Books to Screen

A Knight to Remember

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“When I Wished for My Heart to be Turned to Stone, I Meant It Metaphorically!”

Hallmark’s time travel romances are amongst some of the best movies that Hallmark has made.* There’s something about the fish out of water trope that practically guarantees humor. I usually can summon up a certain degree of sympathy and empathy for the time travelers while they are being taught a much needed lesson. Which of course translates into a character arc for them or for people around them whom they influence. And then there’s the overarching curiosity and concern over how such an impossible situation is going to be resolved for the happy ending. Unfortunately, with “Knight” the filmmakers’ reach exceeded its grasp. Having a movie about an 15th century English  knight being plopped down into 2026 Chicago, USA was just a little too ambitious. There were just too many difficult hurdles to overcome to make a movie believable enough for me to  suspend disbelief and engage my full interest and investment. It could have been done, but time and money are too often an obstacle with Hallmark. Although pretty good, with an often cute script, they glossed over way too many improbabilities and plot holes to list. It was cute and at least it was different. So Hallmark does get props for that. I appreciate it when they rock the boat a bit and try something new.

The story opens in 1428 with Sir Griffin of Beauford, a knight with a 21st century haircut, on the eve of his arranged marriage to Lady Beatrice. He is on a hill gazing at the stars and consulting with his dead mother who is also up there somewhere. All of a sudden the stars and planets start moving together and as they are aligning, he wishes that his heart would turn to stone until “he finds what makes it whole.” By which he means finding true love, obviously, which is apparently not Lady Beatrice. He promptly and literally turns into a stone statue. Thanks, Mom. Flash forward to a museum in Chicago where our heroine is receiving a newly discovered medieval stone statue that she is to clean and restore for an exhibition. She uncovers a message on the statue that says “I Shall Not Wake But By the Kiss.” Being a normal girl, of course she kisses the statue, and low and behold the statue comes to life. Guess who? It is our handsome and noble knight in the flesh! The usual antics ensue. She takes him back to her “chambers” where he marvels over cars (foul beasts) indoor plumbing (“indoor rain as hot or cold as one likes!”), and modern appliances, (How can there be warmth with no fire?!) The fashion choices of 21st century women and men are strangely unremarked upon. Naturally he goes walkabout when she goes back to work the next morning, and rescues a kite from a tree and catches a robber  while on a borrowed stallion, to the admiring gazes of the female audience. Emily finds him while panicking on the phone with her best friend (Methinks I have found my quarry!) and in a nod to the “Fall into Love” Hallmark theme, she introduces him to Pumpkin Spice Lattes. (It’s a kind of gourd.) All of this is complicated by Emily (of Porter) and “Griffin”, who were caught leaving the museum by the surveillance cameras, being accused of stealing the stone statue by the FBI. And the investigating agent just happens to be her very unlikable ex-husband who has caused her to be love-averse. Hello?! Conflict of Interest! Hello?! How could they possibly carry out an 800 lb. marble statue out of the building in full view of cameras? Hello?! He broke into her apartment without a warrant looking for evidence! The eyebrows of even a casual fan of police procedurals would spike at any one of these faux pas. And I am not a casual fan. Anyway, with the help of her best friend Ivy, who an astrology fan and in on the whole thing, they discover (long story that didn’t bear thinking about too hard) that the same alignment of planets that turned him into a statue is going to repeat in 3 days. If he doesn’t want to be turned back into stone forever, his true love must admit her love before the fateful hour.

A lot of prominent Hallmark actors took part in this movie. Julie Gonzalo plays Emily and as usual, she was just fine. Her real life husband, Chris McNally, had a small cameo, and the harried museum director was played by Matty Finochio (Welcome back!). Britt Irvin was great as Emily’s best friend, Ivy, who has a bit of a secondary romance with a Renfaire guy. Sir Griffin was played by James Trevena in his first foray into Hallmarkland as the lead, but I hope not his last. He was very handsome and perfectly cast as the romantic Knight. But he was also good in the role and quite endearing. He made a nice statue as well. Ivy’s brother who was also a much needed lawyer, is played by David James Lewis who is a very familiar face. He plays a good guy in this one. Even the tiny role of the apartment janitor was played by Liza Huget whose been in like over 12 other Hallmarks.

**Mild Spoilers**

After Emily and Sir Griffin are cleared of all charges thanks to Ivy’s brother, and Sir Griffin is saved from being permanently turned into stone, he is sent on a world tour. The museum made an exhibit featuring him playing Sir Griffin of Beauford and Emily will be coming along as the permanent curator. Imagine that. The whole resolution and ending had a “Well…Bye!” feel about it, leaving many unanswered questions.  Like how was Griffin going to get a passport for his world tour?

Rating: 7 out of 10.

