The Groomsmen Last Dance 2025 Movie Review
Hallmark Channel’s The Groomsmen trilogy concludes with a pretty perfect ending that gives us a major plot twist with the identity of the runaway bride who has been relating the story of The Groomsmen that will hit you in all the feels.
The Groomsmen: Last Dance begins again with the runaway bride in the Irish pub having concluded her story about Danny and Zack, with Kate finally thinking she’d now know why the bride has run away from her own wedding. But she’s not done because there is one more tale to tell that will help explain her reticence and this one is about Jackson, of course and we rewind once again, briefly, to the wedding that started it all but without warning the story zips past both Pete’s and Danny’s nuptials to the point where Jackson is being cajoled by his pals about being the last single man standing. But Jackson is still going through his own issues from the break-up of his marriage, and now his ex has taken their daughter Betty to Italy where mom has a new job. But it’s great for Betty because she gets to spread her wings, and learn a new language and culture. Jackson is left just mainly focused on his work as a talent agent, almost feeling a bit burned out by how the field has gone from authors and performers to social media influencers as the premiere talent. But a call from ex Tricia, who needs to go to Africa for a month for her work, has Jackson eagerly on the next flight to Italy to stay with Betty.
Jackson’s first moments in the town of Sperlonga almost ends in disaster as he’s distracted by his phone and almost hits a woman crossing the road (and the natives do not take kindly to distracted Americans nearly killing them). Trying to apologize does not help matters but Jackson forges on and stops at a ristorante to grab a cappuccino to go. And who should be the owner of said ristorante? Of course it’s the women he nearly ran over, Gabriella, and she has news for him — Italians don’t take a cappuccino after noon (very true as my Italian friend has informed me) … and she doesn’t do carry out. Jackson leaves after another attempt at an apology, and outside on the sidewalk Gabriella brings him a cappuccino (in a mug but he can bring it back the next day). Perhaps his charm has had an effect. When he reaches Tricia’s house, it’s not far from the ristorante. After Tricia leaves, Jackson attempts to cook dinner but can’t get the stove to work so he calls for help and who shows up but Gabriella … who is also the landlord. The oven is a simple fix — it was the pilot light — but she is horrified to see that Jackson is preparing a meal with … canned tomatoes. In Italy! I believe that is a crime punishable by imprisonment, but she helps him out (add sugar to the canned tomatoes to reduce the acidity) and things begin to thaw a little more. She suggests he visit the town’s local market to get some fresh tomatoes the next time he wants to cook something.
As the two keep running into each other and are becoming more friendly, there are definite sparks but on a call with his friends Jackson tells them he just can’t get into a relationship with Gabriella because he just isn’t emotionally ready, nor does he think he ever will be, and he’s leaving to return to Philadelphia at the end of the month. Unfortunately when it comes time to break the news to Gabriella, Jackson does not give it his best delivery and seems to really want to push her away rather than deal with feeling bad for having to break her heart. He tries his best to avoid her but, as friends do, Danny and Pete show up unannounced to try and get Jackson to realize this is good for him to open his heart to Gabriella. Betty also does her best to reunite her dad and Gabriella because he keeps embarrassing her by showing up at school to walk her home, so she hides all the canned tomatoes so he has to go to the market where he inevitably bumps into Gabriella. Too bad she’s now giving him the cold shoulder but the ‘chance’ encounter helps thaw things out a little. At an annual festival in which the attendees wear masks, Betty convinces her dad to go and he is approached by a woman who wants a dance with him, which he does even though he has no idea who it is. Betty and the guys see the dance and think that maybe there is hope for Jackson and Gabriella if they can just get him to loosen up a bit more. Jackson finally goes back to the ristorante to talk to Gabriella and learns that she is in the process of trying to get her father to merge his vineyards with her business, but the hard feelings between him and her mother has put up an almost impenetrable wall between them all. Gabriella has no car of her own, you don’t need one in Sperlonga, so instead of letting her take the bus Jackson offers to give her a ride. That will give them a chance to talk and re-connect (and Jackson will find out that the masked woman at the festival was Gabriella and it was no accident that she chose him to dance with). Unfortunately, her father Lorenzo is still a firm no even though Gabriella made the long trip to see him in person (something she has not done for some time). But Lorenzo seems to like Jackson, and after they both have a talk that may change their hearts, Gabriella up and leaves the next morning on her own, still angry that her father won’t look ahead to the future and help her build both their businesses (he does not want his home and vineyards turned into a tourist attraction). But when Jackson returns to Sperlonga, he is followed closely by Lorenzo who has had a change of heart and has signed the papers for the merger. And, it turns out, Jackson’s company is doing fine without him in the office so he sees that has the sign he’s been waiting for, happily extending his stay to grow his new relationship.
But what of the runaway bride? It turns out it is a grown up Betty, now going by her given name of Elizabeth and she is about to marry … Milo! The boy who kept trying to get her attention finally won her over. But Kate asks why she is running away if she loves Milo. Her answer is because their romance has never been as grand as any of The Groomsmen and she’s not sure if Milo really wants to marry her. Milo finally tracks her down and when she tells him this he assures her he does want to marry her, and they do have an epic story to tell and it was right there in the pub the whole time — the arcade game that she and Danny were always playing. Milo had earned the top score and used the initials MLB, which Elizabeth thought was Danny’s reference to his job with the Major League Baseball team. She has been wrong all these years, and if she had ever managed to get the top score she would have seen that it stood for ‘Milo Loves Betty’. Feeling more secure now, Elizabeth and Milo return to the hall and have the wedding of their dreams with Jackson and Gabriella (though we never learn if they have married), Danny and Zack, and Pete and Chelsea, and at this point even Kate is invited. Heartfelt speeches are made, tears of joy are shed and everyone dances the night away.
The Groomsmen trilogy has been a delight from beginning to end, really clicking with the second chapter and hitting all the emotional beats one would expect with the conclusion. Elena Rusconi was a nice addition to the cast as Gabriella, giving Jackson as good as she got, never afraid to put him in his place (and when they were on the outs, not shy about announcing to everyone in the ristorante after Pete and Danny arrived that Jackson drank cappuccino after noon). But even when they were apart, their hearts were pulling them back together. Did we expect anything less? The only problem with these three movies is this — they are so charming, headed by three wonderful actors who make you feel their bond, and then joined by the women in their lives, as well as all of the other supporting characters, and wonderful love stories that it’s actually sad to see it all end. This was undoubtedly the best series of films Hallmark has produced, followed closely by Hearts Around the Table, but this one just packed such an emotional punch at the end because we have grown so connected to the characters and their stories that it just hurts a little to let them go. But what we had over the course of the three movies was pure joy and entertainment, and we should all be happy that we had that.
