Hallmark Movies

Branching Out

/ Rebekahrox / 8 Comments

Donor or Dad?

There’s probably all kinds of things wrong with a 10 year-old talking her mother into seeking out her bio-dad so that her school “family tree” project can have more than one branch with only her mother and her grandmother on it. “It’s more like a log”, she complains. And the fact that her bio-dad was a sperm donor who requested anonymity makes it even more problematical. Ultimately though, The sperm donor (T.J.) was interested in meeting his daughter and they had a lot in common. So because it was Hallmark and I like how they are trying new takes and new directions rather than relying on the same old formulas, I decided to give them a pass on the wisdom, ethics, and dangers of the mother’s actions.

Now what I did have a problem with was the teacher assigning such a project in the first place. For those kids who did not want their personal domestic situations exposed to the public scrutiny of the whole class, there should have been an alternate and less invasive project. Especially as Ruby, our kid heroine, went to her teacher and expressed her discomfort explaining she was conceived via IVF. The teacher just blows her off with ” A Family Tree can look like anything” and “even weeds can become beautiful flowers.” Ahem. Ruby’s mother, Amelia, should have gone to the teacher,  had a pow-wow, and escalated it as necessary. But she didn’t, needless to say.

Amelia, putty in the hands of her precocious and persistent daughter, decides to try to find the sperm donor with a DNA test. She gets a match and when she researches the background of T.J., the sperm donor, she learns that he is really rich. His family founded a huge and successful ranch which is also a tourist destination. The word “Dynasty” is used.  I am sure that had absolutely nothing to do with Amelia following through with ambushing him with no warning pursuing his acquaintance.

T.J. himself works there but his real career is as a professional musician and back-up singer (and he’s really good!) Ruby, like him, plays the guitar. Both Ruby and T.J. start to get attached to each other and T.J.’s large and loving family welcome Amelia and Ruby with open arms. Things proceed very quickly which gives Amelia pause from time to time. She keeps saying she wants to protect Ruby from being hurt by an absentee unstable father like she had, but does very little to do so. At several points she could have put her foot down, but she really doesn’t. To be fair, T.J. is very nice, and a very good guy besides coming from a wealthy and prominent family and not to mention handsome as heck. And his family could not have been more warm, loving, and lovable. Of course, T.J. and Amelia start to have “feelings.” The romance and relationship part was good. Also two good kisses in which Sarah Drew really gave her all. Not that I blame her.

Everything goes great until T.J. gets his dream job and tells Amelia that he has to go on tour for 6 months and Amelia goes berserk. From the beginning he has been totally upfront that this scenario was in the cards. But Amelia is triggered and gets all irrational. Luckily this doesn’t last long  due to the stern talking to she gets from her friend and partner, Maura. Actually, she reads Amelia the riot act and it works. The secondary plot line involves this very admirable business partner and reflects Amelia’s struggles with leading a “guarded life” to protect Ruby and herself from pain and disappointment. Her partner wants to expand their architectural firm by designing a whole subdivision and Amelia just wants to keep things small and unchanging. It’s a metaphor!

This movie could have gone sideways at many different points and in several different ways. That it didn’t is credit to the great cast and the acting. Cora Bella who plays the very precocious Ruby is a shining star. In other hands, Ruby could have been very bratty and irritating. The good script provided her with the best lines in the movie and she made the most of them. Sarah Drew, who always gives a likable performance ensured her character’s sometimes dubious actions were at least understandable. And the same with Juan Pablo di Pace’s T.J.. Amelia’s friend and partner Maura was a force of nature. And T.J.’s family. What can I say?  I love my family, but can I please just spend a week every year with the Cruz’s on their beautiful ranch?

P.S. I have to mention one thing besides the bad teacher that really bothered me. At one point, they have T.J. busting into the Elementary School and barging into Ruby’s the classroom during class unimpeded and with impunity. He just opened the door and ran in. No one turned a hair. This made me very uncomfortable. Also, I trust we won’t have a sequel where T.J.’s other hypothetical progeny start coming out of the woodwork. That would get way too complicated.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Falling in Love in Niagara

/ Rebekahrox / 10 Comments

Or, How Socks and Golf Doomed a 3-year Relationship. But That’s a Good Thing.