*My 10 Favorite Time Travel Hallmarks (in very rough order)

Much About Love

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Much Ado

About a Shrew

This one requires a complicated set up so I’ll get right to it. Bea (Ashley Williams) is a successful television director who has returned to her mother’s annual Shakespeare Festival to direct the last play staged for that summer, The Taming of the Shrew. Her mother tells her this is her last season heading the Festival which is the impetus for Bea (Bee-a) confessing that she has been wanting  to take over for her mother once she retired. They learn that not only does her contract to do that rest on whether her Taming of the Shrew turns out to be a critical and financial success, but that the continuation of the festival itself is at stake. Someone wants to buy it and the board is willing to sell it unless Bea can show she can successfully take over from her mother and insure its continued success.   Bea and company are not too worried because Bea is an experienced director and she has gotten a famous award winning television actress, Hannah Michaels, to play Kate. Hannah wants to boost her acting cred by doing Shakespeare on the stage and there has been a lot of publicity about it already. As for Bea’s love interest, to Bea’s dismay, the actor her mother has already hired to play Petruchio is well-known actor Benny Gersten (Niall Matter) with whom Bea had a romance 20 years ago while they were young actors playing Romeo and Juliet. Benny returns to the festival every year to recharge. It has been awhile since he and Bea have met but their relationship has always been rocky stemming not only from their break-up but their differing approaches to Shakespeare. They bicker a lot. Kind of like…well, you know. Before rehearsals begin, Benny tells Bea that he thinks it would be better for all concerned if he played a smaller role and let another actor, Clay, have the leading role. This seems to be because he can’t tolerate Bea’s non-traditional approach to Shakespeare but didn’t make a lot of sense. It did have the benefit of making the Kate/Petruchio pairing more age appropriate as Niall Matter is old enough to be Lindura’s (the actress playing Hannah/Kate’s) father. It also sets up the secondary romance between Clay and Hannah (Claudio and Hero).

I liked this one quite a lot. Hallmarks based on great works of literature always have a head start with me. And this features two of them! Niall Matter and Ashley Williams worked well together and their romantic pairing was believable and engaging. We get a lot of The Taming of the Shrew during Bea’s directing and rehearsals, and a bit of the contentious relationship between Kate and Petruchio is reflected in Benny and Bea. I appreciated that the modern troubles staging this play, which, after all, is based on domestic abuse, were addressed. Bea’s reading is not an unusual one, to get around the dilemma. As far as the play this movie is supposedly based on, Much Ado About Nothing, there are almost enough connections for it to be called a modern retelling. Barely. The names are similar (Bea/Beatrice and Benny/Benedict). Both couples relationship is contentious based on their history. Also, the company, recognizing that beneath their snarky banter, the two are actually a perfect match, trick them into believing that each are hiding romantic feelings for the other. This leads to a truce between the two which gives them room to develop a relationship. Also there was a masquerade ball. 

But I didn’t feel the connections between the Shakespeare play and this movie really shone through in this story. The tropes in “Much Ado” are now all too common and oft repeated. There were too many differences and it was kind of confused by the other Shakespeare play which was more a part of the story. Why couldn’t the play they were putting on be “Much Ado” and not “Taming”? There was too much other unrelated stuff going on, including Hannah’s surprising ineptness in her role. Though likable, she was kind of a flake. Was Hero a flake in the Shakespeare play? I’m afraid I don’t know. She is having trouble learning her lines and is more interested in flirting with Clay than focusing on the play. Bea is concerned because she sees her own experience playing Juliet to Benny’s Romeo 20 years prior. She had let her feelings for him override her focus on her role resulting in bad reviews which caused her to quit acting and focus on directing. And then we have the big crisis of Hannah quitting the play and running off when she finds out the whole future of the festival rests on her being a success as Kate. I mean, really? She is supposed to be a professional. The whole episode was dumb, including why she came back.  But despite the distractions, this was pretty entertaining thanks to the jam-packed plot and bright script. I should probably watch it again to look for more shout outs to “Much Ado.” I’m sure I must have missed some. I love the way “William Shakespeare” is credited as a writer of this movie on IMDb. The Bard can rest easy now.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Providence Falls

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It Fell

Am I the only one in the whole wide world who did not absolutely love this 3 part mini-series? Apparently so. Oh, there were some good things about it, for sure. I liked the actors: 4 new fresh faces in lead roles, an old favorite (Matty Finochio) in a pivotal role, and 2 Hallmark mainstays in small but important parts. Kudos to Niall Matter who played a bad guy against type. The set direction and production values were top notch, and there were parts of the script that were just fine. But the whole thing felt forced and manufactured around a very faulty premise. It didn’t make sense and was just wrong. And I’m not talking about the angels and devils, the dual timeline, the time travel, or the reincarnation. I usually like that stuff. Some of Hallmark’s best movies have been based on those kinds of plots. And part of what bothered me was that they dropped the love story and all the supernatural stuff right in the middle of a police procedural for no reason I can think of that made any sense. Except to stretch maybe 3 hours of story into 6 hours. 

