Bad Business

An Easter Bloom

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Flower Power

Aimee Teegarden plays a young lady in her mid twenties who has lost her faith because her Dad, who was very into church and Christianity, died of a heart attack. She has come home to “the farm” to help her still religious mother. The farm is a flower farm that is struggling because of what I like to call “bad business.” This is a condition that most Hallmark businesses that need to be saved suffer from. Basically, it can be defined as owners who, allergic to making a profit, try to run a business based on a very flawed business plan. This includes but is not limited to having a store with little to no merchandise in it, having a store with merchandise that people only buy a  month and a half out of the year, merchandise that no one would ever want and refusing to sell merchandise that they actually might want, a business that gives its products away for free, a business with no workers or volunteer workers, owners who have no idea how to use modern business tools like social media, etc., etc. To add to the financial difficulties, usually the owners live in huge and gorgeous  McMansions as do Aimee and her mother. Their lifestyle is supported by people who come to the flower farm to “pick their own bouquets”. There is no mention of any large clients who buy their flowers wholesale in bulk. No 1-800-FLOWERS inc., in sight. Plus this is one of those farms that don’t have any farm workers.

Because of too cold weather, the flowers of Aimee’s flower farm won’t grow in time for Easter, prime bouquet season. We know this because Aimee keeps stabbing at the concrete-like ground with a farm implement and muttering things about God in a bad way. Also they apparently don’t have a greenhouse. Presumably her farm is all perennials because there is no mention of not being able to plant seeds, which wouldn’t bloom in time for Easter anyway. But the odd thing is that there are flowers all around everywhere you look in this town, including in Aimee’s house. Where are those flowers coming from? Maybe Aimee and her mother’s farm is cursed, because it is apparently the only flower farm in the north east that can’t grow flowers. Maybe they need an exorcist in addition to the mother’s faith and prayer.  Anyway, the mortgage has not been paid in months and they just got a foreclosure letter from the bank. Aimee can’t believe it and doesn’t understand. Plus, the bank has turned down their loan application which is not surprising because they have not paid their mortgage in months and are foreclosing. It’s like trying to pay your credit card bill with your credit card. But Aimee and her mother are very disappointed that their fool-proof plan of borrowing money from the people you owe money to did not work. Possible salvation arrives when their good-guy neighbor offers to buy the farm for a generous amount of money which sounds like more than the farm is worth. He is turned down because that is the way it is with struggling businesses in Hallmarkland. The struggling owners always prefer to have the bank take over leaving them with nothing rather than selling their failing businesses for mucho dinero. In order to stave off disaster, Aimee is going to increase her hours at the coffee shop she works at and her mother will do more baking of Snickerdoodles that the coffee shop owner has generously offered to sell without taking a cut of the profits. Good plan. Solid. People like to give Aimee and her mother stuff throughout this whole movie. Also, the mom is going to increase her hours at the accountants. What? She works for an accountant? Amazing.

Thanks to her new friendship with a nice woman and former florist who has moved back to town from a long absence, Aimee enters a statewide flower arranging contest which she had no idea existed despite selling flowers for a living. The prize money for first prize is $20,000 dollars! Who is sponsoring this contest that can afford to offer a $20,000 purse for first prize? That’s the business I would want to be in. This nice woman is the mother of the new pastor at church who is the love interest. While teaching Aimee the basics of flower arranging she is also one of the several sources of inspirational quotes that inspire Aimee throughout the movie and, along with the handsome new pastor, lead her back to church and God.

Spoiler alert. To make a long story short, Aimee comes in second and doesn’t get the $20,000 needed to save the farm. The pastor and she become a couple after a breach is healed caused by Aimee eavesdropping on a private conversation the pastor was having and her misunderstanding of what was going on.  His mother heals a beef she has had with the town grouch with a heart of gold, who happens to be the winner of the $20,000 prize. Also the pastor tells his parishioners his big secret that he is a fan of extreme sports and because of an accident he had, he was almost paralyzed and one of his former students was left in a wheelchair. Throughout the movie, Aimee has been accepting gifts from enablers kind townspeople. Buying all of Mom’s snickerdoodles, free flowers so she doesn’t have to practice with artificial ones, free flower arranging lessons, free clothes, etc. So it is no surprise when the winner of the contest, for no reason whatsoever, bestows her prize money on Aimee with no strings attached. Aimee is pleased to accept.  So the farm is temporarily saved. Do the flowers ever sprout? We never find out. But it doesn’t matter, because Aimee and Mom are finally going to have another income stream thanks to the bright idea of turning the farm into a wedding venue. There is no evidence that they know any more about weddings than they do about flowers, but let’s have faith that it just might work. Bless them.  I’m giving this 5 stars because I like Ben Hollingsworth who played the pastor. His mother was nice and I liked the actress who played her too. It was a sweet movie that was very appropriate for Easter, being about miraculous happenings and such.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Shifting Gears