This was very mediocre. First, it’s one of my least favorite types of Hallmarks where the plot and characters take second place to the setting. This type has its place in that they are very relaxing and give you something pretty to look at while  indulging in a little armchair sightseeing. But they can also be pretty dull and formulaic, and can come across as being paid for by the local tourism board.

My second beef was with the two main characters. They were not exactly role models for any young children that might have been watching with Mommy (or Daddy).  First, I will set the background to my forthcoming dumping on their characters and future prospects in life and love.

Maddie is a super-planner with more than a smidge of OCD  because of her sad chaotic childhood and bad parents. Every time she sees a group of 4 or more pens in a row she has to line them up and straighten them. We see her doing this at least 3 times. Maybe more,  but I wasn’t going to watch the whole movie again to count. She gets dumped by her boyfriend because of her controlling ways, but her loving and surprisingly well-adjusted sister talks her into going on her honeymoon anyway but with  her instead. There in Niagara, she meets Mike, her tour guide who’s is a fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy and her complete opposite. So naturally, they fall in love while he teaches her that life is more than itineraries and highlighters, and she turns his frown (bad breakup) upside down.

It started off pretty well and I have liked both Jocelyn Hudon and Dan Jeannotte in other things. They were fine, and the their banter was bright and energetic. However, Maddie got on my bad side right off the bat. She was just horrible to Jason, her fiance. I don’t know how they got past the first date let alone forged a 3 year relationship. First off, she threw  away his lucky socks after taking his laundry home against his wishes. Again. These are socks he has worn to every successful sales presentation since he was 20 years old. And he has one of his most important meetings the day she threw them out. He is actually pretty nice about it. But why would she do that? Surely she knew how attached to those lucky socks he was? If she didn’t know, that is just as bad. She doesn’t express any regret for her actions, but asks him what he wants to add to their honeymoon itinerary. He says he wants to find a golf course but she shuts that idea down immediately getting all twitchy about him wanting to play golf on their honeymoon. They meet later at a coffee shop. He is late because he failed to land the account without his lucky socks and is understandably not in the best of moods. She criticizes his lateness, has already ordered for him, and, last straw, nags him about putting his napkin in his lap. He breaks up with her, telling her that she  is too controlling, bossy, and not spontaneous. Now this guy is no prize. He had “bad boyfriend” vibes going on all around him, but such was Maddie’s neurotic and callous behavior, that I didn’t blame him one bit. She definitely had a long way to go on the road to mental health. So that was fine. Enter Niagara Falls and Mike the Tour-guide. And sure enough, it is not long before she is taking risks and being adventurous and is falling for Mike. And he has a major crush on her. They almost kiss. Almost, because while falling for Mike, she has been posting free-spirited fun-loving pictures of herself on social media with the sole purpose of getting Jason back. It works. He reaches out, she reaches back, and before you know it, he shows up in Niagara and they are engaged again. She has not changed, and has apparently learned nothing after all. Mike has been tossed aside like…a pair of old socks? And not only that, but she stands him up when she promised him faithfully to support him at his open mike night. See, Mike is not really a tour guide, he is an aspiring singer/songwriter and he wrote a song about her just for the occasion. He is so devastated by her betrayal that he blows the whole thing and walks off the stage.

So Mike. What kind of a guy is he? He has been sad, sulky, and a big baby ever since he was dumped by his girlfriend two years ago. He was given a job as a tour guide by his best friend, where we see his attitude has almost ruined her fledgling business. He probably should have been fired long ago. I don’t know what he would have done to keep him from destitution though, because he has no prospects, or, in my opinion, talent,  as a singer/songwriter. No large nest egg or other backup career is mentioned. And he has no backbone. When Madeleine behaves like a dirt-bag and stabs him in the back, instead of showing a little of the courage he has been preaching to her, he falls to pieces.