Cora and Liam are star-crossed lovers in 1844 Ireland who met when Liam, a thief and a rogue, broke into her father’s country estate to steal some things. They fell in love and were running away together, when, chased by dogs, torches, and pitchforks, Cora fell off a cliff and died. Liam is miserable and blames himself, but instead of being reincarnated or sent to heaven or, as they call it here, “H.E. double hockey sticks”, he is put in Limbo for almost 200 years due to a clerical error. Doesn’t heaven have some kind of quality control department? That was disturbing. Of course he had to die first and I am afraid I am a little fuzzy on how that happened. He comes to our attention because they are “clearing Limbo out”. Liam is given a chance to make up for cutting Cora’s life short and taking her away from her soulmate (who she barely met) and her important destiny and earn his way into heaven. Somehow, her death is all Liam’s fault, not her own nor the trackers chasing her over hill and dale and off the cliff. Or just an accident for that matter. All he has to do, in the present time, is to get Cora, who has been re-incarnated, back together with her so-called soulmate that she barely met, who has also been reincarnated. Cora is now a newly promoted police detective in Providence Falls, and Liam is a visiting detective (Ha!), her new partner. Her soulmate Finn (Evan Roderick) is an Assistant D.A. and is a good guy and very attractive. But despite Hallmark trying to fool us, savvy Hallmarkies know he is not the one because instead of coffee he drinks tea with sugar in it, is a lot shorter than Liam, and is a little too well-groomed. Also an old cohort of 1844 Liam is back and has been re-incarnated as the police chief. And maybe some other people? I don’t know. 

So we have 6 hours including commercials of Liam getting used to cell phones, cars, and other 21st century things and pushing his beloved Cora into the arms of Finn, who she really is not all that interested in. Just as she did back in Ireland, she has fallen for Liam at first sight. And Finn likes her best friend Suzette. Could it be possible that it is Liam and not Finn who is Cora’s soulmate? Nope, nope, nope, absolutely not. Destiny and Fate cannot be wrong, and Destiny has spoken. Even though against all of the rules in the Destiny Rule Book, Cora has started to remember her history with and love for Liam in her former life. So Destiny is wrong about some things then. But according to the angel Samael, the lady in charge of this fiasco, if she reunites with selfish bad Liam, instead of good and decent Finn, she will not be able to continue to help at-risk youth and keep them on the straight and narrow. Somehow this capable woman cannot do her good works unless she’s with the right man. I think Miss Samael got her centuries mixed up. Meanwhile Liam is proving over and over what a reformed character he is. But no, according to this angel Samael, he is selfish and bad to the end even when he is rescuing Finn from an old mine shaft and throwing himself in front of a speeding bullet to save Cora’s life. Repentance? Forgiveness? Grace? Free Will? Fuhgettaboutit. And all through this, there is a very drawn out murder mystery/burglary/criminal conspiracy to solve that was right out of the usual Hallmark Movies and Mysteries playbook.

I understand why everyone really liked this. It was a well-done ambitious production for Hallmark, and the trappings were off the usual beaten track, even though the love story was predictable and the mystery was tedious. I just couldn’t get past that damn angel Samael being so blind and misguided: Insisting that poor Liam could not get into heaven despite his proven goodness unless Cora ended up with Finn against both of their wills. I know it was to create tension and keep the thing going for 6 hours. But it was just wrong and flew in the face of what angels are supposed to be about. I couldn’t believe it when the Angel Gabriel (Brendan Penny) showed up to save the day, and he told her what a good job she did! He left Liam’s fate up to her as long as she first finally listened to the one good angel with some sense, her assistant, Agon, Liam’s handler. She should have been fired and threatened with H.E. double hockey sticks.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Royal-ish

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Pretty in Pink-ish

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If you need a sweet and frothy confection to de-stress at the end of a long arduous day, keep this one on your DVR to peek in on as needed. It will surely do the trick. There are no worries about hard to explain motivations and plot points or frustrations about things occurring in the story that would never or should never happen in real life. The characters do not sabotage themselves with dopey mis-communications or by jumping to unfounded and disastrous conclusions with life altering consequences at stake. It’s just one Non-Grimm-like  big pink perky sparkles fairytale. And does not aspire to be anything else. And that makes it OK in my book. Perfectly fine. There is a place for these type of stories, while I acknowledge that they are not for everyone.

