Ups and Downs
What we have here is somewhat of a dual time line plot, but not really. The main event is definitely the present day story set around the Kentucky Derby. Certainly one of the most timely Hallmark movies ever. I mean, day of, and only an hour later than the actual event. Hallmark movies always premiere on Saturday which is always the day The Run for the Roses is held. The upset winner of the real race this year, Golden Tempo, was the first horse trained by a woman to win the Derby. In a remarkable coincidence, the secondary story line in this one involved our heroine’s best friend, a woman who is training one of the contenders, also an over 20 to 1 long shot. No spoilers here. Back to the movie.
The movie opens in muted colors because this is the part that is set back in the olden days of the 1930s. It is the story of the present day couple’s forebears: a great grandmother and a great uncle, Gloria (Gigi) and Charlie (Lefty). This is a little mixed up generation-wise and I was confused. He is the son of the rich owners of a horse farm near Louisville and she is a greenhouse worker. He wants to be a builder and go to New York to build skyscrapers and she also wants to pursue her dreams there. He gives her an expensive necklace and proposes marriage with his grandmother’s wedding ring. She accepts the ring, and reluctantly accepts the expensive necklace. Predictably and unfortunately, his parents oppose the match and “force” him to take another girl of his own class to a fancy ball. Gloria reads about it in the paper and she breaks up with him, returning his ring, but he refuses to take the necklace back. He is also forced to give up his dream of being a builder in NYC and has to take over the horse farm and somehow is instrumental in establishing “Churchill Downs.” Lots of spurious history in this one, and I admit I was a little fuzzy about some points. The story passed down in his family is how poor Charlie almost got caught by a gold digger who all but stole an expensive necklace and other gifts and money from the family. Great grandmother Gloria goes on to help establish the big important greenhouse at Churchill Downs. And you can bet the vicious lies about her being a greedy seductress are going to figure pretty heavily in the inevitable “Big Misunderstanding” between Ash and Sadie.
Reliable Andrew Walker plays Ash, the son of the CEO of Churchill Downs, who unlike his great uncle, had the backbone to defy his father and become an architect and builder specializing in helping Non-Profit community projects. Or, as his father calls them, “do-gooders” with a sniff and a sneer. Newcomer Odette Annable plays Sadie who works part time for her mother, who runs the aforementioned greenhouse, while pursuing her dream of being a florist by working in an elite flower shop owned by a really difficult woman. A storm has damaged one of the spires of Churchill Downs, and dear old dad calls his son to come fix it. Ash is not inclined to accept the job because he is really busy and important in his own right. But his nice mother wants him to because it is an opportunity to ease the estrangement between her husband and her son. Sadie and Ash, both tending to their individual projects, meet on the grounds of Churchill Downs at night and the romance begins. Meanwhile, Sadie, who is struggling under the thumb of her terrifying boss, agrees to provide the flower arrangements for her pregnant best friend/horse trainer’s baby shower. Ash’s mother sees her work and, impressed, asks her to step in to provide the emergency arrangements for a prestigious fundraiser she is holding and, flattered, Sadie agrees. Ash’s mom then specifies that red roses must be present, which is impossible because, Hello!, all of the red roses have already been spoken for because of the Derby. Sadie’s boss is irate and wants nothing to do with getting mixed up with such a high profile affair that is sure to fail, and threatens to fire Sadie. Sadie is on her own and Ash offers to help because his family’s land has a lot of wildflowers including some kind of rare red climbing Prairie Roses. Score! It is at this point that Sadie finds out that Ash, who goes by another name, is the scion of the famous and important Reed family. This leads to a big fight because he wasn’t honest about his identity and it’s inappropriate for her to make flower arrangements with flowers that were picked from the client’s own field. I could see how that would be a little awkward, but the crisis is averted to make way for the big crisis: The red roses for the famous Garland of Roses that is draped over the Kentucky Derby winner are stuck in South America!
Needless to say, Sadie and social media save the day. It’s a Hallmark, so I won’t be spoiling things by divulging that the reputation of Sadie’s great grandmother is restored, the spire is fixed with tiles that will pass inspection with the historical committee, Ash and his Dad repair their relationship, Sadie is well on her way to being a florist under her own banner, and a certain horse wins The Kentucky Derby. This was all pretty standard stuff, plot wise and romance wise. I will say that Odette Annable, as Sadie, was a find, and I hope to see more of her. She and Andrew certainly got the memo about making the final Hallmark kisses more…”interesting.” The behind the scenes peeks of the Derby Week celebrations were nice if probably mostly fictional, going by the fast and loose treatment of the historical facts regarding the race track and The Garland of Roses. At least the setting was authentic, filmed right there at Churchill Downs. It was certainly much better then last years Kentucky Derby movie which was really really phony. It also managed to avoid my least favorite bone-tired Hallmark paradigms. And that was a welcome relief after many of the recent movies.