Anyway, Maddie dumps her fiance at the airport when she finds out he is going to play golf the next morning (she really hates golf). She returns to the Falls just in time to attend the wedding of some new friends along with her sister, Mike, and his nice boss/best friend. Her sister has had her own little plotlet as well. She ends up giving up her boring high-paying job to be a photographer (my least favorite Hallmark profession) just as Maddie is going to abandon her successful business (Taxes by Madeleine) featuring a spacious office complex and conference room with a beautiful view of San Francisco. She is moving to Niagara Falls to explore a possible relationship with poor Mike, who promises his boss to try harder to be a good tour guide.  

So happy ending? I don’t consider an ending happy unless there is a clear path to a successful future ahead for our temporarily joyful couple.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

Legend of the Lost Locket

/ Rebekahrox / 3 Comments

No Festival, but a Fancy Dress Ball

Ummm. It’s a good thing this girl is an antique dealer and not a detective. She, Amelia, is a successful and well-known owner of a fine antique shop in London. She is looking to expand to Paris or Amsterdam but needs more capital to do so. To that end, she is on a mission to find the other half of a valuable locket her dead mother bought for oodles of money. Once the two pieces of the locket are reunited it will be worth lots more. Lots and lots. Like Sotheby’s level. The locket was supposedly made for Queen Elizabeth I by her true love, Robert Dudley. More importantly, she wants to find this for her mother’s sake because it was her mother’s fondest desire and she worked hard, unsuccessfully, to do so.

As the movie opens, Amelia has learned that the other half of the locket may be in Massachusetts. The locket was given to one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting and passed down. Her descendant gave half of it to her forbidden lover when they were sadly parted. He was a poor carpenter and she was a rich Lady and he left for America to prove himself worthy of her. We know he did because he founded a whole town in Massachusetts called Wilmaton, Wilma being his lost love’s name. Why, I wonder. She tragically died in a fire back in England and Jacob changed his name to James and married another woman named Jane.

So off Amelia goes to Massachusetts to find the half of the locket that James took with him. She meets the sheriff who is the love interest. The little town of Wilmaton, which Amelia soon discovers has antiques coming out the ying-yang that she can appraise for free, is, like all Hallmark small towns, not thriving. Amelia gets involved while having all kinds of adventures seeking out the locket with the help of the sheriff. She gets arrested breaking into the town archives, meets James and Jane’s only living ancestor, Enid, finds a portrait obscured by smoke damage, goes to Boston to have it restored, finds out someone is spying on her, and Enid’s place is ransacked. Is someone trying to beat Amelia to the locket? All indications point to “yes”.  And throughout we have little tidbits about how different the English language in the U.K. is different from in the United States. Like “jumpers” and “chips” and how “Featherstonehaugh” is pronounced “Fanshaw.”

**spoilers**

The reason I say that Amelia is not a very good detective is that 40 minutes in she all but ignores a big clue that Enid puts in her hands referring to it as a “family legacy.” It is a sampler embroidered by James’ wife Jane which unusually features an original poem. The poem provides all of the clues to where the locket is and also discloses that James and Wilma were actually reunited in America. I know this because I put my DVR on pause and read the thing. If only Amelia had read it. And it is not the only clue she  ignores either. She is not helped by her new friends not sharing important little nuggets of information and just casually dropping them in random conversation. Maybe Amelia’s lack sleuthing skills is why this movie was not on Hallmark Mystery.

Despite Amelia’s lack of detective skills, this was a pretty harmless and mildly entertaining effort that kept me interested watching Amelia run all around looking for clues and then ignoring them. They find the other part of the locket, finally, and save the town. I was really interested in who the locket belonged to. I would have thought it was Enid’s, she being the only descendant of the original owner, but apparently, the current owner of the property where it was found had a share in it as well. The miracle is that it was all worked out without lawyers. After all the to-do about it, it is very vague as to whether anyone actually got any money for it. I think what happened is that Amelia donated her half to the town and the other half was donated to the town by the co-owners, uniting the the two halves and saving the town by making it a mecca for lovers and antique enthusiasts. I hope that they erect a statue to those three women because it was surely one of the most selfless and generous acts of charity in the history of Hallmark. If that is what happened. It surely rates a least a plaque, anyway. Or maybe Amelia gets her new antique shop in Wilmaton rent free in perpetuity.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Blind Date Book Club

/ Rebekahrox / 14 Comments

Book It!