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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.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

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Barbara Niven IS Ms. Christmas

**spoilers**

Ms. Christmas centers around a Holiday Shopping Network TV host (like QVC or Home Shopping Network) who has somehow become so beloved and admired that she has come to personify the Christmas season. Like a  real-life female Santa Claus but one whose career is hawking Christmas products on TV when she is not being honored by mayors or heading up Christmas Parades. This one definitely comes under one of those Hallmarks in which the business practicalities do not bear looking at too closely.  Like what does Ms. Christmas do the rest of the year? Anyway, We learn that Ms. Christmas has received the bad news that she has only 1 or 2 years to live due to a diagnosis that we can only assume is cancer though it is unspecified in the beginning. We learn later it is a brain tumor. This will be her last Christmas at the Network and she wants to make a kind of farewell tour in person. She has detected that people seem to be disconnected from the Christmas spirit this year. I guess sales are down. She is making her long-time top producer/right-hand woman/ surrogate daughter, Amanda, (Erica Durance) her replacement. And this tour will serve as her training ground for moving from behind the camera to in front of the camera.

The main plot turns on Ms. Christmas keeping her diagnosis a secret from everyone except the owner of the network (credibly played by Judith Maxie) who has insisted on having a Nurse (Brennan Elliot) accompany her on her tour. There is also the matter of Ms Christmas’s old fiance of many years ago reappearing to reignite their romance. The movie is saved by the marvelous performance of Barbara Niven as Ms. Christmas and Brennan Elliot as the sweet and compassionate nurse who falls in love with Amanda. They both give charming performances and save this movie from what, on paper, looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Barbara Niven is sparkly, sincere, and just lovely. She makes you forget that she is essentially a female Ron Popeil in Christmas attire. We wait in suspense for her heartbreaking secret to be revealed to her loving assistant. Although Erica Durance plays a good guy in this one, It must be said that her first reaction to learning about her surrogate mother’s diagnosis was really… umm, not compassionate. She was, of course, heartbroken, but also mad because she found out by accident on her own. She made it all about her and her hurt feelings that Ms. C. kept her tragic diagnosis a secret from her. Her mentor apologizes and explains that telling her about her illness would somehow have made it “real,” but Amanda accuses her of being selfish! She leaves her side to think about things leaving Ms Christmas there alone and devastated. I mean I was kind of expecting something of this sort, as Hallmark is all about last-minute conflict, but I was still shocked at her behavior. Thankfully Amanda does come to her senses. I was expecting her to have a problem with Nurse Brennan keeping it a secret from her as well, which also would have been very bad. But thankfully, she does not blame Brennan at all and the romance between them doesn’t miss a beat. Then poor Ms. C. has a bad reaction to some of her meds and collapses. She ends up in the hospital and Barbara Niven does not have a speck of makeup on for those scenes. I was very impressed. (And she still looks gorgeous.) I’ll say it again. Barbara Niven really gives a terrific and authentic performance. 10 Christmas Stars. Her old love persistently pursues her and convinces her to give him another chance despite her terminal illness. Sadly, there is no last-minute Christmas miracle, which I definitely would have been OK with me in this case. The ending was open-ended with Ms. Christmas still alive and kicking so…Maybe? Despite everything the movie was not depressing thanks to some humor and good acting.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Making Waves

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Straight out of the Playbook but not Bad at All.

