Hallmark Takes on ADHD

As an After School Special exploring the topic of ADHD, this was excellent. As a Hallmark movie, it was just OK. And I didn’t understand the title. No third servings to be found. Angie welcomes a new foster to her table as brother Josh meets the new English teacher at his school. Thanks to the charm and good acting of Millie Davis, who played Gina, the second teen foster child to be taken in by Angie, this movie did keep me engaged. She was a star. I did question the wisdom of having two equally attractive unrelated teenagers of opposite sexes living in the same house. But that’s another subject. The romance between Josh and Ella, the new teacher, who also was put in charge of running the extra-curricular music program, definitely took second stage to Gina’s troubles with studying and Josh and Ella’s efforts to raise money for their Track and Music programs, respectively.

The two teacher’s initial friendly encounter turns to rivalry as Ella’s little music group has the unmitigated gall to practice their rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” outside on the school’s lawn within earshot of Josh’s apparently very unfocused and easily distracted track team. I was firmly on Ella’s side in this dispute, despite the screechiness and lack of musicality of her half dozen little chicks (which include Gina). The alternative to practicing outside on the lawn is to use the music room which is full of toppling junk and infested with (possibly dangerous?) mold. When the two teachers receive the news that their budget has been cut in half, they start competing for money with fundraising, from the PTA, the Board of Education, and the Alumni Association. Josh’s track team needs new uniforms and Ella needs a complete renovation of the dangerous, possibly deadly, music room. Ella gets a tip from the head of the PTA that the wealthy Alumni Association might be interested in funding a new project. Because the decision maker, Mr. Gupta, is a “go big or go home” kind of guy Ella very nicely invites Josh to team up with her to pitch funding sports and the arts together. Their mild flirting is kicked up a notch to include a hug in the classroom (which was kinda weird) and a date in a restaurant. Meanwhile, we spend a lot of time delving into Gina’s ADHD and the reasons why some may be resistant to being tested, the resources that can help them, and some pep talks and words of wisdom in dealing with those challenges. Also we spend some time with Steve Lund (yay!) who is trying to figure out a good way to propose to Jenna.

The big conflict right before the happy ending is particularly weak and manufactured because it depends on Josh losing his frigging mind. He is approached by a sports agent who offers to help Josh secure the money for his track program as he is an old buddy of Mr. Gupta. Josh conveniently forgets to tell the guy that the pitch is for the school music program as well as the track team. He is just shocked when his and Ella’s joint pitch is cancelled because Mr. Gupta was won over by the sports agent to generously fund the track team by itself, as requested. Let me tell you, Ella was shocked as well, to put it mildly. Josh redeems himself by refusing the money unless Mr. Gupta funds both programs. Mr. Gupta kindly declines and neither program gets the money. Hilarious. The whole thing was weird because the also very influential Mrs. Gupta turns out to be a big proponent of music programs and is a musician herself. It was very strange and harsh of Mr. Gupta but luckily, out of nowhere, the PTA steps in to save the day. Perhaps someone important got a whiff of that music room and pointed out the school was ripe for a lawsuit on the grounds of child endangerment.