9-year-old Princess Rose of Bella Moritz is afraid to get back up on the horse (literally) after a fall off the horse 3 weeks before she will be bound by tradition to ride a horse in a procession through the country for the Order of the Lily. In order to restore her self confidence, her father, Prince Henry, thinks it would be a good idea for her to talk with another princess to encourage her and assure her that she is a brave girl who can do hard things. So where will he take her for this pep talk from another royal? No not to his cousins in Androvia or Glasswick, England.  But where else but “Once Upon A Time Land” in the Emerald Amusement Park in far off Virginia, America? There they meet Lacey who plays the amusement park Princess Sweet Pea and all three of them form an immediate connection. Since Lacey/Sweet Pea tells Rose about her experiences with horses when she was a little girl and gets her to ride a horse on a merry-go-round, Prince Henry decides that she is the woman who can help his daughter ride a royal steed in the traditional parade. She better be, because if P. Rose does not greet her subjects from a horse, but in disgrace from the royal carriage, he has agreed to cede control of his daughter’s education to his stuffy old-fashioned mother. That means semi-imprisonment away from normal life in the isolated castle, rather than her regular school where she can be with other children her own age.

Also the Wicked-ish Queen (at least we are led to believe she is kinda wicked) will take his decision to hire Lacey to help his daughter as a sign of bad judgement and will not go through with her planned abdication of her throne. The Prince wants to free the crown of the hide-bound traditions that are holding the monarchy and his country back and for sure does not want to be condemned to his current ceremonial role with no power for years to come. Ahem, we’re looking at you, King Charles of England. But are we worried? Heck no, we are not worried! Because we know there is No Way In Hell that spunky American Lacey will fail in her assignment to get the brave little princess to ride in that parade! Plus, even The Queen, being the loving grandmother she is, sees that Lacey is doing a great job andplus they bond over Maeve Binchy books, of all things. Even when Lacey flees back to America (Skipping the Ball!!!!) because the bad guy, the head of something or other, whispers discouraging words in her ear, we are not worried because his villainy is overheard by the nice governess.

Lacey is played by Nichole Sakura whom I really liked for her wholesome girl-next-door looks and vibe. I also liked William Mosely who played the prince. He was cute and did nothing to irritate me although I was not a fan of his mop-top hairstyle especially when he put a baseball cap on top of it. Young Francesca Europa was a perfectly refined little princess, and half the time, I couldn’t tell whether Emily Swain, as the Queen,  was smiling or frowning  which actually turned out to be a plus. I also liked that at the end Lacey doesn’t react to her broken romance by crying inconsolably and drowning her sorrows in junk food and ice cream. No she gets busy applying for Master’s programs so she can get her advanced degree in psychology with an emphasis in equine therapy. Six months later, after she is fetched back to Bella-Moritz, she is running such a program when she accepts Prince Henry’s proposal of marriage.  Thus ends the semi-trilogy of movies about 3 princely cousins finding their happy Hallmark destinies. Next stop? The Spring into Love series. The first one of which marks the long-hoped-for return of the wonderful Steve Lund after a lengthy and rather mysterious absence from Hallmark Land.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Bezaubernde Arabella (Enchanting Arabella)

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Not Quite Arabella

**Spoilers**

I have been aware for a long time that this German movie existed. It is based on the beloved author Georgette Heyer’s 1949 novel, Arabella.  It is, in fact, my favorite book by this creator of the Regency Romance genre, or at least, Arabella is my favorite heroine. But I knew it was not accessible in English. Then I read on one of my Facebook groups  that the International Heyer Society had put it up on YouTube with English captions. So, although I knew without doubt that it would not be very comparable to the original work, I had to see it. It turned out that the basic premise of the plot remained intact although it goes off the rails early and often. To wit, A sweet and spirited girl in search of a rich husband for her family’s sake is taken under the wing of her London-based godmother in order to accomplish just that.  She is shepherded around London society by a sophisticated man about town who has no intention of falling in love with her, but does. The movie also borrows the names of the characters. Arabella’s godmother is Lady Bridlington. And Beaumaris (pronounced Beaumar-ee’ in the movie,) has a friend named Lord Fleetwood who is a gossip. Like in the book, Arabella is impulsive. Heyer’s Arabella tries to deceive Beaumaris as to her wealth and family back ground out of pride and temper. Movie Arabella encourages his assumption that she wants to marry for money out of love for luxury and greed, instead of necessity.

Thus end the similarities. If I would list the differences between the book and the movie, it would be a very long list indeed. But let me have a go at the main ones.

First, and very importantly, the 1959 movie is set in the early 1900s rather than during the Regency period of the early 1800s.

Movie Arabella’s late father lost all the family’s money in the stock market and no longer well off, her fiance dumps her, spurring her acceptance of Lady Bridlington’s invitation to London.

