Dead Battery

After more than several Christmas movies that surprised and delighted and a February slate that really went outside their usual wheelhouse with their tributes to Jane Austen, it’s back to, if not the salt mines, at least bland and boring reality for Hallmark. Oh, this one will probably get decent reviews and good numbers because it stars the ever-popular Tyler Hynes who does his usual growly low-talking and vaguely rough around the edges thing. Also, as usual, his character’s character leaves a lot to be desired (i.e. weak). But it was a Hallmark that went strictly by the Hallmark playbook: Where do I start? Shy and afraid of “getting back out there” and stepping-outside-her-comfort-zone heroine, who is still recovering from dead mother syndrome meets the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart in High School. They compete with each other in a contest whose prize money will save her father’s business from failure. The boyfriend, who is dissatisfied with his desk job, works for an evil corporation owned by his father who is trying to (double whammy!) put her father out of his already struggling business. Also, I couldn’t believe it when the compulsory winter bonding activity of ice skating was replaced with…roller skating! Cuz it’s not winter anymore! It’s spring! And this is the kick off to “Spring Into Love!” What is it with Hallmark and skates?

Even though the foundation of the plot was the same old same old, I will say that the accessories were kind of interesting. The business in question is a car garage and our heroine, Jess, is the mechanic who also restores vintage cars. (That’s what the reality show/contest is about.) We have a lot of love for and information about cars from the 1950s and 60s which was definitely more interesting than some of the usual professions that we are subjected to in Hallmark movies. Also worth mentioning is that this is the first movie in Ashley Williams’ Make Her Mark program which fosters and provides the opportunity for women who aspire to be directors. Hallmark has been very good about giving women the opportunity to write and direct their movies, from what I can tell. And this program just reinforces this effort. Well done, Hallmark! Also Kudos in the acting department to Ray Galletti who did such a great job playing “Wayne LaRouche” the host of the reality show that I actually googled “Wayne LaRouche” expecting to see that he was a real guy who owned a chain of classic car restoration shops.