**spoilers**

This was based on one of the most frequently used Hallmark cliches: A bright and ambitious young city girl goes back to her hometown to accomplish a task for a demanding (female) boss that will ensure the future of her career.  Her lost childhood/teenage love who is still in town is somehow the key to her professional success. We are not spared her reconnecting with beloved loved ones, usually a grandma, grandpa, or other relative, whom for some reason, even though they are “beloved”,  she hasn’t seen for 10 (or 20) years. This time it’s her old best friend from whom she was inseparable until her wedding to another best friend. Just so the viewers know we are not straying outside the box in any way whatsoever, we also have a save the beloved local iconic historical something or other from the big bad multinational development company subplot thrown into the mix. In this iteration, Amelia is a bright and talented music scout (producer? agent?) who wants to sign an under-the-radar indie band from her hometown on the Outer Banks, NC which has now sprouted mountains in the distance because it’s filmed in Canada. Yes, North Carolina does have mountains, but not there. She loves their sound and they have started to develop a large following. And you won’t believe this, but that old boyfriend? He is the lead singer and leader of the band. She doesn’t know this in advance because she mysteriously does not recognize his voice even though her ear for music is almost legendary.

But somehow it worked and I didn’t hate it. Holland Roden was fine as the female lead, Amelia,  and had the advantage of being someone new to Hallmark. She was very pretty. Corey Cott was more than fine as the male lead. He made a believable indie rock star on the rise, as he had the look and was talented with an excellent singing voice. He was very endearing in his love for Amelia. Her always interrupting their intimate moments by answering her phone no matter what didn’t seem to faze him at all! There was one part near the end when I just wanted to bonk her over the head.

Amelia’s boss Lydia and her ex-husband and now rival added some interest to the very basic and predictable plot as well. Unfortunately, it was by virtue of the fact that I  started to “Love to Hate” them both very early on.  I think Lydia was meant to be  tough but kind of quirky and funny in her “over-the-top-ness.” But her bad behavior was just irritating to me. The ex was pompous and arrogant, and I was looking forward to him losing the race to sign the band to the not-so-good “good guys.” I was kind of upset when Lydia turned out to be just as bad as her ex. Worse, really. Because her plans for the group and lies to Amelia were such a betrayal. She was unrepentant and unrehabilitated, so it did pave the way for Amelia to quit and start her own record label. Which will nurture young artists and help them be “their best selves” instead of making lots of lovely money touring and catering to the masses. Eye-roll. Lydia’s expression of shock when Amelia quit was a highlight, however. The actress was good. (Marci T. House.)

It was refreshing that the big bad development company that was buying up land and popular unspoiled local venues in the area turned out to be not so bad after all. Amelia’s friend accepts their generous offer to buy her and her husband’s Inn, which frees them from all of the financial stress and getting up early that they had been burdened with. And her husband lovingly saved their seaside cottage for her. That made me happy.  The money enabled her and Amelia to partner up to form their above-mentioned own label and sign the soon-to-be break-out group plus another one.  That whole scenario was straight out of fantasy land, of course. One of those naive Hallmark business enterprises that does not bear looking at too closely, or closely at all. Heck, just don’t even think about it.

Despite all of the quibbles, it was quite watchable and very summery.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

A Lifelong Love

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It was only 87 minutes. But, yes, it did seem Lifelong.

**Spoilers Galore**

Annika is a poet whose lifelong dream is to get an “anthology” of her poems published. Unfortunately, she has no idea of how publishing works. That is, that no publisher is going to invest good money in taking on her work unless there is good reason to believe it will sell. When the publisher asks this nitwit why anyone would pay money for her unmarketable anthology of poetry she becomes very confused and explains to him that her poetry book is poetry, not a superbowl ad. Whatever that means. Her “pitch” as to why he should publish it is because it will help her “branch out as a writer.” I kid you not. I guess she thinks the publishing house is some kind of non-profit and she is applying for assistance. Needless to say, the publisher is not impressed and leaves her post haste sitting in the conference room alone in a state of shock. Someone actually said “no” to her. This is a Hallmark classic case of an entitled dewy-eyed dimwit who thinks people should be begging her for the chance to invest their talent and resources into making her dreams come true with no benefit to themselves. And we have to deal with her special snowflake attitude throughout the whole movie.