Lady Bridlington is an impoverished artist and Lord Fleetwood is not only a friend of Beaumaris, but her longtime beau. Unclutch your pearls, Heyerites.

In order to win a bet, Movie Beaumaris has agreed to set Arabella up with prospective husbands and tutors her in how to ingratiate herself with them and hopefully pry out a marriage proposal out of one of them. As we find out, and as Beaumaris well knows, they are very unsuitable prospects: A beer magnate who is a confirmed bachelor, a sociopathic Art Collector, and a totally nuts Big Game Hunter.* Meanwhile he has kept a young and very eligible possible suitor away from her. No prizes for guessing why. Absent are the scenes which show Arabella to be person of great moral character and physical courage as well as beauty and charm. These include her rescue of a chimney sweep from his cruel master and her routing a gang of boys torturing a dirty mongrel.  Instead we have adventures with an automobile.

Despite the huge differences between Heyer’s book and this movie, taken on its own terms, the movie was a very serviceable period romantic comedy. There were several amusing scenes and some banter that some would even consider “witty banter.” The actress who played Arabella, Johanna von Koczian, was very pretty and engaging with great comic timing. She was very funny. Hilde Hildebrand’s portrayal of Lady Bridlington, was charming, and handsome Carlos Thompson made a credible Beaumaris. Thompson and the multitalented actress and writer, Lili Palmer, were married for 28 years until her death in 1986. In fact, all three of these actors have very impressive and interesting resumes.

Had this originated in Hollywood or in the U.K. it probably would now be shown regularly on Turner Classic Movies with a fair number of kind reviews.

* Fair Warning– Arabella’s jaw-dropping encounter with Sir Archibald Duncan unfortunately features him trying to seduce her with a bizarre African dance, then assaulting her (unsuccessfully) with his African servant playing jungle drums in the background. It was one of at least two flagrantly racist scenes.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Autumn at Apple Hill

/ Rebekahrox / 16 Comments

An Easy Watch

Erin Cahill plays Elise, a divorcee who is not-a-mother and is trying to keep her struggling Apple Hill Inn that she inherited from her late grandparents afloat while trying to keep the large hotel chains who are trying to move in on her at bay. It is a beautiful and beloved Inn, but it is falling apart. Her friend and employee Nora has been trying to get her to computerize the administrative duties and use social media for promotion, but Elise feels that this would take it too far away from its roots and old-fashioned charm. Meanwhile, the guests eat their breakfasts with umbrellas at the ready so the pipes don’t leak on their food.  She has a lot to fix and update to make the Inn viable but can’t get a loan until she shows a 15% profit by the end of October. Her banker encourages her to consider partnering with one of the big hotel chains who have come a callin’ but she is dead set against becoming nothing but an employee in her own hotel.

Meanwhile Luke (Wes Brown) is the CFO of a large hotel conglomerate headed by his mother. He is a workaholic who is running his staff ragged. His Mother puts her foot down during a lunch where he will not get off his phone. He is very annoying. To protect her employees from his punishing management style, she cuts off access to his cell phone account and suspends him from his position so he will go on a mandatory vacation. He is horrified and discombobulated. Paula Boudreau plays his elegant resolute mother and when she spikes his guns, we cheer her on. She is a force to be reckoned with. Completely at loose ends, he sees an old photo and fondly remembers growing up in his old hometown of Landover and decides to spend his forced vacation time there. And Landover just happens to be where The Inn at Apple Hill is located! He has fond memories of the Inn and it is there he insists on staying! When Elise looks at the old paper register book (“Oh but the tactile feel of paper though!”) she recognizes his name as a big hotel magnate and assumes he is there to worm his way into taking over her hotel. She proceeds to make his stay as miserable as possible giving him the worst room in the place. The Bates Motel is mentioned.

Eventually Elise finds out that Luke has no nefarious designs on her Inn and they start to get to know each other and work together. With Luke’s help and expertise, will Elise be able to get that loan and save her Inn? It all rests on the success of bringing back the Inn’s traditional Halloween Party that had gone by the wayside 15 years ago.

Despite the often used and predictable storyline. I rather enjoyed this. The surprising twist in Luke and his mother’s business relationship near the end was an unexpected and welcome development. The secondary romance between Nora and the electrician was sweet and added a nice touch. Sarah Luby as Nora was funny and charming. In fact, all of the supporting characters were likable and well-written. Erin Cahill and Wes Brown were fine, especially Wes Brown. They had an easy-going and natural rapport. Before Luke and Elise started making nice, she was the recipient of some pretty brutal and much-deserved assessments of her hospitality. Their back and forth was pretty funny. (“I can show you my plaques!” “ Did you buy them on the internet?”).  When she finds out he is old pals with a respected local tavern owner and mutual friend, relations between them are quick to thaw. She is genuinely ashamed of herself and her learning curve in embracing modern methods and a new attitude were engaging and realistic. She was intelligent and reasonable and didn’t try my patience with stupid pig-headedness. The movie did use my least favorite Hallmark trope, “Bad Business”, but it wasn’t the focus and was over before it became too irritating. It was nice to look at. The tasteful fall decor in contrast to the random and eccentric seasonal bric-a-brac of other networks and Hallmarks not Hallmark-produced, added to the overall pleasantness.