I really really liked this. Although in many ways it was a typical Hallmark romance, it was distinguished by the lack of  tiresome crutches tactics that Hallmark typically depends on to advance the story, create a little drama, or motivate change and growth in the hero or heroine. And let me tell you, it was extremely refreshing.

Meg owns a bookstore in Nantucket that she took over when her mom died. She is making a success of it, thank you very much. She is keeping up with the times technology-wise, has promotions, and does publicity like being interviewed by NPR. Most germane to this story, she also has a started a book club where people can bond over books that they buy in her store. And if a little romance or two gets started, well, all the better. But Meg is all about the books not the matchmaking, although it is that aspect that is getting her bookstore some good press. The fact that Meg really knew how to run a bookstore and was making a go of it got my attention right away, to say the least. How original! But wait, there is a “but”. Her aunt, who is a silent partner, wants to sell her share of the business so she can travel in her senior years and Meg has to decide whether to buy her out and keep the store, or sell it and go back to Boston and her previous career as a successful Realtor.

Meanwhile, we have Graham Sterling, the other half of our prospective couple. He is a successful author of a YA fantasy/coming of age series. But he feels he is in a rut and has a yen to branch out and write more mature fiction. To  that end, he has written a serious historical romance which he has had privately printed under a pseudonym because all his publisher is interested in is the next installment in the very profitable series he is famous for. He hears Meg being interviewed about her bookstore and her “blind date book club” and likes what she has to say about books. He decides to take his book to her, have her read it, and hopefully get it chosen for the next book club. He hopes the book will find an audience, in spite of his agent (Daniel Bacon) and publisher.

Cue Meet Cute, Instant attraction and Flirting. However, the fly in the ointment is that after Meg reluctantly reads the handsome first-time author’s book, she has to tell him the truth. She doesn’t like it, and tells him why. Openness, honesty, and communication are very rare in many romances, not just Hallmark, because if everyone were open and honest with each other, there wouldn’t a movie (or book), or it would be really short. And the communication continues! He admits to her almost right away that he is famous author Graham Sterling and knows a thing or two about writing a good book. If Meg will choose the book for her next book club even though she doesn’t like it, he will do a signing at her store. Even though she feels kind of bad, because she usually only chooses books she herself endorses,  being a good business woman, how can she refuse? While waiting for the day the book club will discuss his book, Meg and Graham’s relationship develops maturely. They kiss! Meg’s decision about her future looms  as does the pressure that Graham is under to produce the next installment in his series. The ante is upped when the NPR lady announces she will attend the book club discussion and record it. Also, Graham also insists on attending incognito and that he can handle honest and frank criticism of his work. Everything comes to a head on the night and things do not go smoothly. In fact it turns into quite the entertaining shit show.

This was standard fare in many ways but what made it special was what it didn’t have.  No business that needed to be saved,  no last minute silly conflict between the lovebirds, no festival, no flirty antics and tomfoolery, no interrupted almost-kiss, no dead-mom issues, no commitment-phobia, no on-going lies, etc. And, most stunningly, the idea that following your dream is not always the way to fulfillment. In the end, he defers his ambition to write more serious fiction to continue to give joy to his millions of fans. The romance was just straightforward and mature relationship building set against realistic life and career change decisions to be made. Robert Buckley and Erin Krakow were great together and separately. I really like almost everything about this movie. There were a couple of things that I didn’t understand about the book club, but I really didn’t care. It was well-written and acted and definitely re-watchable. **7 1/2 stars/10**

That’s the review, but I do want to mention a side item that I sometimes have a few things to say about. Stop reading if you don’t care about Makeup/cosmetics.