After she leaves the conference room bristling with self-righteous indignation she runs into (literally, of course) the love interest whose proposal of marriage she rejected back in her college days. He is now a famous photographer who is going in to pitch his own book to the same guy. While catching up with each other, she mentions that she is trying to find her widowed grandfather’s first love whom he lost contact with before he married her grandmother. Then she runs into her manager who tries to give her a reality check to no avail. Flush with ignorance and arrogance, she decides she is not going to take no for an answer and bursts back into the conference room where her former boyfriend is trying to make his pitch to Rory, the publisher. Look up the words “unmitigated gall”, “rude”, and “unprofessional” in your Merriam Webster and you will find her picture. Unfortunately, famous photographer Ryan’s pitch is not going well either for much the same reasons. Ooof-these creative types. But, against all odds, by the time they leave the conference room, the publisher will consider publishing their new joint project: A book about their quest to find Grandpa’s lost love augmented with poems and photography about other love stories they find on the way. Rory wants teasers for this possible book featured on Annika’s popular website, and to be sent updates and poems on a regular basis. And of course, since this is the real world, there are deadlines, to her dismay. Yes, Sweetie, writers have deadlines unless you’re Stephen King. And I’m pretty sure he does too. The pair enlist the help of Ellie, Ryan’s niece, whom he is taking care of while her parents are getting a divorce. She is a reader who loves mysteries and is especially enamored of one mystery series in particular. While Annika and Ryan are out following leads and collecting love stories, Her grandpa and his niece bond over books and detective work finding his first love. This movie could have been vastly improved if the love stories had been interesting, funny, or touching, but no such luck. They are as bland and boring as the principal romance.

Meanwhile, true to character (or lack thereof) Annika sends no updates to Rory as required while out and out lying about it to her partner Ryan and her manager/friend. No, she will not share anything unless she has honed and polished it to perfection. Instead, all of her efforts are focused on going behind Rory’s back to a colleague of his that she used to work with to get an extension on the deadlines. When Rory finds out about her slimy behavior on top of not being sent any updates, he pulls the project. Everyone, even her loving grandfather, is pretty disgusted with her and she finally learns her lesson which is explained in many ways by many people, but boils down to “It’s better to get something accomplished than have to be perfect about it and get nothing done.” I wish I could say she learned not to be a liar but I can’t.

Well, she gets her book because they find Grandpa’s old girlfriend who turns out to be the author of the very mystery series Ellie is so obsessed with. And she gets her man because, despite her behavior, they end up with their book thanks to the merciful Rory.

There. That’s the whole thing. I watched it and I’ve explained it so you don’t have to.

Rating: 3 out of 10.

The Love Club: Sydney’s Journey, Lauren’s Dream, and Tara’s Tune.

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Sydney’s Journey

I said in my review of the first one in this series of 4, Nicole’s Pen Pal, I was not going to seek out any of the follow-ups because that one was fraught with problems. Fraught.  But #2, Sydney’s Journey was the weekly Saturday Hallmark movie, and it was the highest-rated of the 4. I also saw that the final two were unusually both showing in succession this Monday (crazy!), so I went ahead and, Oh Well, I decided to review all 4 of them. I’m going to review all 3 together on this page, but will go ahead and will post this one now since I have it done.

Sydney’s Journey was not half as bad as Nicole’s Pen Pal, thank God. Yes, low bar, but it was quite pleasant. The two leads, Lily Gao and Jesse Hutch were both likable, and the movie was minus any bad behavior on their part and not any worth mentioning on the part of the other 3 women of “The Love Club.” (See previous review) All of the bad behavior was on the part of Byron, the jerk ex-boyfriend who is vain, self-involved, and fickle, but that is as it should be. Sydney, who was an athlete in college, is still hung up on Byron who dumped her for the fourth and last time on New Year’s Eve prior to graduation.  She meets him again by chance when the movie begins 10 years later. He is flirty, and she is interested against the advice of “The Love Club”, who are a little more involved in the proceedings than they were in the first one. Sydney definitely needs help because she still keeps Byron’s photo on her refrigerator despite the years, his terrible personality, and the fact that he is not all that attractive. Luckily, she is paired up with Theo (Jesse Hutch), a struggling and attractive restaurant owner, to train for a half marathon that Byron, has lured her into entering. Sydney is a successful blogger and something of a gourmand and she and Theo bond over food and his restaurant which she is interested in getting on the right path to success. The romance was engaging as they are both likable characters, despite Sydney’s cluelessness in the love department, and the two seemed to really connect. I also noticed that Lily Gao is a pretty good actress. There was tension involving the ex, who was very easy to boo and we know it is only a matter of time before she sees through him and gets together with the good guy. I would have liked the ex to have more of his share of just deserts but he ends up getting his “happy ending for now” with another girl, who at least has a bitchy streak. So we can hope that they will be each other’s punishment as things evolve. But before Theo and Sydney can seal the deal we have to go through the inevitable misunderstanding which is straight out of the “he/she witnesses a goodbye hug and thinks it is a yes I’ll marry you hug” playbook. So that and the fact I wanted Byron to suffer more knock this one down to a 6.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Lauren’s Dream

