User Reviews

This is a nice enough Hallmark film, with the two leads giving good performances. I disagree with other reviewers, I liked the sarky nature of Jenna Kramer's character.

The story is a bit all over the place though, it doesn't seem to know what it wants to focus on, so instead shoves a lot of standard Hallmark film plot elements together in the hope they all gel. Which, thankfully they all just about do.

Not the best Hallmark film, but I'd take this over a Marvel green screen 'masterpiece' any day.

It's not a bad movie, but it is a slow one. The story has a lot of promise and showcases pet care, but the tedious time wasting become aggravating at times. That and the leading lady's eyelashes. They've put eyelashes on her the size of the great wall of china; I'm surprised she could open her eye lids. In the scenes, that is all you see - her eye lashes. All those outdoors scenes, and the focus is her eye lashes.

Dogs are fun to watch; very well trained and beautiful animals, lovely homes and rooms. Just could have moved along a little faster, with more of a story line than people fumbling over words to each other in the early Duhh stage of romance.

'Love at First Bark' is the first 2017 Spring Fever film, a quite brief seasonal blocking that year. Any film that has at least one dog in it already appeals. As does the always watchable Kevin McGarry, he has been in a fair share of misfires and had roles well beneath him but he is nearly always one of the redeeming merits. Am more mixed on Jana Kramer, whose performances always depend on how her character is written. The concept didn't excite me massively either.

There is not much that is special about the execution for 'Love at First Bark'. It does have its good things, not many Hallmark films are completely irredeemable, but on the whole it did feel pretty lacklustre and not a particularly good or promising start to the 2017 Spring Fever block. Redeemed by a good male lead performance and the dog, but unbalanced badly by the female lead character being so unappealing and not being particularly interesting.

As said, 'Love at First Bark' has good things. The scenery is beautiful and complemented very nicely by the photography. Another thing that stands out in a good way is McGarry, who is quietly confident and easy going as the one likeable and interesting character.

Furthermore, the dog is truly adorable and impossible to resist. The best chemistry was also with any interaction with the dog too. There generally wasn't enough charm or heart, but there were moments.

However, a lot doesn't work in 'Love at First Bark'. Kramer's character is incredibly unappealing, too snarky and pushy and that McGarry's character saw any appeal in her later on, considering how she treats him, is a mystery. Kramer does try and has moments of charm, but to me she did over-compensate. She and McGarry have little chemistry together, the relationship is not developed enough and they are not a good match together due to such a big clash in personality and acting styles. Not to mention what was said above about not finding the appeal of her later on believable and actually a bit of a stretch. The supporting cast are competent and try their best, but are not particularly memorable and are a bit too subdued. The music likewise.

When it comes to the characters, only McGarry's (and the dog's if we are including animals) is interesting or likeable. The others are not developed enough and come over as Hallmark cliche ciphers, while Kramer's suffers from character flaws being exaggerated. The chemistry didn't connect enough. The story never really came to life for me, it is too slight (especially early on), is dully paced and does nothing new with a familiar scenario. The contrived and too easy final act, culminating in a pat ending, is particularly true to this. The charm and heart are really lacking and the film takes itself too seriously generally. The script is banal throughout, forced later on and has too many stilted moments.

In summary, lacklustre but not a complete miss. 4/10.

This is your basic Hallmark love story. A designer adopts a dog and finds out caring for a dog is not as easy as she thought. This concept was a cute PSA for would be dog adopters. The work is worth it for the love of your dog. She hires the incredibly handsome dog trainer from the shelter to help. I never found the dog to be really difficult just stubborn. That's all. There were no horrible disasters that could have been hilarious. Of course, the humans fall in love with each other as the woman and dog bond with each other. My only question was the dog breed. The movie description said the dog was a German Shepherd. I wasn't buying that at all. As another reviewer said, they went overboard with this woman's eyelashes. I have watched this movie more than once anyway/

If you're a fan of Hallmark movies, this will not disappoint you.

Julie, an interior designer, left her job at a large company to branch out on her own. She decided it would be the ideal time to adopt a dog since she was working from home.

Realizing she was not very good at controlling her new dog, she took up an offer from Owen, a handsome dog trainer to help her. In the meantime, Julia has a hard time finding design work but strikes up a conversation with a woman at the dog park who is in need of a designer for her baby nursery.

The chemistry between Owen and Julia was very believable, and the story had charm. The dog was adorable too!

Jana Kramer portrayed a character so snarky and was such a know-it-all that I couldn't keep watching hoping would get better.

Why does Hallmark think antagonism is a great storyline, especially when it's one-sided or unwarranted? Do we really treat people we just met with rudeness?

Sometimes certain actresses are too good at snarkiness. I'll have to see if other Jana Kramer movies fall into the same pattern before I cross her off my do-not-watch list.