This one had too familiar a plot to get really high marks from me, but it had enough positives to overcome a formula that could have made it tired and boring. Instead, it had a comforting tried and true old-fashioned feel that I really liked. It was easy to watch.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The Magic of Lemon Drops

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The Roads Not Taken

**Spoilers**

Seems like there has been a lot of fantasy stories on Hallmark lately and this was another one. I was a little suspicious and the title did not set me at ease. But I really enjoyed it. It was well constructed with likable characters and sharp dialogue.  Lyndsy Fonseca and Ian Harding, the female and male leads were wonderful. In fact the whole cast and the characters they played were top-notch.  When Lyndsy does a Hallmark odds are (so far) that it will probably have a fantasy element. She has been nothing but appealing and likable. Stephanie Sly as The Best Friend, and Mariam Bernstein as The Eccentric Aunt were stand-outs. Ian Harding brought a real Paul Campbell vibe to his role which is about the highest compliment I can give him.  Honestly this role could have been written for Paul Campbell, one of my and many others’ favorite Hallmark regulars. Ian Harding played the love interest in Ghosts of Christmas Always. Enough said.

Lolly works with her father at their little restaurant, The Eatery. She is tired, sad, and frustrated. Her dreams of having her own fun and elegant restaurant in New York complete with love and her own family have almost faded away. John B. Lowe plays her father who  embodies my most disliked Hallmark type: A business owner who will sacrifice everything to save the business except take advice and make the changes needed to give his business a chance to survive. Not an auspicious start. To add to Lolly’s discontent, her ex-boyfriend is back in town. He is a successful doctor because he left her and their small town to pursue his own dream. He is a happily divorced and professionally satisfied single father now, and Lolly is full of regrets over their bad break-up which was her fault. When she voices her frustrations and doubts about how she can get her life back on track to her Aunt Gert, Aunt Gert, who is a truly wonderful character, ends up giving her 4 magic lemon drops.  If she eats one before she goes to sleep, her dream that night will be one whole day living a life she yearns for. When she wakes the next morning, she will remember the “dream,” which will help her choose the best path.  She gets 3 chances. The 4th drop, if she takes it, will allow her to pick one of the 3 lives she dreamed of, and her memories going forward will only be of that one life.

The first life she wants to experience is her professional and creative dream of her own restaurant in NYC. When she wakes up the next morning she reflects on the fact that despite having her Michelin-starred fantasy restaurant, her life was still full of creative frustration and financial troubles. She still had no love life, and in addition she was on the outs with her sister and her father. She is more confused and frustrated than ever, so the next night she wishes her wise and loving mother was still alive to support and advise her. That happens and it is wonderful but it also comes with unlooked for and unwelcome consequences. The last lemon drop is to peek into what her life would be like if she and Rory had not broken up, but are happily married with their own family. And it was lovely. But….

In between the nightly dreams of the alternate lives, We spend the days with Lolly as she starts a little side-hustle business of gourmet frozen fruit and herb pops (‘Lolly-Pops”) which gets off to a promising start. She mends her relationship with Rory and starts to see her Aunt Gert, her sister, her father, and even her late mother with new eyes. All these multi-layered stories weaving in and out of each other and each playing out in logical conflicting consequences yet with recurring themes in common could have been a hot mess. Just like that sentence. But it was done seamlessly. And I was not confused.  I was impressed with the detail incorporated into each dream life and its setting along with her “real” life interspersed in the daytime. Everything kept moving forward at a perfect pace and was tied together beautifully to the littlest detail. They even managed to incorporate a cute dog.