Without the two lead actors and the chemistry they had together, this one could have been a lot worse. Both Chantel Riley and Andrew Bushell acted their parts very well, especially Andrew. He was pretty charming. But it had a lot of potential to be better. A lot of things did not make sense. After the New Year’s Eve Party where the 4 girls meet and form The Love Club, we pick up on Lauren’s story 10 years later when she only has to sign on the dotted line to finalize the divorce from her husband. This pivotal plot point just did not make sense. Why are they divorcing? They are two attractive nice, intelligent parents of a lovely young daughter. They get along great and have a fun and friendly rapport. Throughout the movie, they are always laughing together. Supposedly she has always put her husband’s needs before her own and has put her lifelong dream to own an art gallery on hold for her family. It would make sense if he insisted on her staying home and being the little wifey and raising their daughter. But this is not the case. He is supportive and respectful of her interests throughout. There seems to be no reason why she has to divorce him to be her own person (because this was her idea 100%). They are obviously still in love. If we don’t buy the divorce, we can’t really buy the movie.

Then we have Hallmark’s (even though this really isn’t a Hallmark production, I am pretty sure) seemingly always ignoring the realities of retail commerce. I have a name for this Hallmark tendency. I call it “bad business.” First off, she is pursuing her “dream” by unsuccessfully applying for curator positions. This is not her dream so why is she doing that? She needed to bust up her family for what is not her dream? It’s only when The Love Club comes to the rescue that she is convinced to do the “own her own art gallery” thing. Within a matter of days, DAYS, I tell you!, she has leased a building, constructed her website,  and gotten her art.  For example, she steals a painting, excuse me, “borrows” a painting she gave her husband as a gift to display in her gallery. She has been collecting local artists for years (she complains that hubby never took her “art collecting” seriously, calling it a “Hobby” which I guess is quite the insult)  and has them on her walls at home and also stashed away somewhere presumably. This is the art she is going to open her gallery with and re-sell. At a profit? Really? These are not obscure 50-year-old discoveries, they are by well know local artists and are not even 10 years old. Why would anyone buy them from her at what has to be a huge markup for her gallery to be viable? Need I add that she and her soon-to-be divorced husband are very very wealthy thanks to his hard work. So all of this independent art collecting and chasing her dream is thanks to him and is totally bogus.

The other strike against this movie is the phony and oily (but handsome!) rival for Lauren’s affection. He is a Spanish(?) sculptor, Carlos, who says things like, “It’s like [the painting] is screaming at me from the canvas” and “It is challenging us. Daring us to look away, knowing it’s impossible!”  And he is serious! She replies, “ I’ve never known an artist who so just captures my soul!” Sorry, I just couldn’t. And the painting is just a bunch of pastel shapes.  To be fair, there is a funny part that’s supposed to be funny.  On a date, he declares,  “his use of color makes me want to weep!” and she starts laughing loudly and hysterically (because she just spotted her husband and wants him to notice she is on a date.)

Well, those are the three main things that put me off this movie.  I won’t go into everything, but “Nic” is almost as insufferable in this one as she was in the first one. There were some good things. One was when the daughter wants her Mom and Dad to plan her birthday party together, but she doesn’t want Unicorns or Ninjas. She wants, “an inclusive gender-neutral party with no stereotypes.” Very cute. I wanted to see what that looked like exactly, but unfortunately, it just looked like any other rich kid’s party.

They are brought back together by her daughter’s original painting called “My Family” (which keeps changing dimensions, by the way.) “The Love Club” really doesn’t do anything except comment like a Greek chorus on all of the events and babysit little Stephanie. I guess Lauren and Peter will have to hire a Nanny when they leave, which if they had just done that in the first place….

