‘You Cast a Spell on Me’: A Surprising Meant to Be Romance

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Despite the obvious fact that there is an abundance (is it a little too much?) of Hallmark-esque reviews on this webpage, there is still a crazy number of them I’ve yet to see. So onward I work through those. One of these is You Cast a Spell on Me, a title that fits nicely in this box, but comes from the MarVista production company, and made its network debut on ION.

You Cast a Spell on Me (2015) TV Film Review

Halloween is Sara’s favorite holiday. But when it comes to the blaring music or popular costume parties, she takes a step back. But when her friend begs Sara (Nikki DeLoach) to come to one such party with her, Sara reluctantly agrees. It’s there where she meets Matt (Ryan McPartlin).

Matt happens to be the son of one of the most powerful modern coven’s ever. The trouble is, unless he marries a fellow witch by his 36^th birthday, he’ll lose his powers, unique abilities that is the envy of his best friend. This prompts his mother to suggest an arrangement that will be to the benefit of Matt, and their company. But then, he meets Sara, and by some odd twist of fate, after spending the entire night talking with her, his charms have no effect on Sara…

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‘You Cast a Spell on Me’ – A Surprising Meant to Be #Romance. A review of the Nikki DeLoach and Ryan McPartlin romance. #Halloween #CleanRomance Share on X

Silly (I mean, really, an arranged marriage?) and a bit awkward in terms of its production qualities, You Cast a Spell on Me is really quite cute. I like the premise of this one because it is quite different. It even reminds me of Moonlight Masquerade (Hallmark) with the notable difference being this one has elements of literal magic. These elements are quite rudimentary, and at times you can “see” the hidden wires or whatnots meant to create the illusion of this being controlled by a person, but when you sit back and enjoy the idea of the film rather than the reality (or lack of) of the story, you’ll enjoy it. Plus, we all know this one is meant for entertainment over being an award-winner.

The script keeps these would-be romance-rs apart for nearly all of the film, which makes the romance a little hard to buy into. Nonetheless, the scene between Sara and Matt (early on) is really sweet and pretty with its twinkle lights, and there is a kind of “genuine” connection between them. All of which is helped by Nikki DeLoach, who many will recognize from Hallmark. Ryan McPartlin is also quite good (he has the right “look” for this role), and it’s fun to see the Chuck alumni in something so different.

There is a few occasions (especially with the whole Grandma bit, and the whole shirt thing…!) this one gets a bit “too silly,” but I think it also realizes this. There’s some Cinderella fairy tale feels, and overall, it’s cute. If you enjoy something seasonally appropriate, but don’t want the spook factor, You Cast a Spell on Me (also known as A Kind of Magic) is the ideal way to go. It’s cute, fun and best of all, has a fun romantic entanglement that even if not fleshed out, of course, we still root for.

Photos: MarVista Entertainment / ION Television

Content: This one is clean unless you’re bothered by magic; it’s not overdone, and the script is very careful to condemn “bad magic,” but “fun” magic is there nonetheless. According to HMN, this one is TV-G.