The movie progresses real slow. From the beginning itself, it does not pique my interest. I feel the movie has no real story, a new dog owner falling for the dog trainer, boring old concept. With an interesting script, it could have been entertaining but it was not.

Any movie Kevin McGarry acts in you won't be disappointed. He always takes his acting to the next level. Paired with Jana Kramer, they make the dynamic duo. Such a cute premise and add dogs in and you have a really cute story.

Slooooow sappy she's too 😫 whiny and kind of a downer, I can see why she's single! If I were King I'd drag her back to the rescue and have her leave me there! Dog trainer should have been glad when she had to leave the restaurant!

I got on a crazy Hallmark kick around Thanksgiving, so I've been binge watching for 2 months now and have seen an embarrassing number of films. This one had to be one of the worst, which was surprising since it's a recent (2017) film. I've noted that the latter ones (2016-18) are *somewhat* less traditional Hallmark, which too often had career-oriented women suddenly chucking their hard-fought positions to go live in a rural community with some down-on-his-luck, but cute guy. My inner feminist cringes at those films, and yet I keep watching....sigh.

Anyway, in this one, the protagonista does maintain her career, but she's horribly annoying, with tarantulas for false eyelashes, and I found she had zero chemistry with the also bland dog trainer protagonist. I was actually hoping for more screen time from her colleague, who was way less annoying and actually had some funny lines. I realize it was a plot point, but she was also a complete idiot about her dog, even admitting that she'd only read a few books, but had never owned a dog. I'm only giving this crap 2 stars because they did a nice job promoting animal rescue and the dogs were awesome. However, my rescue would never adopt out to such an idiot without mandatory training, so the film gets a ding for that. Two hours I won't get back. I'm definitely avoiding that horrible actress in the future.

Truly, that dog was such a good boy. A fantastic actor as well, out shined his human counterparts

Super cute movie, great chemistry between the leads, enjoyable story/plot. Love at First Bark is a movie I love watching again and again. It's charming, sweet and wonderfully adorable.

I love dogs and really wanted to like this movie. Jana Kramer is so boring in the leading role that I could barely get through it. She adopts a dog. Why? She's obviously not comfortable loving him. She's mechanical and has absolutely no passion. This was really hard to watch. Where's Alicia Witt or Lacey Chabert in these Winterfest movies?

Great chemistry between Jana Kramer and Kevin McGarry which makes this a fun way to spend some time. I am selfish with my time and for entertainment would rather watch something fun, happy and uplifting. This fits the bill and so enjoy adding dogs to the relationships.

I have never seen an actress with such big teeth. Seems like she has100 of them. Naturally, she oversmiles non stop. Like watching a human piano. The movie was forgettable fluff.....long and boring.

My review is all about the voice of the girls. Fake voices. Why do the girls speak like that? So annoying with that tone! Do they feel that they get more attractive or hot or what? Is this in any possible way making them attractive by making their voices like a lazy frog? I really cannot stand the whole movie! I am a guy and it is not attractive at all. It is like horrible. And how does the director feel about that? Does he or she not care? Even frogs sounds better.. a lazy frog in a rich house taken to the park for some activities. This is how exactly girls here changing their voices. Congratulations.

Who doesn't love Jana Kramer? Her country music is awesome! And she did the best-ever (in my own opinion) sexy water dance on Dancing With The Stars last season (2016). She's hot and she's good. I love those eyes of hers. I could get lost in them. But the movie is different for Hallmark! Unique plot! And Owen is a nice package for her in this movie. I hope she does more romantic comedies on Hallmark or the big screen. She's definitely got it going on in her career. I look forward to more of Jana Kramer this year. She just seems so like herself on screen and I'd give anything to meet her. I dream of holding her in my arms forever some day or someone that has a very major resemblance to her. I like everything about her. She seems so genuine and real true to her nature. Go Jana Kramer! Bring it some more for me! I love her! She's perfect for Hallmark and even better for the big screen. She could replace Bo Derek in the remake of the movie 10!

When this movie was over my wife and I both said "This is not one of the better Hallmark movies."

A young lady who gained her designer experience with a firm in Portland decides to strike out on her own, with a friend, they now have a small design business and seek clients.

At the same time she decides she wants a dog but knows nothing about dog care or dog training. Through this development she meets a guy who works with dogs, he is handsome enough he could be a movie star. He falls for her quicker than she falls for him, something alienates them (jealousy of an old girlfriend) but they recover. Plus in the process she gets noticed and starts to gain clients.

It isn't a bad movie, just not particularly good. It is somewhat lazy but sufficient for an evening before bed. No worse content than a TV show with attractive people.

At home on DVD from our public library.