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Tara’s Tune

I Watched this movie but it was a while back and I am not interested in spending any more time on it to refresh my memory. This is probably tied with Nicole’s Pen Pal as my least favorite. Tara was very unlikable and unpleasant. I was disappointed because I rather liked her in the stories that weren’t about her. The whole premise for the movie of hiring a fake fiance so as not to disappoint her mother made no sense at all, as Mom was not some fragile flower but a very together woman. I remember that a lot of things did not make sense, actually. Not even worth the time it would take to put a picture up. 3 stars? Maybe?

The Blessing Bracelet

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The Blessing Bracelet, Part 2: “Failure and Shattered Dreams”

**Spoilers**

There are a few things that really get my goat when it comes to Hallmark movies. One is inappropriate or strange makeup choices, and another is how out of touch with non-fictional business and financial realities Hallmark writers are. And don’t get me started on the magic suitcases because that has nothing to do with this particular story. And Amanda Shull’s makeup I had no problem with. There are so many examples of naivete and ignorance about financial matters from trying to save a store with hardly any merchandise, to dealing in products that will only sell one month of the year,  to people with little or no income who live in beautiful expensive homes.  Although I will circle back to the heroine’s bracelet business, I do want to talk about the more positive aspects of this movie.

First, this was very much a faith-based story with lots of church in it. I am not much of a church-goer anymore but I did like this aspect very much. It was a tad preachy, but the message was about hope, gratitude, and forgiveness and who can get upset about that advice and guidance, even though it comes from a minister as well as friends and family?  Amanda Shull is very good as Dawn, a single mother who is still trying to dig herself out of the financial mess her irresponsible ex-husband left her in when he took off 3 years ago. Luckily she has the little ray of sunshine that is her 13-year-old son to keep her spirits up. His one (and only) fault is that he keeps hounding her for a dog in every scene he is in. No pun intended. The bank is about to foreclose on her house, and though she goes there personally to beg for mercy it’s no dice because of all of her credit card debt and her car payments on top of her not paying her mortgage. She is pinning all of her hopes on trying to find a second job. It all seems pretty hopeless.

While getting ready for a night out with the girls she runs across one of her old “blessing bracelets” that she and her still best buddy used to make to raise money for a high school project. She starts to wear it and uses the 4 beads to count the few good things in her life. Kind of like a rosary but with bigger and fewer beads. It gives her a more positive confident attitude in spite of her crushing debt and the blessings start to pour in. She goes back to church. The rest of Dawn’s story is about how the bracelets and her new attitude save her house and get her out of debt once she starts to sell them.  The love story part is between her and the bank manager who has been unwittingly foreclosing on her. They don’t know who each other is because they first meet outside of the bank when he takes his pooch to the vet clinic which is her real job. Carlo Marks is well cast as Ben, the too-nice-for-his-own-good foreclosure guy. He is excellent as usual. Dawn and Ben are both very attractive and very kind and sweet and a perfect match. Ben also bonds with her son via said dog. Why isn’t this prize married already? Because he is “married to his job” (which he hates) is the only explanation we are given.

This was a good Hallmark with an uplifting message, some tension and suspense, and a nice romance between two good and likable people who you really root for. Hallmark usually handles religion and church-oriented stories pretty well: low-key, positive, and no Jesus talk, keeping things vague and all-encompassing. This one was no exception. I wish I could say the same about the way they handle money matters. A business plan that relies on an unsustainable no overhead and free labor does not bear looking at too closely. But of course that is exactly what I am going to do!

The whole enterprise gets started when she finally finds a second job (Blessing #1) as a waitress to help with her debt. The waitress who is training her tells her she gets better tips when she gives each of her customers a piece of candy. Dawn decides to give her customers her Blessing Bracelets. Whoa! That’s quite a leap! From a mint or a butterscotch button to free bracelets? I don’t know, if my waitress gave me a piece of jewelry along with my bill, I would think it was super creepy and sketchy. But maybe that’s just me.  And between her full-time job, part-time job, raising her son, and volunteering for her church, when does she have time to make them all? A lady from her church wants to buy 30 of them for her prayer group. This leads to a website and, the 30 bracelets are so popular that it leads to a second order for 500 from the same woman.  But when she can’t fill the huge order, the ladies of the same church (presumably including the prayer group who just bought 30 of them) pitch in to help her make the bracelets voluntarily for free.  It just doesn’t add up. It’s fairly clear that the bracelets are being bought by women affiliated with this church or their friends. They are buying the same bracelets they are making for free? That is just super nice and generous to do that, even for church ladies. And then further complicating the fantastical nature of this bracelet selling, orders are pouring in from the new website, and a local store wants to carry the bracelets, orders 1000 of them, and needs them by Easter. I paused on the website and they are selling for 24 to 30 dollars each retail. If you do the math, that is a chunk of change. Is she selling them to the head of the church group wholesale? Then to add to the already incestuous nature of this enterprise, Dawn announces that she is donating 15% of the sales back to the same church. That’s nice of her, considering. My eyes were rolling while my head was spinning trying to put it all together. And the pastor is so touched and grateful! It doesn’t even occur to her that maybe Dawn wants to keep her flock as free labor even when selling to stores and her retail website.