I sometimes complain about how the actresses in Hallmarks are made up so unrealistically. I am happy to report for those interested, that Erin Krakow’s makeup in this was perfection. When going to an event, she was glammed up, when working in the bookstore, she looked natural and business-like, and when at home she had little to no makeup on at all. In fact, in what I believe is a first for Hallmark, there is even a scene where she actually washes her face  getting ready for bed. Just like in real life!  Call me petty, but for me, this was huge and I added half a star.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

An Easter Bloom

/ Rebekahrox / 7 Comments

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 the kind (or spellbound) townspeople. Buying all of moms 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 anymore 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 like 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.

The More Love Grows

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D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Rachel Boston has a particular acting style. Animated? Energetic? Bright-eyed and bushy tailed? Hard to describe in one word. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

My problem with this one was the short shrift the dissolution of a 20-year marriage with a child is given. The husband just leaves with no warning or discussion. And it’s not like there were serious issues in the marriage. No cheating or emotional/physical abuse, addiction issues, mental health issues, etc. And no counseling. Even though her new man was a better guy than old husband, and she was better off without old husband, it bothered me. His lack of effort at the beginning, and her lack of effort at the end when he came crawling back.

One thing I loved about this one was when Rachel Boston’s friends were on the fence about their support for her when he took off, she just dropped them. “You are not my friends.” Good for her.

Rating: 7 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.

A Taste of Love

/ Rebekahrox / 7 Comments

Keep the Fried Chicken but Go Back to the Chili con Queso Dip and the Sliders.

Although generally pleasant with a nice beach location in Dunedin Florida, this was just not up to snuff. All of the plot points were utterly predictable from the romance to her career decision to the fate of her parents’ restaurant. I won’t review the plot because you know it even if you haven’t seen this particular version. I will just say: Unfulfilled TV chef,  Parents’ selling their small town restaurant, Memories of Granny, Looming decision over taking $$$$ vs. Creative Dream, and hometown old boyfriend living his best life. Throw in a black best friend/agent, a token gay couple, a festival, a cooking contest, a mean-girl rival, kitchen shenanigans, cooking montages, and lots of misunderstandings due to miscommunications. I was suspicious of this movie when it premiered on a Monday instead of the usual Saturday. Sadly, my suspicions were confirmed.

I am not an Erin Cahill fan, though I can’t give you a good reason. No matter her role, I always feel kind of stabby at her at some point. She is very popular so it’s all on me. I did like the guy who played her farmer love interest though (yes, farmer not former, He’s a farmer and he wasn’t former well before the first hour.) The guy who played her father was the bad guy in the Karate Kid and I couldn’t get over that. “Yes, Sensei.” The plot centers around Taylor (Erin Cahill) being offered millions of dollars to take her popular cooking show to primetime, but she doesn’t like the show’s “Quick and Easy” theme because she wants to be a real chef and do her own thing. I mention this only because after lots of angst, she actually decides to take the money! I was very pleasantly surprised. Throughout all of the waffleing (pun intended), I was like “Take the generational money now, girl, you can be a great chef later!” With the fame and the dough (pun intended), the sky’s the limit! But get this. Her agent/best friend doesn’t send in the contracts! Contracts that would make her close to a million dollars on the deal herself! For no other reason than it “felt off” plus a mysterious phone call from the formerly benign farmer boyfriend behind Taylor’s back. Words fail at the utter gall of the agent and all of the red flags being waved by the boyfriend.

Well of course, no harm done, she ends up doing another cooking show filmed in the family restaurant that she now owns and being all creative with her food. Oh, and she won the cooking contest at the festival albeit with two horrible-sounding creations featuring fried chicken, blueberry syrup, waffles, ice cream, donuts with blue icing, bacon, and something that looked like, I swear, jalapeños.

Rating: 4 out of 10.