There was drama and surprises. Lessons are learned. And they are good ones. Life is a series of trade-offs both sweet and sour. Find your joy and happiness in what you chose. Best of all, the romance was compelling, fully developed, and mature without the usual silly Hallmark tropes. Gosh, I think I’ll have to give this one an almost 10.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Sense and Sensibility

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Very Respectable Effort

Since I was unavoidably delayed in watching this 4th and last of the Jane Austen-based Loveuary Hallmarks, I couldn’t help but read some of the reviews and comments about it on the usual social media sites. This was not a reworking, or a homage, or modernization, or a 20th-century woman thrust back into the time of the book, but an actual straight up serious treatment of the book. Granted it featured not an all-black cast, but a mostly-black cast. In fact, the only main characters who were not black were Eleanor and Maryanne’s weak and greedy half-brother John Dashwood, his brother-in-law, nice Edward Ferrars Elinor Dashwood’s love interest, and generous Sir John Middleton. Except for the mostly ridiculous user reviews on IMDb (don’t get me started) the movie was almost unreservedly enjoyed by almost all. Many admired how the production managed to be so faithful to the book despite the short running time of 8o-odd  minutes. The production values, acting, sets, and costumes were also highly regarded. I certainly concur! I am not going to regurgitate the plot of Sense and Sensibility because if you haven’t read it or seen one of the many adaptations, including the Oscar-winning movie version starring…well, everyone, shame on you. Kidding, but I highly recommend changing that state of affairs. If indeed you haven’t seen it, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Of course, there were some aspects of the plot that were cut, consolidated, or condensed, but this did not seem to negatively impact the main thrust of the story in my opinion. For example, Mrs. Jennings’ daughter, Mrs. Palmer, is missing in action, as is her sister Lady Middleton, John Middleton’s wife. No loss at all concerning the latter most will agree. Without the comedically mismatched Palmers though, when Marianne has her breakdown they stop over at their former estate, Norland, instead of the Palmer estate on the way back home to their cottage. It is there that Maryanne almost dies of pneumonia.  That stop over at their former home is at half-brother John’s invitation, somewhat redeeming his character. Plus he said sorry. I kind of liked that, TBH, but I am not a purist and I like redemption. Essentially all of the important plot points and characters were there and the essential dynamics were not compromised. Even Eliza, Colonel Brandon’s unhappy and victimized ward makes an appearance at the wedding uniting Eleanor and Edward. And in typical Hallmark fashion, she is happy and smiling. I liked that little touch as well.

I was afraid I would just be bored by this treatment as I know the story so well, but that was not the case either. The mixed-race cast mostly did a very credible job of keeping my interest with special kudos to Dan Jeannotte who played Edward and Deborah Ayorinde who played Eleanor. Carlyss Peer was a very satisfactory villainess and Martina Laird was funny as Mrs. Jennings.  Unfortunately, the racial aspect of the casting could have lent a more interesting dynamic than it did. When horrible Fanny Dashwood discourages her sister-in-law from hoping for a match between Elinor and her brother Edward by saying Edward must wed “the right kind of woman,” Mrs. Dashwood replies with dignity “I understand you perfectly.” This conversation is right out of the book but could have been given a social nuance that would have added significance and drama had Fanny been played by a white actress.  Actually, I thought Carlyss Peer was white at first and was impressed by the meaning it subtly gave that conversation. I only found out later that she is black. Oh well. Along these same lines, I would have welcomed a white actor playing the scoundrel, Willoughby. His cold and distant reaction to meeting her at the London ball would have made Marianne’s heartbreak and humiliation all the more affecting and layered had this been the case. Marianne got too little development probably due to the understandable time constraint, but as a consequence her learning curve was too easy, and thus less affecting. While I am quibbling, I need to add that The Dashwood “cottage” that they were “reduced” to settle for was so huge and well-appointed that I had a hard time feeling bad for the displaced and struggling little family. It made Mrs. Dashwood’s complaints about how far they had fallen seem whiny and silly.

But all in all, kudos to Hallmark for attempting these tributes to Jane Austen and doing a more than credible job in the execution. As well done as this one was, I have to add “for a Hallmark.” I put this one in third place behind An American in Austen and Paging Mr. Darcy.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Guiding Emily

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That was the First Time I Saw Emily, and the Last Time She Saw Me.—Garth.

I have been looking forward to this one as soon as I started to see the previews. The story is about how a woman who suddenly loses her sight due to a rock climbing accident learns to cope with her new life. It is also the story of Garth, a guide dog in training, voiced by Eric McCormack, and how he learns to curb his rambunctiousness and love for snacks in order to focus on his role of being the eyes for a blind person. Unknown to his trainer and the head of the guide dog facility, Garth has already decided that Emily is his person even though they met only briefly. She is his motivation to be a good dog, learn his craft, and graduate from guide dog school. Unfortunately, there are many people ahead of Emily to be assigned one of the highly trained dogs. The wait time for a blind person to get a guide dog can be years. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Besides the story, one of the reasons I was anticipating this one was the cast. I’ve been very impressed with Sarah Drew, who plays Emily, in earlier Hallmarks. I like her natural acting, and I am a sucker for long red hair and girl-next-door looks due to my love for Anne of Green Gables. I also love Antonio Cupo. Have a little crush on him, actually, but he has been spending more time behind the camera in recent years, other than a few cameos and supporting roles. I figured it must be a special movie to tempt him into a lead acting role in a Hallmark production. I was also happy to see good ol’ Matty Finochio in a secondary role as well. He is a Hallmark “go-to” for a supportive friend and comic relief. And he did a wonderful job in this as usual. And Peter Benson, another Hallmark stalwart plays the owner/manager of the guide dog facility.