My favorite part was when her smarmy husband comes crawling out of the woodwork after 3 years, bearing a 10,000 dollar check for her, the first of many, he says.  Despite his apologies and claims that he has changed, it soon becomes clear that he has not changed a bit. She turns down the money and gives him a piece of her mind. A very good scene and I was cheering for her, but should she really have turned that money down? He is her son’s father, and he really owes her that support for his son’s sake. The roof over the boy’s head was still in danger from the bank at this point.

The final straw was when Ben (remember Ben?) quits his job foreclosing on people in order to help customers start new businesses. He buys a storefront in order to rent it to Dawn for her new bracelet business without even consulting her! Maintaining a bricks and mortar store is quite different than selling online, or so I’m told. Even if her son is willing to manage it (after school?) just for “free pizza.” At first, she thought he was giving it to her! “You bought this for me?!”  Of course, she couldn’t accept such a gift, but what if she had followed that with “Thank you!! Thank You!!”? That would have been a super awkward conversation.  “Well no, I really love you, and happy you are forgiving me for almost foreclosing on you when I didn’t know who you were but it’s not a gift. I’m renting it to you, not giving it to you. Your first payment is due Tuesday.”

I approach faith-based stories with an, I hope, open mind but on the other hand I am always on the watch for sanctimony and emotional manipulation. (Hello CCB and Gack/Gaff) In this case, the message was really nice and I liked Dawn, Ben, and their story a lot as a whole. Unfortunately, the bracelet selling may have been the answer to Dawn’s prayers, but there were just too many questions about it for me. Young Justin does get a puppy in the end, in case you were wondering.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Maple Valley Christmas

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Lots of Conflict

Any Hallmark movie aficionado who has ever rolled their eyes at the “almost kiss” that is usually a fixture about midway through the movie might want to check this one out. About 10 or 15 minutes into it and before the sun has set on the day they meet, the girl launches herself at the guy and plants one on him. He was very surprised, but not half as surprised as I was. It was a jaw-dropper.

Andrew Walker, Aaron, is sent by his property developer father to Maple Valley to buy a piece of land that he has had his eye on for years. The land adjoins the tree farm and maple syrup business of the Holden family. The widowed mother has recently given equal control of the operation to her two daughters. The older daughter, Erica, is determined to buy back this land that once belonged to them. The younger daughter, Heidi, wants to use the money to expand their syrup business and maybe “go retail”. Which left me scratching my head. Their syrup business seems to be their only source of income and is apparently thriving (another shocker). Yet they only seem to sell it at festival booths.

There is a lot of conflict in this one. Aaron and his father are at odds because the father perceives Aaron as lazy and unambitious. Aaron does not like his father’s business practices and putting his company over his family his whole life. When Aaron sees that the “Fernandez land” is more important to Erica and better suited to her needs than his company’s he tells her he will not be bidding on the land after all. Erica is happy, grateful, and more enamored than ever. When he tells his father what his decision is, his father is irate. He does not trust his judgment and thinks he is weak and letting sentiment get in the way of good business. Dad hot-foots it to Maple Valley to close the deal himself. Uh Oh.

There is conflict between the two sisters. The younger, Heidi, does not want to buy the land and feels Erica is running rough-shod over her when they are supposed to be equal partners. She has felt discounted her whole life. The mother is retiring because she is moving to Italy with her boyfriend and wants no part of the sisters’ dispute. Erica is upset that her mother is leaving home and putting love and companionship over family and business. She throws shade at the boyfriend who does not deserve it. She doesn’t like the Christmas tree decorations either. When Erica finds out that the father has overruled Aaron’s decision about the land, she gets upset with Aaron. Erica may not be the most likable heroine ever but at least she communicates. Every one does in this movie which is rare for Hallmark. Aaron quits his father and the company he is heir to in order to start his own company. Erica’s sister quits the family business. Erica and Aaron’s father, the ultimate antagonists, both seem to be in the same boat!