An American in Austen

/ Rebekahrox / 5 Comments

There’s No Place Like Home

Spoilers

Going by the premise, the previews, and that I just rewatched Lost in Austen, this didn’t go the way I expected. And because of that, it was so much better than I expected, even though my expectations were very high indeed. Harriet is a librarian, loves Jane Austen, and is also trying to write a novel but alas, like all authors in Hallmarks, she has writer’s block.  When her boyfriend of 3 years proposes very romantically in front of her friends she responds with a resounding “Maybe.” She feels bad for breaking his heart, but, as she tells her friends, she has always dreamed of a hero (like Mr. Darcy for example) riding up on a horse taking her in his arms, and carrying her off into the sunset. Not that Mr. Darcy would ever do such a thing, and as her friends point out, she has just described a kidnapping. Because Ethan is not exactly a romantic hero. In fact, he is kind of a dorky loser. She falls asleep in the cab on the way home, and wakes up in a carriage wondering “What’s that smell?”. She has been transported into Pride and Prejudice, her favorite novel. At first, she thinks it’s an elaborate gag and plays along as best she can, exclaiming over the authenticity of the sets. But inevitably she realizes (no power lines or planes) that she really is the Bennet’s old maid (she’s over 30, horrors) cousin visiting from America. Which explains her strange ways, speech, and attitudes.

We start revisiting Pride and Prejudice. Except with Harriet there, things go a little bit awry. And first on the agenda is the assembly in Meryton (“Oh, great, more corsets”). When Mr. Darcy insults Elizabeth like in the book, Harriet marches up to him and tells him off. Not in the book. Mr. Darcy’s attention is diverted from Elizabeth to Harriet and soon becomes smitten with the “strange creature.” Mr. Collins proposes to Mary instead of Charlotte and Mary accepts. Elizabeth falls for Mr. Wickham because all of Darcy’s attention is focused on Harriet. Harriet realizes she is “destroying Jane Austen!” and, using her knowledge of the book, is determined to get things back on track. But things keep getting worse. When Darcy proposes to her (one of the things he is attracted to is her “remarkably white teeth.”), it is her wake-up call. She realizes that she has only been in love with the idea of a Romantic Hero, not a real person, and it is Ethan that she truly loves and misses terribly. “This is the moment I’ve always dreamed of but now that it is for real, this is not the feeling I have always dreamed of.” When Elizabeth elopes with Wickham it is Darcy and Harriet to the rescue. Wickham is exposed as the cad he is, and to Harriet’s relief, Darcy and Elizabeth start falling in love in the carriage on the way back home to Longbourne. “Awwwh” Harriet sighs, and then gets out of the carriage to leave them alone.

This movie was a real charmer. All of the actors made the most of the script, but the fortuitously named Eliza Bennett as Harriet really was a star. Most of the humor, even laugh-out-loud moments, are due to her delivery, especially when she comes out with her modern irreverent asides under her breath on what is happening in front of her. Trying to talk Elizabeth out of walking to Netherfield to visit sick Jane “Okay, so I can’t rewrite the walking part,” she sighs. “I adore you!” proclaims  Darcy. “Do you though?”, she responds quizzically. When Elizabeth elopes,  “Don’t worry, I got this!”

I was amazed at just how much of Pride and Prejudice they were able to get into 84 minutes. Crazy how much plot you can fit in without the usual time-sucking tentpole scenes and montages. But what makes this a 10-star Hallmark rather than a 9 or 9 1/2 are the thoughtful and serious moments. When Harriet tries to talk Mary out of marrying “that weirdo” Mr. Collins, Mary reminds her that though she doesn’t love him, she doesn’t have the luxury of a choice. But don’t worry, this is one of the things that Harriet “fixes”, though it certainly doesn’t endear her to the Bennets. In a touching tête-à-tête with Mrs. Bennet, she explains to Harriet that of course she loves her daughters and wants them to be happy. But safety and security come before love. And safety and security are inextricably intertwined with love. I loved that Harriet learns the difference between romance and real love. When Harriet gets back to her real life, the reunion with Ethan is romantic and touching because it is based on a firm foundation. One of the more romantic scenes I remember in a Hallmark, actually. Ethan really steps up to the plate. We skip forward in time, and Harriet is in a bookstore promoting her completed novel. Guess what the title is.

Rating: 10 out of 10.