Emily is the head of a professional team at work and is popular and respected. She is also engaged to be married to someone who was not Antonio Cupo. So I knew he was destined to exit stage left after Emily had her accident. He was not a bad guy, but he did not have the time or focus to give Emily what she needed after she lost her sight, even though there was every reason to believe it would be a temporary situation. About an hour in, when the bandages are removed, Emily finds out it is permanent. We follow Emily through her despair, depression, and apathy for doing anything other than sitting on the couch. She struggles to cope with everyday challenges and is pretty defeated. When she asks her friend and work buddy, Matty F., to give HR her resignation letter, he returns with the whole team, and they refuse to let her give up. This is a turning point for her. She enrolls in blind school, eventually returns to work, and reconnects with her old friend Matthew (Antonio Cupo), who runs a rock climbing fitness thingy. It’s all uphill from there. No pun intended.

Meanwhile, Garth is having his own journey with his training. When Emily shows up at the guide dog facility, Garth is overjoyed. But this is where he learns that dogs can’t pick their owners and vice versa. There is a waiting list, and they are matched accordingly. Will Garth and Emily be reunited? Well, it’s Hallmark, so we know the answer. But how it all came together made sense and was quite touching.

This was an excellent movie. It was a romantic and very engaging story, full of suspense, interesting, and educational. They did a good job condensing Emily’s journey into the last hour of the movie and still found time to fit in a romance and Garth’s story as well. I liked that she does not go from defeat to triumph but to just learning to cope with challenges, standing on her own two feet, and getting back to her old self. It was good that other than Sarah Drew, the blind characters in the story were all played by blind actors.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

The Irresistible Blueberry Farm

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A Little Fruit, A Little Fantasy

Once again a movie I rated long ago deserves an upgrade after re-watching it years later. In this case, it’s The Irresistible Blueberry Farm which premiered way back in 2015. It was on the other night and it had been mentioned to me recently as one I would really like.  I didn’t remember being very impressed with it way back when. In fact, I barely remembered it all. I saw that I gave it a 4 on IMDb. And the title certainly didn’t impress me! Irresistible Blueberries? Come on! And spare me from another farm story. Pumpkins, Christmas Trees, Cranberries, Grapes, Apples, Pears, Olives, Tulips, Maple Syrup, Pecans: Except for veggies,  is there anything that grows in the ground that hasn’t been done?

But it was on the other night, so I gave it a go. And it was fantastic!

Yes, it was the same old city girl with almost fiance and very high heels goes-to-small-town-on-a-mission plot. In her will her beloved grandmother (yes) has tasked her to deliver a letter IN PERSON to a gentleman who lives in her old hometown. While trying to find him she learns that her grandmother was a talented artist and finds some of her paintings, one of which is of a home on a blueberry farm. More importantly, she meets working-class dude Roy who fishes her out of the water after she falls off a dock. Right off the bat she passionately kisses him. She is stunned and embarrassed by her out-of-character behavior and he is just stunned (in a good way.) And he just happens to be the nephew of the man for whom Ellen has been searching, who just passed away 3 months ago. He and Grandma were young lovers. Roy is trying to save his uncle’s blueberry farm and Ellen, as an attorney, helps him do just that.

There were several things that really made this movie for me. The first one was the undeniable chemistry between Mark Blucas who plays Roy and Alison Sweeney who plays Ellen. They really put the physical attraction between the two characters on the front burner while the emotional attraction simmered along as well. When, later in the movie, Ellen’s scary mother (another reason why this movie really worked) and her nice fiance show up to bring her home, they both know right away that there is going to be trouble when they see the two together. Another reason I liked it was the slightly “out there” choice to have Ellen’s grandmother visit her to encourage and advise her when Ellen is alone. But she’s not a ghost, exactly, even though she’s dead. She just comes to Ellen who takes her appearances in stride, and they talk together. Loved the dose of fantasy and that she’s played by the late great Shirley Jones.

Ellen’s dilemma of choosing between the two men and the two ways of life, as well as her mother’s coercion to get her back to her prestigious career and socially prominent fiance provide drama and tension even though we know which path Ellen will choose. Because Ellen and Roy’s love cannot be denied. To top it all off, there is a nice happy ending epilogue and a very touching visual at the end that ties in the romance between Ellen’s Grandmother and Roy’s Great-Uncle. It was all meant to be.

Rating: 8 out of 10.