Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Missing The Boat’ On The Hallmark Channel, A Romantic Comedy About Strangers Who Fall In Love After Their Cruise Ship Leaves Them Behind
In the Hallmark Channel’s new vacation-themed romance Missing The Boat, a couple meets while on a cruise around Italy – technically they’re both there separately, for business reasons, but they hit it off and start hanging out for pleasure. But when they miss their boat after a day-long excursion in Sicily, they spend the rest of the time scrambling to get back to the ship which is a lot harder than you’d think, thanks to a whole host of transportation issues.
The Gist: The premise of Missing The Boat all hinges on a pair of unruly donkeys.
There’s instant chemistry when Parker (Kristoffer Polaha), a lawyer, and Kelly (Emilie Ullerup), a secret shopper, meet on board a cruise ship departing from Rome and with plans to visit several locales in the Mediterranean. Parker is a workaholic who is traveling with his boss, Adam, and his sister Emily, on a trip that’s supposed to be all business, no pleasure. Parker and his boss are in the process of a business deal to sell the cruise line that Adam owns so they’re wining and dining potential investors on board. Kelly is scouting out the ship because she’s secretly researching flaws and dealbreakers on behalf of the investors interested in buying it. They don’t realize their work lives will intersect yet, because when they first meet, they immediately click. Sparks fly thanks to a mutual love of goofy jokes and a natural ease with each other. Which is why they decide to take a day trip excursion to Palermo together. Parker is worried that their adventure, which requires them to ride a couple of donkeys up a mountain so they can visit a hidden waterfall, will make them late for the ship’s disembarkation from Palermo. After the donkeys run away and they have to scramble back to town on foot, it turns out he’s correct.
The pair, having missed the boat, spend most of the movie overcoming all sorts of obstacles – a train workers’ strike that Kelly single-handedly prevents, a “Medicane” (that’s a Mediterranean hurricane) and so much more – trying to get back to the ship. Along the way, a misunderstanding about work also pops up and Kelly gets fired, but the thing is, they’re both just so good natured and charming that it all works out in the end.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? If you’re a Hallmark-watcher and you saw A Keller Christmas Vacation, you’ll note some similarities between that film and Missing the Boat, as the main characters of both movies all scramble from one European city to the next to get back to their ship.
Performance Worth Watching: In two small but completely silly and memorable roles, Orlando Seale plays Italian twins, one who works as a port agent and another who works as a car rental agent. Both are very irritable in a delightful way.
Sex And Skin: None.
Our Take: Full disclosure, I think I am this film’s target audience. I unabashedly love dorky dad jokes and puns that make regular people cringe. I need pop culture references like I need air. I revel in wordplay. And somehow, this is a movie built around two characters whose innuendo is entendres. Who make movie and music references like it’s their job. Whose foreplay is wordplay.
All of the gooft jokes peppered throughout Missing The Boat actually do serve a larger purpose, because they connect Parker and Kelly, they give the pair something to laugh about and bond over as they find themselves in increasingly more frustrating circumstances. Parker’s sister Emily warns him early on during the cruise not to be so corny, and yet in Kelly, he has found his match.
The chemistry between the two leads is solid from the moment they meet, there’s something undeniably charming about both of them, separately and together. There’s also a romantic sub-plot between Parker’s sister and his boss, Adam (Trey Warner) whose character looks and acts like Will Ferrell doing a businessman bit, but it, too, is fun to watch those small characters develop. The casting folks really hit this one out of the park, as the entire ensemble feels like a cozy group that you actually might want to hang out with on a cruise ship.
Our Call: STREAM IT! Missing The Boat‘s silly but smart script elevates a predictable storyline into a movie that’s packed with funny characters, clever dialogue, and winning performances.
How To Watch Missing The Boat
The only way to watch Hallmark Channel live without cable is by using a live TV streaming service. We recommend DIRECTV, which comes with a five-day free trial before payment begins.
DIRECTV offers a number of flexible subscription options, including Genre Packs, so you can best choose which streaming plans fit your needs and budget. Plans start at $49.99/month.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
