FUNatics Review – Hallmark Channel’s New Movie ‘Branching Out’. Last night on the Hallmark Channel, this new movie premiered. This was the last movie in the springtime event, ‘Spring Into Love.’
Starring Sarah Drew as Amelia, Juan Pablo Di Pace as TJ, and the incredible Cora Bella as Ruby. If this movie did one thing and gave you one takeaway, it is to watch Cora Bella. She’s a star in the making. My thoughts are you should watch ‘Branching Out.’
The premise ten years ago, Amelia Weber (Drew) had a baby on her own. Today, Amelia’s charming daughter Ruby (Cora Bella, Test Drive) is her everything. When Ruby gets a school assignment exploring heritage and creating family trees, she notices hers is small and sparse. With the help of a DNA test, Amelia learns that Ruby’s father T.J. Cruz (Di Pace) lives nearby. Meanwhile, the endearing T.J. is a professional guitarist who hasn’t found success the way he always dreamed.
Amelia makes contact, and to her surprise, T.J. wants to meet Ruby. T.J. has a huge family, and suddenly Ruby’s family tree has sprouted leaves! Romance takes flight as Amelia gets to know T.J. and is invited to take part in his family’s Mexican traditions.
Along the way, Amelia’s protective instincts – both for herself and her daughter – are challenged, especially when T.J. gets the chance of a lifetime that might take him away. With the help of an adorable little girl who has a big heart and a thousand questions, Amelia and T.J. discover that family trees can be complicated and wonderfully unique, especially when love is what ties everyone together.
Ok and now my thoughts. I love that Hallmark is highlighting all the different types of families. This is a love letter to single moms, in a way. We see a mom, who chose to be a mom and not have a relationship. Amelia chose IVF as her path to becoming a mom. She chose to do this alone because simply, she wanted to be a mom. We see that she truly is alone. She has no family. Her father left when she was a child and that caused a lot of emotional trauma for her. Her mother passed away. She has her best friend and business partner, Maura, as her chosen family for herself and Ruby. But Ruby wants more.
When assigned a family tree/heritage project at school, she asks her mother to help her find where she comes from. What makes her her? Amelia is hesitant, at first. But with the help of her friend Maura, she relents and talks to Ruby about her donor. She even shows Ruby the file on him. In there is a baby photo and demographics. She also has a saved email with a voice recording of him. She says she chose him because of his laugh.
Let’s talk about Ruby before we go on. This kid is amazing. She shines in every scene she’s in. Ruby wants to know if she gets her clumsiness from her Biological dad. She plays guitar and is a huge Taylor Swift fan. Her guitar is named Baby Taylor. I’m all over the place but she was fantastic. Ok back to the story…
Amelia helps Ruby do a DNA registry test. It’s super hard for Ruby to wait for the news. Finally, the results come in. Amelia finds out Ruby is a match for Sofia Cruz. After a little research, she finds out about the Cruz Family Farms. Amelia goes to check it out. There she meets TJ. She tells him about Ruby.
Ok, I’m not going to keep going play by play but Amelia gets overwhelmed with the enormity of the new family. The Cruz family is very large. Amelia and Ruby get enveloped into the family, along with Maura. Ruby falls hard for the whole family.
Juan Pablo Di Pace is spectacular in this movie. I enjoyed him a lot. I normally love Sarah Drew but I didn’t quite connect with her all the way. As a former single mom, I did get the trepidation and fear for your child but she did project her fears a lot. I didn’t feel the chemistry as much as other Hallmark movies.
I would love to see more of these actors in movies. Bring back Juan Pablo and Cora in anything. We already love Sarah
I love the way the movie didn’t shy away from IVF. She explains why she chose it. He explains why he chose to be a donor. And the answer isn’t some weird reason. He was honest. He was broke and decided to donate. A lot of people will donate all kinds of things just for the fact that you get financially compensated.
I have more respect for Hallmark for putting these kinds of stories out in the world. It reflects a large population of families. So again, Thank you Hallmark Media for showing every kind of family. I love that within this channel, we can have families like this, divorced families, same-sex families, and then more spiritual content. It makes me more of a fan. I for one, will keep tuning in to all these types of content.
Branching Out is from Hallmark Media. David Wulf is producer and Jake Relic is coproducer. Maclain Nelson directed from a script written by Melissa Bustamante.
