a big fan of Oxygen or Hallmark Channel films. With cookie-cutter rom-coms being pumped out right and left, it’s difficult to get excited about yet another. Fortunately, writer/director Matt Berman doesn’t rely on love matches and sappy clichés.
Duff stars as Elizabeth Becker, a woman who married her best friend based on a ten-year-old pact, but four years after the marriage, Elizabeth finds herself a pregnant widow. She decides to move home to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nearly penniless, she takes a job at a local flower shop and works on creating a life for herself and her unborn child. To her surprise, her former mother-in-law (Chase Masterson) files a lawsuit to claim custody of her baby, supposedly at the bequest of the baby’s father. So as to not offer up spoilers, I will only say that Berman provides a few creative twists, albeit choppily. The words cute, syrupy, and run-of-the-mill come to mind.
Duff is talented, looks beautiful, and is certainly the best thing about the film. The majority of the cast seems more soap-opera appropriate than feature film fair. Berman thankfully offers up enough details as the movie progresses to catch new viewers up on these characters – all the while, ensuring the development of fresh considerations for Elizabeth and her friends. He also makes sure to deliver a sequel that is in no way a rework of the actions of the original. Still, I am perhaps not the best person to review this genre of film. I am simply not a fan of cheesy storylines and tied up in a bow endings.
The words cute, syrupy, and no-frills come to mind as I am writing this review, BUT that’s not necessarily bad. It just isn’t for me. I have several friends who love this kind of “old-style “chick flick and who enjoyed watching it with me. One is even excited to see if there is a third in this franchise. Given their zeal and my indifference to The Baby Pact, I am placing three stars at the top for this one. My gal pals might have given it more, but I cannot.