Stream It or Skip It: ‘The Wedding Contract’ on Hallmark Is Another Solid Addition to Network’s Jewish Romance Library

Hallmark’s The Wedding Contract continues the network’s mission to prove that people from all walks of life can fall in love in a 90-minute TV movie. This new wedding season movie focuses on a Jewish couple and the marriage traditions of the faith — including the titular wedding contract, a.k.a. the ketubah. But is The Wedding Contract a by-the-numbers agreement between Hallmark and the audience, or does it have a few welcome surprises in the fine print?

THE WEDDING CONTRACT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Becca Tobin (Turner & Hooch) and Jake Epstein (The Hardy Boys) star as Rebecca and Adam, a nice Jewish couple going through all of the hurdles of planning a wedding. Yep, you read that right! These two meet in the opening scene and, after an illustrated montage of their courtship, we pick up 6 months later when the two of them get engaged. This movie’s already beyond the borders of what we normally see in Hallmark movies, so the plot could truly go anywhere!

Prepping for a wedding does provide a nice to-do list for the plot as Rebecca and Adam secure a venue, meet with the rabbi, pick out a dress, taste some cakes — all the greatest hits. Matters are complicated by the couple’s bickering mothers, Rebecca’s observant mom Sadie (Colleen Wheeler) and Adam’s on-the-go jetsetter mom Dianne (Laura Soltis). And as anyone who’s ever planned a wedding knows, life doesn’t stop just because you’ve got a rehearsal dinner to go to. Adam has to juggle his nuptials with a major promotion at work — one that promises to completely change his life forever, on top of the wedding that will also change his life forever. That’s a lot of change!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This is classic Meet the Parents / Meet the Fockers territory. I’ll add that on the whole, The Wedding Contract really feels like the kind of lighthearted, mid-budget wedding movie that was made back in the ’80s and ’90s.

Performance Worth Watching: Colleen Wheeler (Yellowjackets) and Laura Soltis (Devil in Ohio) are so much fun to watch as the dueling — yet oddly in sync — moms. They both toss off “suggestions” with such effortlessness, giving a light passive aggressive vibe to a generally low-conflict movie.

Memorable Dialogue: While picking a wedding dress, Adam’s oh-so-chic mom Dianne looks at one of Rebecca’s choices and says, “I gather pizzazz is allowed.” That’s just one of a number of lines — and deliveries — that make The Wedding Contract feel more like a movie movie. There are a number of solid jokes in this one that the cast seamlessly performs with a natural ease.

Our Take: The Wedding Contract is the result of a perfect marriage of cast and script. It would most likely be enough for the movie to 1. feature a predominantly Jewish cast and 2. start with an engagement and go from there. The movie’s already scoring points with me just by breaking the Hallmark formula in a fun way. But on top of that, The Wedding Contract has a great cast that make a romantic script sing.

Epstein and Tobin are great as the lead couple, which is commendable as they have to play two people who are already in love as opposed to two people falling in love. They really sell Rebecca and Adam’s shared history as well as their pre-wedding nerves in every scene, and they’re a great anchor for the movie.

The first half of The Wedding Contract can at times feel like an extended montage of wedding traditions, more like scenery and less like scenes. That’s partially because there’s so little conflict in the run up to the wedding. Rebecca gets the dress that she wants, Adam lands a major account and promotion, the moms bicker but the disagreements never escalate — compared to how weddings really go, or even how wedding planning can go in Hallmark movies, Adam and Rebecca have it easy. There’s even a very small subplot about the very real problem of schools being underfunded that elicits kind of a “what are ya gonna do?” reaction from Rebecca and her boss.

But I dunno — isn’t that part of a Hallmark movie’s charm? We certainly get conflict in Hallmark movies and The Wedding Contract does eventually introduce some tension, but isn’t it also nice to just watch something pleasant? And the cast here is so charming, such a delight to watch that it makes the rather easygoing nature feel more like a feature and less like a bug.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Wedding Contract is a welcome addition to Hallmark’s increasing lineup of Jewish romance movies.