How all of these people come together in love and understanding bowing their heads in prayer at Christmas dinner makes for a pretty interesting journey. The prayer is really nice. I paraphrase, “Thank you for this food, this family, this land, this work, and this life. Thank you for what has come before us and what is yet to come. Thank you for the things we cannot change and the things we can.” There are two things I don’t get. What happened to the Fernandez Land? I must have missed it but did the Holdens buy it, or was Mr. Fernandez left in the lurch? Aaron and his dad hug it out at the end, but does he still quit his company? If I have time I’ll rewatch that last part and get back with you.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

We Need A Little Christmas

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Good Grief!

I may have shed a few tears at the end of this one. Which is a good thing for a Hallmark movie. Although a little over the top for most of the movie, Lynn Whitfield bought it home in the final touching scenes. The other great thing about this one was the male love interest. The actor was so appealing playing a normal-looking guy in his 40s who was popular with and respected by everyone from the rich and influential to the humble and normal people. He was just such a mensch. The actor, Patrick Sabongui, was also a standout in Christmas Sail where he played a similar character.

Erica Durance plays a recently widowed mother of a young son trying to work through her own grief and help her boy with his. Unfortunately, she has the wrong end of the stick as far as her strategy and her son doesn’t want to open up to her because he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. She runs a small boutique architectural firm specializing in remodeling businesses and homes. She is very disorganized which we see immediately because of the pile of unopened mail on the desk and won’t delegate to her very competent employee who has been with the firm from the beginning. I hated that so she got on my bad side right away. (Her employee takes it upon herself to take care of the mail near the end of the movie and she finds a $5000 check the business is owed!) In addition, I could feel her jealousy of Lynn Whitfield’s closeness with her son throughout the movie. Durance’s deftness in conveying this was masterful. It was very tense and uncomfortable. It was almost a relief when she finally erupts in a very ugly encounter with her over her son’s opening up to her and not herself. She regrets it almost immediately and she did redeem herself in the end. Overall she was a nice woman and good at the creative end of her business, so I did forgive her.

I find it very difficult to watch actresses of a certain age who have sabotaged their ability to convey emotion with facial expressions because of Botox and fillers. Sadly, Erica Durance has succumbed to this common practice and though she was good, she could have been better. Although maybe, in this case, the subtlety of expression was a plus. I know that sometimes these actresses are between a rock and hard place and are under a lot of pressure to take care of that forehead or whatever. But I find it too distracting. It’s all I can look at when it is so obvious and takes me right out of the movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

October 27, 2022

A Cozy Christmas Inn

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He Should Have Sold the Inn and Moved Back to Seattle

**Spoilers**

This was a bit of a disappointment as I have grown to really like Jodie Sweetin and her presence in a movie will sway me not to give it a pass. I just ignored the fact that it was a sequel to a Candace C-B romance. It’s not a really good idea to give Hallmark fans the idea that Happy Endings may not survive the test of time. It’s kind of a buzz-kill.

This one did not survive the initial sniff test. Why in the world would an international property developer want to buy a second-rate B&B 300 miles north of Anchorage, Huh? And I say second-rate because check out Jodie’s room. I think white-collar crime federal penitentiaries have fancier rooms minus the king-sized bed which took up over half the space. The Christmas decorations were ugly and fake.

I didn’t like that Andy gave up his lucrative plane taxi service to fail at being an innkeeper. Not very romantic hero-like. The townspeople, especially the café owner were very annoying. Marinating some kind of meat in eggnog? I couldn’t get that pukey idea out of my mind. I like the subtle fun hints that Santa was his Dad, the family “shipping business” was…well, you know, and the whole town was in on it. As with the previous movie, that was well done, if kind of incredible. I also liked that Jody had integrity and didn’t push him to sell the place even though her vice presidency was on the line. Although not encouraging him to take the money and run was kind of against his best interests. Vivica Fox, her boss, was scary and beautiful, as always.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

October 30, 2022